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Old 21-08-2019, 17:41   #1
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Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Hi there,

I am a liveaboard in Vancouver, BC. I have a large Newfoundland Labrador that lives with me onboard. Whenever there is a rain overnight the dinghy always has a bit of water in the bottom when we head to shore (even after I bail it) . She is so hairy and her butt gets soaked. If the weather is poor, even if I towel dry her, she doesn't generally dry completely until the next morning (winter boat life!)... and then we do it all over again. She suffers as well as it's uncomfortable for her to stay wet for so long.

I'd love to avoid her butt/underneath getting completely soaked through. Does anyone have any thoughts on or employ some kind of flooring system that accomplishes this? In my mind I am picturing some kind of plastic thing with legs that raises her off the ground that she can sit on... something that keeps the wet away from her hind-end. I'd prefer not to use wood... ideally it'd be something that already exists that I could adapt for this use. I have searched online quite a bit and wandered through Canadian Tire, but haven't had any ideas.

Thoughts?

Thank you!

Amanda
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Old 21-08-2019, 17:50   #2
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

I was going to suggest the teak grating, but since you want to avoid wood, perhaps something like this Rubber Drainage Floor Mat would do...
http://amzn.to/2Hk2PZh

If amazon is an issue, most restaurant supply houses carry them.

Good luck!
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Old 21-08-2019, 17:50   #3
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

I was going to recommend a small wooden pallet until I got to the no wood part... Go to the hardware store and pickup a reject composite deck board from the clearance pile and make a little pallet for her. Swamp as$ does suck

..or could shave her

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Old 21-08-2019, 18:09   #4
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Got enough power to run a hair drier?
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Old 21-08-2019, 18:16   #5
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Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

How about a throwable boat cushion, or you run the dinghy first, get it on plane and pull the plug, all the water will run out, then go back and get the dog, maybe with a boat cushion for it to sit on.
On edit, get it barely on plane with the bow high, look back and when the outside water isn’t against the transom that’s fast enough.
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Old 21-08-2019, 18:18   #6
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

We always used a rubber matting like Carlos and Maria on SVRocinante recommended. It was very easy to lay the soiled mat on the outside of the dinghy bladder and give it a quick scrub with a brush. Maybe an extra layer where your dog likes to sit.
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Old 21-08-2019, 18:49   #7
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Yep, we use a large rubber door mat.
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Old 21-08-2019, 19:04   #8
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Are you familiar with Dri Dek ? It's only 9/16th's thick how deep is the water ?
https://www.dri-dek.com/pages/know-more
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Old 21-08-2019, 19:27   #9
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

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Originally Posted by Calif.Ted View Post
Are you familiar with Dri Dek ? It's only 9/16th's thick how deep is the water ?
https://www.dri-dek.com/pages/know-more
I'm not, but this actually looks pretty great ! My dinghy has a slatted floor so the water gets stuck in-between the slats. This looks good as it raises her off the floor so her long hair won't hang and soak in the water between the slats. This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! A definite possibility! Thank you...
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Old 21-08-2019, 19:48   #10
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

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Originally Posted by amandak View Post
I'm not, but this actually looks pretty great ! My dinghy has a slatted floor so the water gets stuck in-between the slats. This looks good as it raises her off the floor so her long hair won't hang and soak in the water between the slats. This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! A definite possibility! Thank you...

You can also put 2 layers down - I've had them for years, and they are nice. If not that, maybe you could cut a rectangle of 1/4" plywood, and run 2 2x4's on their sides under it. Put in a few screws, and you're done. Can't have a hairy dog with a wet butt.
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Old 21-08-2019, 19:54   #11
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

If you're a somewhat handy wood worker you can use a sheet of 1/2" -3/4" PVC board, white would be nice. Cut it to fit the outline of the bottom of your dingy. Just a little wider than the bottom so it sits a bit high from the actual bottom. You can cut a few runners out of the same PVC sheet and set them on edge to support the middle a few inches high. Screw them to the cut formed sheet to even out the curved bottom of your dingy and use some 5200 to glue the pieces together permanently. Then using a small 3/4" hole saw mark a nice pattern and drill multiple 3/4" holes about an 1.5" apart or so. This would make a nice flat deck raised a few inches off the bottom. Get professional and use a round over bit in a router for each hole to camphor each hole and the outside edges of the sheet. Nice thing is you never have to worry about wood rot or painting this. Your dog should stay dry as the water stays under the PVC and this makes it handy to keep many things dry on the bottom of your dingy, groceries, your feet in cold weather etc. You might increase the weight of your dingy by about 20lbs.
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Old 21-08-2019, 22:21   #12
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Why not simply lay a tarp over the seating area of the dinghy after you bail it. Should do the job nicely, and not cost much.
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Old 22-08-2019, 03:20   #13
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

We always had a slat system in our wet jon boats, for water underneath Happens that was made of wood, but you could probably make slats from strips of Starboard, maybe plastic fencing slats, etc.

You could also put a bilge pump in the dink.

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Old 22-08-2019, 04:36   #14
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Simple solution is to bail out the dink before the dog gets in. Don't describe your dink (hard/inflatable), but we can get our hard dink (similar to a RIB) very dry w/a plastic bailer (scoop) and a sponge to get the last bit of water out.
If you get a lot of rain then sometimes we use a small pump like this one to get the majority of the water out and would also work for inflatables.


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Old 22-08-2019, 04:51   #15
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Re: Keeping dogs butt off dinghy floor after a rainfall

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calif.Ted View Post
Are you familiar with Dri Dek ? It's only 9/16th's thick how deep is the water ?
https://www.dri-dek.com/pages/know-more
looking at that, I have to ask, does it work with lego bricks?
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