Dogs aboard

[melissar]

Thanks everyone. I especially love the photos of Merlin! If allowed, our Lucy would spend hours swimming in the cold Puget Sound water, only to get ashore and forget to come back! Such are labs...

We are definitely narrowing our ideas down, based on many of your thoughts. Ideally something with easy access to the flybridge, and as MBCML suggests, we are looking at lots of aft cabin trawlers with a nice on-the-level transom door. By the time we are done, we are going to laughingly call her the HMS Lucy. Yes, the things us pet owners go through. There is a good looking Mainship 35 somewhat nearby that we would like to take a look at -- seems to check off a lot of our boxes. Keep the ideas coming, I really appreciate it!

 

[jeffnick]

Others might have seen this blog entry already, but here it is again for you.
First Boat Dog

As I mentioned, Merlin prefers to go potty ashore and will do so on his own - but sometimes we're anchored 1/2 mile or more from the beach, or in alligator couontry and don't really want him taking off on his own. We needed to teach him to go on a mat aboard. On several occasions, Merlin held out longer than we could and we ended up taking him ashore in the dink...this was after 24 hours or so. We decided to see how long he could hold out - it was a little over 36 hours before he went potty on the mat. We were all so relieved.

A little more about my dog

And here's a little more about Merlin's houseboat

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Keep in mind aft cabin boats have great sleeping quarters, but you are removed a bit from the dock/swim platform, so you eventual will need to traverse that height someway. For some reason, you don't see "many" aft cabins doing a lot of cruising, more of a live a board. Just a basic observation, not ment to cast any opinion of said model!

honestly we sold our aft cabin in part because it was so difficult with the dog. We stern in a lot where we cruise and getting him on and off the boat was miserable. We got a cool doggie stairs for when we were tied alongside a dock but it was not usable to get him up on the aft deck if we were sterned in so we had to lift him. the bad part with the stairs though is the material is perforated and he would occasionally catch a claw in a hole. We are looking for a sedan with a transom door so he can board that way. Trade off will probably be a ladder to the bridge so he may not be on the flybridge with us while we are underway.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Ha ha on the cockpit verbage -- I come from a sailboat background. It's called a "back deck"? That seems land-based!

on an aft cabin there is no cockpit but rather a large "deck" area on top of the aft cabin... unless you get an aft cabin with a cockpit as well as others have mentioned. sorry if someone else already cleared this up, I have not read the whole thread yet!

 

[ranger58sb]

There is a good looking Mainship 35 somewhat nearby that we would like to take a look at -- seems to check off a lot of our boxes.

The Mainship 350 (later, 390) checked all our boxes when we had the Pyrenees/Lab twins. The local dealer even invited the dogs (and us) aboard at one of the early Trawlerfests to confirm the dogs could navigate the stairs to the bridge. They could, it was easy, and the only reasons we didn't follow through was that new boats were pushing our budget at the time and we we're going through a job location simultaneously...

That was, at the time, about the best dog-friendly flying bridge we could find...

-Chris

 

[melissar]

Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your thoughts. Some aft cabin boats have enough cockpit space for the two of us and the dog to be happy, as well as easier access for the flybridge for her. It really depends on the particular boat, we are finding...still searching for the "one" that works best for all of us. Good luck on your search, as well! (BTW, take a look at Pet Loader -- I have a set of stairs to get my dogs into the back of my full size truck and they are pretty wonderful. I think one of the configurations they sell will work well for our eventual boat. And no, I don't own stock in the company )

 

[melissar]

That is really wonderful to read, Chris! Hoping to go see one right before the 4th of July as I head up to Whidbey Island to visit with my folks. I was on a mini girl's weekend with my daughter this past weekend and saw a Mainship (don't know if it was a 34 or 35, and don't really know the difference yet) at the dock. It really did look like it could fit our needs, so am really looking forward to stepping aboard to see what we think.

 

[ranger58sb]

If you decide you like the 350, do a bunch of research on both the 350 and the 390, which is essentially the same boat with some mods (dunno what). I think these are not without some issues, but you can check all that out... and any flaws in any given boat will likely have been fixed long ago anyway.

There are some "generations" of Mainship. The original 34' was in the late '70s-late '80s, ladder to the bridge. Then Mainship began building non-trawlers in the '90s, not bad features, including some stairs I think.

They came back to trawlers in the late '90s or early '00s, and I'm less familiar with those. The 430 was on our short list at one time, just before we chose our current boat. They made a 400, nice boat, stairs, ditto short list, our current boat won. Then sometime later another 34 (34T) came along, stairs, otherwise I dunno so much about it, but the ones I've seen from the outside look viable. Naturally those newer/larger models were more expensive. Drat!

-Chris

 

[melissar]

This one is a '97 350 model.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Be sure your prospective boat has a gate in the bulwark (best, three gates).

After much experimentation with lifting, ramping, slinging, throwing, Lager the 85-pound Labrador (yes, Lager is yellow), I was forced to conclude I had the wrong boat or the wrong dog.

Lager is in Ashland with the neighbors while I am in Prince William Sound.

 

[melissar]

Oh dear...poor Lager! Keeping a lab out of the water is just terrible punishment! Seriously, this is definitely why I am asking the question now, pre-boat-purchase.

 

[ctjstr]

Another thing to consider about our beloved dogs on the flybridge is safety, i.e. how easily can they fall off or get tossed about? Big wake, unexpected sudden stop (grounding) - these things sometimes happen on a boat. People can grab the railings; dogs cannot.


Pea

reminds me of a couple funny stories..funny after they turned out well.
Many years ago we had a chinese trawler on which our dogs could climb up the stairs to the flybridge. We had a couple blue healers. One would just plop down on the deck and sleep. the other, Ron the deaf dog, would jump up on the dash in front of the fly bridge steering station and watch the world go by.
We were backing out of a slip at Poulsbo, Wa marina when Ron went to hop up on the dash. He miscalculated and jumped over the side, down into the water. My wife at the time panicked. All she saw was a figure fly by the galley window and though I'd fallen in.
Since you can't call him, it took some fussing around for a few minutes before he swam close enough to grab. All ended well.

On other day, I was delivering a 36' Grand Banks to a sales office in Lake Union. For those familiar with the ballard locks, you know that you often just "hover" outside the west end of the locks, waiting for them to open. There really is no great place to tie off.
In the middle of this "hovering" the boat owner's little boston terrier just jumped over the side into the water. Same deal..lots of sweating and swearing before he finally got close enough to the swim step to grab.

Never a dull moment when you have dogs aboard.

toni

 

[Comodave]

I don’t believe there is any way my dog could get thrown off the flybridge short of us laying the boat on its side. He has been on the bridge in 6’ waves crossing Lake Ontario and my wife probably will not go if the waves are any bigger.

 

[ranger58sb]

Oh dear...poor Lager! Keeping a lab out of the water is just terrible punishment! Seriously, this is definitely why I am asking the question now, pre-boat-purchase.

My thought has always been that the best time to solve this one, as best you can, is during the shopping phase.

-Chris