How do you keep your white boat white?

thank you; Thank You; THANK YOU!!!

(Oh lawdy, it only just now dawned on me that, taking delivery of our SPX 190 outboard after the New Year undoubtedly means the wife and I'll be "gifting" each other boat-related stuff for the holidays, ha-ha!)

On a related note, we had the electrician come by today to go over how we want / need electricity runnoutbto our floating (wooden frame) dock; I MENTIONED THIS THREAD AS I MOOOOOVED THE LIGHT FIXTURE ("bug attractor") on the drawing we were working off of I'D ORIGINALLY HAD CENTERED OVER THE BOAT SLIP -- away from directly over the boat!!!! :)
 
We do not light our dock. If you do, consider a pedistal power source like you see at marinas and spray it often with Home Defense or another spray that kills bugs on contact. Our dock is pretty much bug and spider free. As a result the birds stay away.
 
As far as keeping white boats white (and boat covers whatever color they originally are!) birds definitely will help add a touch of white to everything underneath where they choose to roost! It took some doing but, several weeks of hanging helium filled Mylar "party" balloons and shiny hanging party "tassels" amongst the joists and rafters up under our floating dock roof, all moving erratically in the breeze, along with an owl and hawk decoy, motivated the several generations of barn swallows to move to vacant dock houses across our lake. Trick was timing our efforts for June, when they briefly abandon the nests due to lice and mites, in between their Mar-May and Aug-Oct clutches.

I won't use any pesticides directly over the water or along the shore and have found a 1:1 ratio of white vinegar:water VERY effective at reducing spiders, etc. AFTER I knock the webs down.

As far as lights, I'd rather not but, between the occasional (isolated) local scoundrels pilfering lake docks for everything from batteries to gas tanks to anything not bolted down and grandkiddies night-fishing, the needs for some light become issues of security and safety. And, who am I kidding, our convenience, also.

I really appreciate this thread as it is going to serve to make me PRO-active in keeping the white portions of our red-badged SPX190, well, white!
 
As far as keeping white boats white (and boat covers whatever color they originally are!) birds definitely will help add a touch of white to everything underneath where they choose to roost! It took some doing but, several weeks of hanging helium filled Mylar "party" balloons and shiny hanging party "tassels" amongst the joists and rafters up under our floating dock roof, all moving erratically in the breeze, along with an owl and hawk decoy, motivated the several generations of barn swallows to move to vacant dock houses across our lake. Trick was timing our efforts for June, when they briefly abandon the nests due to lice and mites, in between their Mar-May and Aug-Oct clutches.

I won't use any pesticides directly over the water or along the shore and have found a 1:1 ratio of white vinegar:water VERY effective at reducing spiders, etc. AFTER I knock the webs down.

As far as lights, I'd rather not but, between the occasional (isolated) local scoundrels pilfering lake docks for everything from batteries to gas tanks to anything not bolted down and grandkiddies night-fishing, the needs for some light become issues of security and safety. And, who am I kidding, our convenience, also.

I really appreciate this thread as it is going to serve to make me PRO-active in keeping the white portions of our red-badged SPX190, well, white!
I'm curious about the use of vinegar to control spiders. Does it just kill the spiders that get hit by the spray or is there some sort of residue that coninues to control them? Also, what about the acid ruining finishes on metal and causing rust? The thing I like about pesticides on hard surfaces is the continuing control of insects that lasts for most of our season. I use a rag sprayed with Home Defense and wipe down spaces where spiders like to hang out on our boat. It works on electrical fixtures such as lights as well, is very effective and does not pollute.
 
Excellent question and, the distilled white vinegar undoubtedly would harm certain finishes; however; I forgot to mention we do not yet have any craft under our covered dock! Once we do, you're right -- I will no longer be able to just stroll out onto the dock with a 2-gal pump-up sprayer and spray with wild abandon.

I do not believe (and I certainly have no evidence) that any vinegar (let alone the white distilled stuff I use) actually kills or even annoys spiders if I am lucky enough to even get any on one (our water spiders are incredibly, blink-of-an-eye, fast!)

Empirically; however; there is no doubt in the mind of anyone in our household that there is something in the residue of the 1:1 vinegar-water solution that spiders eschew. The reduction of the nests we have to knock down this year over past (no vinegar) years is simply too drastic ... it's incredible really.

I give the eaves, rafters, roof joists and fascia boards all around and up under our dock roof a good "soaking" dose of the 1:1 vinegar-water solution and there is no doubt in my mind the amount of acidic coating has got to be noticeable (and apparently very repelling) to not just spiders but, lots of other flying and nuisance insects we're seeing less (or zero) of since we began trying the Vinegar

I am by no means a "tree hugger" but, I get uncharacteristically Very Pissed Off when I see or hear talk about "spraying" synthetic compound or petroleum-chemical-based pesticides over or even along the water.

Your second post mentions HAND-WIPING pesticides onto surfaces over the water and that actually seems as wise as it does effective.

I guess my challenge is, once the electrician is done, I will have so many overhead surfaces that hand-wiping will be impractical on (I.e., flouresent-tube-type LED lighting on both sides of the slip, multiple motion sensor floodlights, etc.) that I may wind up sticking with / settling for spraying the 1:1 Vinegar/Water AROUND (not directly on) overhead light fixtures, etc.

The "how to keep a white boat white" in this thread title is what caught my attention and one of the posts very accurately mentions what a problem "bug feces" is.

I had no idea just how tough insect waste can make keeping exterior surfaces truly clean until recently and so I hope all this discussion helps others as much as I've already gleaned from it!
 
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