Fly Poo 2

[Guest]

You have all had a good giggle. Fly s...t is actually little black spots about 1-2 mm in size and sets like paint spots. They are hard to remove.I found that after washing the boat, they swarm all over the boat. It is mainly concentrated on the white gell coat. If i leave the boat and let it get to a certain grubby state, they seem to loose intrest. I dont think that i am the only person to have this problem. Somewhere out there, somebody knows why flies are attracted to GRP.

 

[BrendanS]

This is a complete guess, but has foundation in fact. Lots of insects attracted to light in UV range (some plants flowers have 'landing strips' that show in UV that are invisible to human naked eye, to guide and attract pollinating insects to the correct place)
Could be that there are pigments in your gel coat that fluoresce in UV light range. Nice clean gel coat - lots of UV - lots of flies. Dirty grubby gel coat - doesn't fluoresce - no flies.
No real answer, other than to paint gelcoat? Or use a UV fly zapper like they use in butchers to attract flies to a much stronger UV source

 

[kingfisher]

Detergent ? Minerals?

Do you wash with salt water ? Like all animals,flies need salt and minerals. And your boat has just become the biggest salt lick in the area.

Does the detergent you use smell like spring blossoms?

Use a drop of bleach in the last bucket you dunk over the deck ? (Warning: I have no idea whether the gelcoat or your teak decks will like this)

Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
http://sirocco31.tripod.com

 

[Johnjo]

Do not have a answer to your problem,But reminds me of a experience
we had year before last,I had fitted a new mainsail supplied by Sobstad
Used it all summer,except for a couple of weeks in september that year.
Well i have seen flies in the folds before,But never nothing like this,
Removed the cover,seen afew drop out nothing new,Started hoisting
the sail from the cockpit as usual,Looking up as i hoisted it.
Can only discribe as black rain,Thousands of them,HWMBO was sitting
under the boom at the time was deluged with them mostly dead or very groggy
( not a bad thing when messing with her ).she spent the rest of the day
shaking her head and moaning ,( nothing new there )I had to spend the next
hour sweeping out the cabin ,washing down the topsides,Never had it again
do not know if it was something about the new sail that attracted them ?
Wonder if any one else has had a simular experience ?.
best of luck
mike

 

[graham]

My boat has dark blue topsides and a light cream deck. The flies seem to enjoy cr&ppin£ on both.

Out of interrest where do you moor your boat ,is this a new problem or has it occured in previous years.