Bird Poo

[LTD.330]

Oh man, am I tired of little berry eating birds taking dump on my boat. I try to wash the purple crap off but it always leaves a stain or the outline of a stain.

Surely other people have this problem, how do you guys go about cleaning it off? Can you tell where the little bastards pooped on your boat?

Thanks.

 

[Uplate]

Not sure about the purple stuff, but our dock has barn swallows. Our marina also does not have enclosed Ibeams and the L shaped ones that make perfect nesting and roosting ledges. Unfornately (for the swallows) they are protected and is illegal to disturb them. During the nesting season I see a line of crap directly below the roof beams above my slip.

The mechanical solution is to run a straight piece of plastic gutter trim across the Ibeam so there is nowhere for them to nest.

As far as cleanup, Starbrite Non Skid Deck cleaner works wonders, and it says it also protects after use. I believe it. I can hose off the bird crap easily, apply the Starbrite, let it sit for 5 minutes or so, rebrush the area, and then hose off clean.

The areas that are not taken care of by the Starbrite are soon faded when I pull the boat out into the sun for a few hours.

F*** those birds. I have heard dockmates use everything from pellet guns to Termite Killer spray to keep them away. then there are the useless fake owls and mylar tape.

 

[Prater]

I use a product called Amazing Roll Off. That cleaner pretty much cleans everything. It just melts spider pop also. Its bio-degradable and originally made for boats.

 

[LTD.330]

I've used the Starbrite Deck Cleaner, but I can still see the dull outline where the deed was done.

Thanks for the suggestion for Amazing Roll Off. I'll pick some up at West Marine and give it a shot.

 

[Whitenights]

Uplate, at some of our marinas that have the metal docks, I have seen them lay lengths of PVC pipe on the lip you are taking about. Birds will not stand on a curved surface, but the ends of each pipe needs a cap or else the spiders will be the next problem.

 

[AKBASSKING]

Have you tried hanging a couple of wind socks to keep the birds away?

 

[Uplate]

Uplate, at some of our marinas that have the metal docks, I have seen them lay lengths of PVC pipe on the lip you are taking about. Birds will not stand on a curved surface, but the ends of each pipe needs a cap or else the spiders will be the next problem.

This might just be the ticket. Since it is rigid it would be easy to span the 15'W slip. I have seen other things like coiled wire that can stretch to 25', but I would have to borrow someones houseboat and a ladder to get up to the beam to attach it properly.

Thanks for the info, you may have just saved me time, money, and most of all Bird S**T.

We all have spider problems here and that is nothing compared to the birds.

 

[jamesgang]

Our marina is just the opposite. No where up top for birds to nest but the spiders are another story thanks to an old unkempt houseboat next to me covered w/webs & junky crap. The old man lives there but won't clean up his boat or his slip. I bet he has 5 old grills sitting on the dock along with his other crap. We pay for spider maintenance but I think its working in reverse or else somebody is not doing their job. Our other neighbors keep their boats clean. I don't blame the spiders for moving to the cleanliness on my boat but it's getting really bad! The spiders living in the cockpit get sucked up with the Admiral's vac while I scrub the exterior and feed live spiders to the fish. Then we've got these bugs that look like mosquitoes but aren't. They live in the weeds growing out of the side of the docks. When everybody sprays their weeds we have no problem with these bugs. If you swat one it leaves a greasy black glob. They hide good but if they're missed by the vac the Admiral catches & squishes them in a wet paper towel.

 

[Gofirstclass]

To keep birds from landing on bow rails, look for a product called "Bird-Off". It's a series of plastic clips that attach to the bow rail about 2' apart. You run fishing line through the notches in the top of the clip. It works well.

JamesGang, why don't you wander over to the junky houseboat late at night and spray the bejesus out of it with your spider spray. I used to have the same problem at my old marina with a houseboat and lots of his junk on the dock. After a couple of sessions of spraying as much of the houseboat that I could reach we didn't have the big spider problem any longer.