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Why does
it work?
The science
is that ALL living beings - domestic or feral, bugs, animals or humans -
see 550nm
wavelength, which is the color white, whether they are colorblind or
not. As long as the Skamper-Ramp is
installed so that a few inches of the "nose" (the curved end)
are under water and the white breaks the
surface, then the animal will see it. The other end of the ramp is like
a box, and it is that "open-box" end
that must be snug to a vertical wall (whether it's a pool, floating,
dock, walled pond or spa, or stern/swim
platform of a boat) in order to provide the rigidity necessary for an
animal to "skamper" out on the ramp.
What size do
I need?
We
suggest that an SKR1 (the original ramp) is sold to people for animals
up to 45 lbs - however we have
had 120 lb sheepdogs go out on the small ramp, all that happens is it
becomes more vertical, and may
even crease, but it will
still work. You can't actually break the
wing strips or ramp. We suggest
the SKR2
(the Big Dog™) be sold to/used for larger animals,
for floating docks or houseboats, or with boat swim
platforms. For people with very small animals, the larger ramp can be
sold/used as an indoor ramp to for
dogs under 25 lbs to get up onto,
or down from furniture. Also,
if people don't cover their pools
for winter,
but do drain them, then the Skamper Ramp
Big Dog™ hanging down into the
pool makes an easy
escape ramp for any animal that may get caught in off-season. The Newest
Super Skamper Ramp or SKR3
is blow molded and we've tested it on solid ground with 200lbs and the
ramp doesn't even bend! The Super Skamper ramp is more of a permanent
ramp that once installed can be used daily over and over again.
Are there
alternative anchoring methods?
For
those who customers that don’t want to drill into their decks, it is
possible to use alternative tie down
points such as pool cover attachment points, skimmers and water
levelers. There are many creative
ways, you just want to make sure that the force is diagonal and does not
pull purely horizontally
(or it will pull out.) There
is no one right way to install a
Skamper-Ramp - two criteria are critical: 1)
a few inches of the round "nose"
end need to be submerged so that the white breaks the water surface
so the animal will see the white
while swimming even in stress; and 2) it needs to be snug to a
"rigid"
a vertical wall so that when a critter
or pet gets on the end the Skamper-Ramp has something to brace
against. The patent is based on just
that: the open-box-end providing rigidity and robustness, especially
when braced against a vertical element.
The most important point about the
installation is to have the
Skamper-Ramp as snug to the pool
edge as possible, while still have
a few inches of the “nose” end of the
ramp under water. To accomplish that, there
are two sets of holes for threading the connection rope through
(one above the Skamper-Ramp name
and one below) in order to accommodate deep copings or flush edges.
What about
my vinyl pool?
Either
ramp works well for vinyl liner pools, making sure that an animal’s
claws don't touch the pool wall
and put a hole in it. It
will not cut through or tear the vinyl. To make people feel better, you
could put a
double layer of vinyl on the side wall of the pool where the ramp will
hang, or tape the edges of the ramp
with vinyl repair tape, but neither is necessary.
Is it made
of cardboard?
It
only looks like
"cardboard." Skamper-Ramps are made from 8mm, chemical- and
UV-resistant, recyclable,
box-corrugated, HDPE (high-density-polyethylene) or HDPP(high-density
polypropylene). They come complete
with nylon rope, nuts, bolts, and wing strips. After 3 years of research
and in-pool testing we found that
the
box-corrugated plastic had the longest life-span, was most economical,
was light weight while providing
the
greatest strength-to-weight ratio along with robustness, was most
reliable, was most versatile to
use, and
easiest to assemble.
How long
will it last?
We know it
will hold up for 4 or more years - we have ones installed that have
lasted 4 and are still going
strong, it's not been around long enough to determine the end life
beyond that.
Are there
other uses besides pools?
Our
customers are creative in their applications. Many
people are buying Skamper-Ramps for their
floating docks, fixed docks and boat swim platforms;
to use for thin ice rescue; and for indoor ramps for
light weight animals.
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