Just need to vent...

DOG RAMPS

Dog ramps are a long running issue for me. I first had one when I had my rottweiler. That dog was 120 pounds and as she got older she could not leap into vehicles. Lifting her was a bit of a chore. I did it -- but it was a sort of Homer Simpson act. She did not like being lifted and would squirm and I would stumble about before shoving her into the car.

A ramp saved both of us from injury.

It seems you want to build your own and that is great, but maybe my experience will help you with your project?

My big goldens are 97 and 93 pounds. They CAN get in my Subaru Outback, but they usually won't, without A LOT .of hassle. One of them was in a car accident with me when she was a pup and somehow survived and I think she is passing her anxiety off to the second golden.

I can lift them in without much trouble, but my husband forbade it -- Mendel -- don't tell him I still do it now and again.

My latest ramp is WeatherTech. They want $140 for it now, I got mine six or so years ago for $89. Indeed, the ramp came by UPS and the next day a second ramp showed up. I refused delivery and several days later another ramp showed up....

I am sure you have looked at WeatherTech, but they have two styles. The EasyRamp and the PetRamp.

I have the Pet Ramp. Not a great fan, but it works. They claim it is 15 inches wide. It is, but that includes the molded edges -- subtract those and I don't know 13" or 12" inches wide. It has a steep pitch when I use it with my Outback. The pitch would be less in a rig closer to the ground, of course.

The dogs hate it, but will use it. I think they would be better with it if it were wider. The surface has a ribbed rubber (?) covering so the dogs have excellent traction. Both "feet" have rubber cleats(?) to stop sliding -- very important -- and they work well.

My smaller dogs don't mind the ramp -- width?

Finally, folding it can really pinch your fingers. I still manage to get "bit" after six years.

Don't have experience with their EasyRamp.

Had a sliding wood ramp with the rott. Don't remember details, but it was much longer than the ramp I have now. Heavier too. It was wooden so sometimes sliding was a bit "sticky." Used indoor/outdoor carpet for the surface.

It worked O.K. Was destroyed when a tree smashed my rig.
kris

 

Mendel, Taking the tangent of the angle yields the }Rise over Run of the ramp. That should give you the information needed.

JeffD

 

I think you will be fine without sides. 20" -- so probably 16"-18" wide walking surface. Shiba pups are around 50 pounds, right and not real broad like a rott, so I bet it will work fine. And the pitch looks very good. With the Outback floor being some 27" above ground, it makes for a bit of a slope.

Of course, you start talking engineering, I am at a bit of a loss, but if you need air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow



kris

 

Now that's a tangent.

 

Five Man Electrical Band -1973, love the reference!

 

Folks always said I am different.
kris

 

Wooah !! Saw them live at Magic Mountain So Cal, I believe in the 1970s
Great LP

 

This used to be an awesome anode rod to buy for a water heater:



It was "R-Tech" branded, meaning an anode rod with a resistor in series. The picture shows the insulating spacer between the threaded head and the rest of the rod. There's a little ~ 62 Ω resistor across the spacer (seen here on my old one):



It was an awesome anode rod because:

• it's magnesium, not aluminum, which (a) creates a larger voltage difference to the steel tank, and (b) doesn't fill the bottom of the tank with the same oxidized-aluminum gunk an aluminum rod does.
• it's a lot of magnesium. Some anode rods are much skinnier. This has about the maximum diameter you can fit through the hole at the top of the tank. It takes a long time for all that to be sacrificed away.
• the resistor slows down the sacrifice even more. Because magnesium has a higher voltage difference to steel than aluminum has, a magnesium rod with no resistor can sacrifice itself extra fast, and maybe even make smelly gas in the process, and the conductivity of the water coming in has a big effect on the current. With the resistor in series, the current is lower overall (still enough to protect the tank), and less affected by changes in the water conductivity.

Apparently you can't buy it anymore. Keeping the same part number they have changed it to a non-resistored (branded "ProTech" instead of "R-Tech") rod. It's still shown as resistored in that Amazon listing and in the catalog at my local Ferguson's, but if you buy one you end up getting the "ProTech" one without the resistor. Now I have to send this Amazon order back.

 

SP8371B - Rheem SP8371B - 0.840 x 54" Magnesium R-Tech Anode Rod, SP8371B

 

Have you bought one of those lately and received a resistored version?

SupplyHouse also still has the SP11526C listed as R-Tech, though I had a string of emails with them this week where they eventually had someone at their fulfillment warehouse take a photo of the item, which showed it to be non-resistored. Presumably they'll get around to correcting the product listing. At least they were helpful in getting a photo of the item so I wouldn't have to order one and send it back. My local Ferguson's checked it at the warehouse too.

 

Corrosion. Not a fan of gravel Road salts that make most pickups around here look thusly;



We pay a monthly fee for a conveyor type car wash that gets that kind of slop (most importantly from underneath) off the vehicles - as well as the upsell of protective ingredients in the hot high pressure auto sprayers.
Poorer folk can't necessarily afford that luxury in an area that's too cold to hose stuff off, as outside hose bibs are invariably winterized anyway. To add insult to injury, you can't use your fancy schmancy car wash all month long necessarily, once the temperatures dip Maybe 10°, 20° below freezing - as the attendants would be freezing after an hour or so
.

 

They put SALT on ROADS???
Why???



PS.
Do not feel bad.
You have 4 seasons.
In the deep South?
We only have 2.

Too or Too cold.

A few rusted fenders is a small price to pay!

 

Observing my grandkids, there seems to be a hay fever season also (smirk). High School history class seems to come to mind when some soldiers froze to death. Single digit (°f) isn't necessarily just a Northern thing alone. Our Nashville area community (built 2010-2013} had nearly ⅕ of the auto fire sprinkler plumbing systems burst - resulting in attic insulation wiped out, ceiling drywall &/or walls wiped out, floods/ especially for poor slobs not home. Way too easy for fly-by-night contractors to fold up shop & go destroy (people's homes / Possessions) lives.

 

I remember Chinese drywall in the SE.
Not 'winter' caused but the autumnal storms in the SE were a contributer.

I remember wondering HOW the bleep the ChiCOMMS can send drywall from there to here more profitably than we can make it and sell it here.

 

My house was built in 1929, using plaster.

I suppose all the hurricane and fire reconstruction demanding gypsum for drywall must be part of why it's become so BLEEPing hard to find plaster to buy.