i`ve got the worlds largest floating bird toilet and dinner table

[shetland536]

every time i get on the boat there is more and more poo and smashed crabs.
do i really need to buy a 2 foot owl or do lighthouse family and cheeky girl cd`s work just as well?

 

[bob_tyler]

At the NMMC Falmouth we have a model owl on the pontoon. The last timeI looked a gull was sitting on its head!

 

[Stemar]

The most effective trick is a cats cradle of black thread across all the places the birds try to land. It doesn't hurt them, but they hate it and will move to unprotected boats... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Failing that, two cats cradles on wire , 1 at +1000v, the other earthed. Fizzle fizzle... Dunno what it might do to the anodes tho /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[tsmyth]

Would it bepossible to rig some spikes a la used on statues etc. on attractive parking spots?

Ray

 

[William_H]

Hres some comments that might help as found on the Swan river. If the boat is frequently visited and kept clean they are not so attracted. Avoid any sort of cover that provides a nice sheltered spot for a nest particularly in spring.
Sometimes a different location will be a lot clearer of gulls. Even a few hundred metres. A net is horrible cos you will find live gulls trapped in the net which is not pleasant to free. Failing all that a total cover is best making sure there are no entry holes. regards olewill

 

[chippie]

I have a trimaran with a similar problem with terns, lots of deck area. . Half an hour of scraping and scrubbing makes some other option viable . CDs dont work very well here, and owls dont work at all. I'm looking into draping fine net over the boat. Rolling it up each time I board would be a lot less effort. It has been bad this year because we havent had any real rain to speak of since new year, so it doesnt get washed off.

 

[tcm]

lot of bird pooo is achieved as they stand on guardrails and pooh inboard as they perch. Cats cradle as mentioned, or lots of wire-ties with the long bits sticking up...

 

[Coppershield]

Hi,
here's a technique that works very well here in Florida, over the years I've used several times, once the problem goes away You can stop using it often for many months.

In my case , it is fairly easy , because I have a mast and a gunweil with many attachment points. If you like to try this . you may be able to improvise a boat hook or a broomstick as a mast centrally located from top of the makeshift mast radiating half a dozen or more fishing line's tied to any convenient location around the gunweil should work well for you as well

Good luck .
Muzaffer

 

[boatmike]

Get a mooring near a catamaran. In my experience they always prefer to crap on catamarans. They do on mine anyway!

 

[Lakesailor]

There is a much better and easier method.

 

[chippie]

What's better and easier? stay at your cottage?

 

[Idlerboat]

In the Gippsland lakes in Victoria Australia some of us use horticultural bird net. Our problem is cormarants. If l could work out what it is that makes the stuff stick to my deck then l will have solved the problem of what to paint my new steel boat that lm building !! If l could work out what removes it l would be rich !!

regards
martin

 

[Lakesailor]

On the basis that no-one who moors near me is a forumite.
The bit in Yachting Monthly/PBO/whatever that suggested that birds have an inate fear of snakes is true.
They suggested buying toy snakes, but a piece of garden hose with some welding wire inside allows you to bend it into an "s" shape.
I actually used the waste from some artificial flower stems which made a couple of small 'snakes'. One on the cabin roof and one in the cockpit.
Since using them (about 8 months) I've noticed an enormous decrease in the guano.

I've watched the boat from the shore and seen gulls swoop in to land on the boom and swing away at the last moment.