Is Your Boat Pet-Friendly?

Is Your Boat
Pet-Friendly?

HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR PONTOON

By NICOLE RICHENS

Is Your Boat Pet-Friendly?

HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR PONTOON

The open floor plan of most pontoon boats makes an ideal casting platform for anglers. Similarly, all that open space means pets love this style of craft as well. Pontoon boats are just a natural fit for our four-legged friends and you can see it in their eyes: there’s no way you could ever leave them behind on the dock. Depending on the size and age of your dog, the boat that comes directly from the manufacturer to your dealer is already set up for your pet to be safe without any additional upgrades needed.

For those who want to make their pontoons a little more pet-friendly, there are ramps or stairs that make getting back on board from the water a lot easier for your dog, but the inside of the boat is where you start getting into what most owners would consider must-haves if the family pet is a regular on cruises.

Teak Isle Magic

If you’re looking to dial in the comfort and truly make your pontoon boat pet-friendly, this is where BoatOutfitters.com comes in. Boat Outfitters is a retail division of Teak Isle Mfg., the marine industry leader for OEM fabricated plastic parts. Teak Isle supplies over 200 of the marine industry’s leading boat builders with custom fabricated accessories with a strong reputation for quality products and innovative designs that has allowed this Florida-based company to grow into the largest single end user of King Starboard in the marine industry.

custom dog bowl shelves with insert and bowls inside

custom dog bowl shelves with nothing inside

custom dog bowl shelves with only insert inside

In the pontoon segment especially, Teak Isle is best known for taking the wasted space found on board and creating practical storage and unique ways to take advantage of every square inch. One area that has been specifically targeted is the back of a chaise lounge. Typically this is an awkward storage compartment or, at best, a place for a pop-up changing room curtain that is usually too short to be practical anyway. Teak Isle engineers envision many ways to use this space more efficiently.

Table For You, Bowl For Him

One of its many storage solutions that is especially ideal for pet owners is the foldout table on top with a dog bowl drawer below. Anyone who has ever brought their dog on board knows it’s just as important to keep your pet hydrated as it is to make sure your passengers have enough to drink. This complete package of the folding table/drawer combo fits in the back of the lounger and gives you a table that lifts up and locks with a storage drawer below. The dog dish insert fits securely in the drawer so when it’s not needed it easily stows away. An added bonus of the insert is it can be placed out on the deck or on the beach too and not just confined to be used in the drawer.

Just The Drawer Please

Another popular option for pontoon owners if you just want the drawer is the stand alone Double Dog Bowl Drawer that is a pullout drawer with inserts. Depending on how deep your available space is, Teak Isle offers a shallow and deep version with both drawers holding two standard (three cup) stainless steel dog bowls. Also similar is both drawers are fabricated from King Starboard with stainless steel drawer slides for easy use as well as longevity and are available in 10 different colors.

The shallow version just needs a little more than 9 inches deep to install, while the deep version requires nearly 17 inches.

Boat Outfitters

Boat Outfitters was developed to fill a market niche for high quality marine accessory and replacement parts at affordable prices. It specializes in custom products as well as in stock marine accessories. As OEM builders, Teak Isle builds literally hundreds of different parts weekly and now has an expanding catalog of parts for boaters to choose from. They have spent 40 years working hard to earn the trust of the engineers who originally designed your boat to come up with solutions that improve your pontoon and flow perfectly with the original design. When it comes to upgrading the interior of your pontoon to be more pet-friendly, Teak Isle is clearly leading the way with products available through BoatOutfitters.com.

For More Information

Boat Outfitters
www.boatoutfitters.com

Teak Isle Manufacturing Inc.
www.teakisle.com

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