Termites attack on a 'fibreglass' boat

Rum_Pirate

Rum_Pirate

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My 'fibreglass' boat after the decks was removed following termite 'tenting treatment'.

I can see lots of beer tokens flying here.:ambivalence:

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Note the 'rib'/bearer missing in its entirety. :nonchalance:

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Discarded bits:

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I don't think you need more pics, do you?
 
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that's frightening ! But you will have the satisfaction of lots of nice new woodwork soon.


Are termites a common problem over there ? If so, what sort of prevention can you undertake ?
 
Very sorry for you. That is one good reason why I avoid using untreated wood as a core and why I avoid taking any corrugated cartons on board. I have even come across cases where the 'core' was plain chipboard! People who do that ought to be shot.

When you get round to rebuilding I would suggest using rigid foam as a core.
 
Yes along with nice weather you also get termites here in Oz. The kind we have live in the soil and must make tracks (tunnels) up to wood so I can't imagine them getting into a boat. But they sure cause trouble with outdoor wooden structures. I( am currently repairing a pergola savaged by termites. treatment will be using steel posts to isolate the wood from ground and lots of soaking poisen into the soil around the structure. Little b's olewill
 
Was it Bill Beavis who wrote a piece about the terror of the polyestermite, nearly thirty years ago? I recall only one line, but it still creases me up:

"And then there was the man who had a gribble in his deadwood...which may sound like a matter for antibiotics and a private ward..."

;)
 
davidpbo said:
Presumably attack on the wood? Or did they go after the fibreglass as well?

If the former, how did they get to attack it?
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They attacked the wood.

I hauled it out and stored it in a Business' yard during last years hurricane season. It was formally a cane field.

We have termites that fly here. The local name is 'rain flies' as they swarm after heavy rains.

I am getting the boat yard to fully encase the timber in fibreglass.

The chaps that I got to 'encease' the fuel tank deck cover only encapsulated the top and edges. :mad-new: :mad-new: :mad-new:

There was a 'nest' about 8" x 4" x 6" in a stern locker. We are going to take core samples of the transom (supports 2 x 85hp Yamaha's.) :nonchalance:
 
Those guys in the UK have no idea how lucky they are being able to leave their boats on the hard over the winter and expect a week of hard frost sometime to wipe out the unwanted guests!

Regards from South Pacific,

Dratsea
 
Rum_Pirate said:
They attacked the wood.

I hauled it out and stored it in a Business' yard during last years hurricane season. It was formally a cane field.

We have termites and white ants in Sydney that fly here. The local name is 'rain flies' as they swarm after heavy rains.

I am getting the boat yard to fully encase the timber in fibreglass.

The chaps that I got to 'encease' the fuel tank deck cover only encapsulated the top and edges. :mad-new: :mad-new: :mad-new:

There was a 'nest' about 8" x 4" x 6" in a stern locker. We are going to take core samples of the transom (supports 2 x 85hp Yamaha's.) :nonchalance:
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well usually, and this is from what little I know about termites, they feed wood like furniture and other wooden boat parts. So if you just prevent those things with anti termite chemicals or paint, you can greatly reduce the harm done by termites.
 
dancrane said:
Was it Bill Beavis who wrote a piece about the terror of the polyestermite, nearly thirty years ago?
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As it first appeared in the Feb 1970 edition of Yachting and Boating, nearly 50 years ago now, maybe YBW won't be too upset if I reproduce it here:

'I think you may be interested in my discovery.' That was as much as the Lloyds surveyor would tell me on the telephone. Hardly the sort of invitation to lure one down to the coast on a wintry afternoon - except that I detected a special note of urgency in his voice.

We had arranged to meet near the boat hoist, but when I arrived at the yard he was already by the gate, jam jar in hand.

'Look at this,' he grated, thrusting his arm through the car window. The jar he was holding contained a small prawn-like creature.

'What is it?' I asked, being largely mistrustful of seafood.

'It's a polyestermite,' he boasted proudly. 'The first one we've managed to catch in this country.'

'Well, well ... that's really exciting.' I offered cautiously. 'If there's one subject certain to bring me racing to the coast without my lunch, it's insectology. I'm mad about bugs. So what does it do, eat turnips or something?'

'No, glassfibre, as a matter of fact. It eats glassfibre boats.'

He led me across to an infested boat which was lying in her cradle. 'This is where we found the little horror,' he explained, and banged the hull with his hammer. A shower of white powder fell to the ground.

'You mean to say they've done this!' The hull looked to me like a section drawing through an ant colony.

'Yes,' he replied. 'In three days. She was as sound as a bell when the owner left her on Sunday. When he comes down on Friday he'll be able to sweep her away with a broom.'

I dusted my shoulders already covered with leftovers and droppings, sat down and listened while he told me the whole incredible story. It appears that, with the demise of wooden boats, the common gribble or shipworm began to go hungry. There was a great migration to wooden piers, wharves and things like that, but soon these were all eaten up and starvation followed. Eventually and inevitably there was cannibalism, a situation in which only the toughest of the species would survive. Not only did the toughest survive, but the sinister creatures actually grew stronger and larger due to the hormone-rich diet their mates had provided; soon we had a super-gribble on our hands.

Opinions are divided as to the precise stage when the super-gribble evolved into the polyestermite but, in a relatively short period of time, Nature adapted itself to man's preference for glassfibre (cleans with a damp cloth!) and gave this new species the facility with which to eat it. In chemical terms this was a masticatory-assisted gland containing a powerful solvent acid. The acid, which chemists have found to be a hundred times stronger than nail varnish remover, is excreted onto the gel coat and then dispersed by the insect's feet - it will be noticed that some of the fore legs are shaped like glue spreaders for the purpose. The acid soon dissolves the gel coat and the creature is quickly through to the chopped strand rnat, or the woven rovings, which of course it enjoys best. It is a prolific eater and can, during a feeding frenzy such as the mating season when it needs a lot of energy, eat four times its own weight.

The polyestermite (or resinus pestus domestos) was first discovered in America where it was found eating plastic detergent bottles on the Hudson River, a splendid debut which instantly endeared it to the Friends of the Earth Society. Very quickly they were marketing T-shirts with the little crustacean on the front. Indeed it was a rapturous beginning, and a Wisconsin candidate, running for Congress on a conservation ticket, even adopted the polyestermite as his motif. But then somebody found them quietly chewing away on the recently laid Alaskan pipeline, and the honeymoon promptly ended.

Despite strict surveillance at the ports and a ban imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the polyestermite came to Britain some time last winter. Already it is firmly established along the south coast, where its notoriety has even overshadowed the fast growing Japanese seaweed. So far no effective antidote has been found, although everything including banned insecticides has been tried - it actually enjoys some of the better known proprietary brands.

And now there is one more alarming fact which has just been discovered. Government scientists working at the Germ Warfare Establishment at Porton Down near Salisbury have found that the polyestermite is biologically double-ended. That is to say it has a mouth at each end so, with mandibles at the front and nippers at the rear, it can lie on its back in a marina and eat two boats at once.

I asked the Lloyds surveyor if there was anything, just anything, which owners could do to protect their boats from the ravages of this pest. There was only one sure remedy, he said, expensive but totally effective.

'And what is that?' I demanded anxiously.

'Sheathe the boat in wood.'
 
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As it first appeared in the Feb 1970 edition of Yachting and Boating, nearly 50 years ago now, maybe YBW won't be too upset if I reproduce it here:
Click to expand...

I seem to recall attributing that wonderful piece of investigative boaty journalism to the late great Des Sleightholme.

They don't make YBW Editors like that, these days! :rolleyes:
 
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