Seagull s***t !!

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stantheman

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Apologies in advance if this has already been answered in the forum, but I couldn't find a post for it... Having big problems with seagulls using my boat for target practice. Boat has a canvas top. Has anyone got any recommendations for seagull deterrents?? I have read about plastic owls - do they work?
 
Shoot one and hang it by its leg from the spreader or such

OR get some green garden netting (approx £15 for a lot) and stretch this over all

Shooting one (sorry, finding a dead one) and hanging it up works v well
 
From what I've seen. move your boat. The B*****s seem to target a boat in a position that they like. I've seen boats on the Helford really covered in guano, while the boat next to them is pristine. I've seen boats festooned with all sorts of devices to discourage them completely covered in guano while the boat next to them (unprotected as it were) completely free.

If they choose your boat then tough s**t, as it were.
 
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Shoot one and hang it by its leg from the spreader

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Do you leave it up when your sailing or put it in the fridge? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Not sure how well the owls work.
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PS welcome on the forums "major disaster"you can join" major catastrophe" in the officers mess. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
OK, joking apart there are several things you can try. The main aim of these is to persuade them to go and cr4p on someone else's boat.

Run a line about 6" above the boom to stop them perching there.

Make up a bird scarer from a long length of line (right round the boat) with strips of material attached at 1 foot intervals. The first year I used strips of poly bag about 2 feet long and knotted to the line in the middle of each strip. I replaced these with strips torn from an old sail (well I think it was an old one, it was in a skip)

Collect all the free CDs that come with newspapers. Make two holes in each, and thread onto lines to run from mast to stem-head.

It takes a few minutes to set all this up or remove it, but it does work until nearby boats use something even more drastic.
 
They become ripe quickly I agree but there's always a fresh one around!

Certainly worked for an angling boat owner, he said they kept away from his boat.
 
The dead seagull trick works really well, my boat was the only one on the dart which didnt get crapped on, best if you shot a couple members of a flock of them, which is what I did, the others seem to remember and stay well clear!!

No I dont want to hear crap about how protected they are! There's millions of the barstewards!
 
Well I do appreciate that UK seaguls are 3 times the size of Oz gulls but just as messy. One idea is to make up a rotating balanced arm with cups on the ends like an anenometer. This rotates about 6 inches above the most susceptible area. It rotates in the wind.

The best deterent is to use the boat a lot. good luck (and even that won't help) olewill
 
Really shoot them..

They aren’t thick, your average seagull works out pretty quickly that the crappy fake plastic garden centre purchased static owl, is in fact a fake crappy plastic static owl. So much so they then kind of take the piss, they’ll target your boat for have a fake crappy plastic owl.

Shoot them, they work that scenario pretty damn quick an all.

End of problem.
 
I think my seagulls were trained by Barnes Wallis. I left the forehatch open last week, returned to find three massive dollops on the duvet. Nowhere else, awesome accuracy.
 
Did I read somewhere that they target certain colours? I have a couple of employees with gold coloured cars and they make a beeline for those. The short straw is when you have to park your car between these two
 
a) Are they protected?
b) If so does this apply at both inland and offshore sites?

I've always thought they were protected but don't actually know. I expect that even if they aren't and I killed one (may take a lot of shots in my case), the neighbouring flat owners would be up in arms.

If it's just a case of stopping them landing on the boat then our overall net works fine but is a bit tiresome to erect. Not as tiresome as cleaning off hardened crap though.
If it's to stop them using your boat as bombing practice, then I don't know that there is a remedy other than covering the whole boat with a washable tarpaulin. The only other alternative is to move to another berth and don't leave them your forwarding address!!

The aforementioned use of CDs is not good for those people/neighbours that find the continuous flashing very disturbing. I know of three people that have had this reaction and we have had to ask one boatowner to take the CDs down. This he did with no complaint, thankfully, but it should be recognised that there can be a problem, for others, with this system.
 
They are supposed not to be keen on grey boats and when we changed from one with white coachroof and deck to one with pale grey matters did improve. However my motorboat with dark blue cabin roof and some handy stainless handrails for perching on was a right gull's toilet. Canada Geese aren't so bad as their crap is soft and grassy and washes easily away.
A rubber snake had good results for about a year, but then they got wise to that.
 
Shooting them one at a time takes too long.

Best is to find out where their squadron is based and make one massive attack!

(Notice how squeaky clean they keep their base?)

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