# Baby gate for the vee berth?



## Jotun (May 4, 2006)

Anyone know of anything to baby proof the vee berth? My youngest (1.5 years) loves to play around up there, but we need something like a baby gate for the door so that he doesn't come crawling out and fall off the berth. Obviously, just shutting the door won't work for us. We need to be able to see him.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Make up some lee cloths out of the netting used in laundry hampers, and secure it to the cabin overhead and the v-berth...  

Or, do what my friends do... stuff the kid into a portable playpen... and leave that in the v-berth. The sides of the playpen are the same type of netting/mesh I'm talking about...and it's pre-fabbed.


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## TrueBlue (Oct 11, 2004)

Have you considered fabricating a panel of mesh netting to fit your cabin door opening - for easy stowage? With a perimeter hem and grommets, it could be hooked onto clips attached to the door head, stretched taunt and hooked under the aft edge of the berth platform. Perhaps a couple of side attachments would be added also for extra security.

Edit - as usual, SD beat me to it.


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## cockeyedbob (Dec 6, 2006)

SUPERGLUE ... naw, just kidding.

Netting best, small mesh so li'l noggins can't enter ... stows easily ... multiple uses ... buy some and a six pack ... crawl below ... when the six pack is gone, you'll have her figured ...

Nothing is kid proof.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

I recycled the netting once found on the foredeck in the V-berth. I also discovered that I could fit an entire Graco folding playpen into the V-berth and just wedge it with pillows. Worked like a charm at first.

Our son started sailing at five days old. We took him out in 25 knots by lashing down his car seat at 10 months old...he snored and farted most of the time. Once he was walking, he learned "one hand for the boat" as soon as possible, and he knows that "on deck" means "PFD at all times". He lashes on with a Gibb hook underway, and his parents know to wear their PFDs at all times, too...something that is not legally necessary, but then when I see my next door neighbour riding his bike without a helmet with his daughter WITH a helmet in a rear bike seat or a trailer, I think: "Hmm. Hypocritical AND dangerous".

I started wearing bike helmets in the '80s as a bike courier, because I saw what happened when you failed to die after being slammed into a pole or a mailbox: a new hat size, lots of shouting and a career in basket weaving and wallet-sewing.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

TB-

It's not a race.. and it just goes to show that great minds think alike...


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## Idiens (Jan 9, 2007)

Valiente said:


> ... I started wearing bike helmets in the '80s as a bike courier, because I saw what happened when you failed to die after being slammed into a pole or a mailbox: a new hat size, lots of shouting and a career in basket weaving and wallet-sewing.


What convinced me a long time ago to wear one on a motor cycle were the wise words of an ambulance driver:-

"Look, the chin strap makes it a lot easier for me to pick your head out of the ditch".


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## Jotun (May 4, 2006)

Thanks for the suggestions. We've used the play pen, but put it in the cabin. I'm not sure it would fit in the v-berth of our Catalina 27. I guess I'll rig up some sort of lee cloth.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Idiens said:


> What convinced me a long time ago to wear one on a motor cycle were the wise words of an ambulance driver:-
> 
> "Look, the chin strap makes it a lot easier for me to pick your head out of the ditch".


Heh. I've heard the use of a helmet makes the difference between an open or a closed coffin. From what I've seen, though, it's the consequences of living with a personality or intelligence-modifying brain injury rather than getting killed that bother me, and the helmet can improve one's chances.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

I found a cargo net from a car or truck worked great as a child containment devise. If they have the "bunge" cord top you'll need to run a peice of static line thru so it won't stretch.

"Hypocritical AND dangerous" is riding a bike with your son or daughter in one of those rear seats, with or without a helmet.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

T34C said:


> "Hypocritical AND dangerous" is riding a bike with your son or daughter in one of those rear seats, with or without a helmet.


That's why I use these things:









The only way I can afford boats is to not own a car, and this carries one child and a week's groceries, or two sailbags...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

T34C said:


> I found a cargo net from a car or truck worked great as a child containment devise. If they have the "bunge" cord top you'll need to run a peice of static line thru so it won't stretch.


Just be careful with the cargo net, as some of it's big eniugh for small arms and legs to get tangled in. Other than that, best bet is probably the mesh across the door.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

Bermuda30 said:


> Just be careful with the cargo net, as some of it's big eniugh for small arms and legs to get tangled in. Other than that, best bet is probably the mesh across the door.


Arms and legs are not really a problem. If they were you wouldn't be able to buy baby gates, they would have to be baby doors. Its things like heads and necks that you have to worry about.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Arms and legs can be a problem on a monohull...if the kid gets tangled up and the boat heels suddenly, the kid could get seriously injured..


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