Pets ??? on board

[sailaway78]

Another first for me. Seems like the summer for firsts. Couple days ago, in Appalachicola, Fl. had another first. About 1:30 in the morning was awakened by some strange noises. Something very different and unusual. Seems as if a racoon had smelled some cat food on board, and came right on and helped himself. And yes, he was inside the boat, not out on the deck. Not only that, but he didn't really want to leave. Took some yelling and towel slapping and waving, to run the critter around the boat a couple times, before he figured it was time to get out of Dodge.

 

[Paul Brinkley]

Hey, if you're going to keep your pet aboard, you're going to have to train him to behave! -Paul

 

[BobM]

You should have...

...made the scurvy rascal walk the plank!

:hijacked:

 

[RussT1950]

racoon on board

Did you also have a cat on board, if so what did he do?

 

[walt]

I’ve had to deal with raccoons this time of year (up in the mountains of Colorado) and they are very serious about gathering food before winter. One time, left some food in the BBQ and the raccoons woke me up making a big racket. I opened the door expecting the dog to chase them off - dog was NOT going out the door. Dog was smart in this case. There were two of them and they were not going to leave because if one of them left, the other would get the food.

You might try urinating all over the place. I’ve heard it keeps the bears out.. Maybe also work for raccoons?

 

[kloudie1]

That is pretty funny, Phil. The night we tied up at the city dock in Apalachicola, we watched a raccoon go onto two big houseboats that were moored there too. One was an old wooden one that he’d figured out how to get into the boat.. Then, after getting back onto the dock, he made a “dock patrol”, walking out to the pavilion at the end of the dock, picking up any little bit of fish bait, bugs, and food droppings along the way. Seemed like that was his dock and he patrolled it well ! I can see how he must have thought that he’d found a true windfall !

 

[zeehag]

Did you also have a cat on board, if so what did he do?

bubbadaboatkat was tied and hung up on the coach house roof watching the raccoon--i am glad they didnt engage each other--i donot like pet blood on decks LOL is slickery---bubba is now watching every nite for return, despite the fact we arent in same place lol......we are now in port st joe at the psj marina.....the raccoon went over the anchor to get back under the water street hotel and home lol....so was almost like walking the plank .....
when i first say the second critter on board i thought it was bubba, as the tail was big and fluffy like his--but i saw bubba on the roof and heard plastic bags rustling--he doesnt do that!!!--then i saw a sacond set of ears and they didnt look cat like---oops----so i went chasing while bubba was still hung up so he wouldnt get into the mix-----he boxes miniature pinschers--i didnt know what he would do with a raccoon!!!

 

[kenn]

A couple of springs ago, during pre-season prep while our boat was still on her trailer, I had left our boat's front hatch closed but un-dogged. One day while I was just dropping something off, I spied the front hatch opening and a smallish raccoon coming out. It looked at me and then jumped across to the adjacent trailered boat. I went back on our boat and was about to unluck and remove the companionway boards when the racoon jumped back onto our bow. So I went forward and shooed it off again, but it was quite brave and didn't depart for the trees.

I went back to unlocking the companionway and entered to check for damage or evidence of nesting activity. Instantly I heard hissing from the quarter-berth and the source was ... two frigntened but otherwise Disney-cute racoon infants (kits or whatever they're called).

That seemed to explain everything. I left the companionway open, opened the hatch wide, and I spent about 40 minutes calmly explaining to her why our boat wouldn't be a great place for kids, and the momma finally removed first one than the other kit. It was quite something to see, and I'm kicking myself for not having a camera with me.

She carried the kits to a nearby small sailboat with an open cuddy, which was ok by me. I imagine that she bugged out of there at nighfall.

We were extremely lucky; apparently the racoon family had only spent one night aboard. Aside from chewing on some foam pads, and some racoon diaper-poo in a couple of places, there was no damage.

 

[walt]

Not a boat story but sort of walk the plank story.

One time my visiting niece (about 19 at the time) slept out on the house deck on a nice summer night. This deck is fairly high - about 10 foot off the ground. Once again, I left some food remnants in the BBQ and a whole family of raccoons (maybe 7) were trying to get to the food during the night. Woke me up and not thinking, I went out a different door with a fairly narrow walkway to the deck the raccoons were on. This trapped the raccoons between me and my niece. Bad idea but I was half asleep.. The entire family one by one jumped off the 10 foot deck. I remember seeing the last one which was very young hanging on the edge with just its front legs - we made raccoon to human eye contact just before it let go. Sort of satisfying (except for maybe the real young one) since they had made plenty of messes in the past.

Maybe an hour later, I remembered that I had left the back of my truck open so went out to take a look and close things. Went up to the window and turned on the flashlight to look in. A burglar raccoon head popped up looking out the window from inside the cab just a few inches from me. Scared me - then I scared maybe three of them out of the truck.. had a big mess to clean up the next day.