birds on wake towers

[mdutton11]

All right this is a very serious issue. We live on the water in the Puget Sound and my boat is kept on a buoy. I just upgraded to a 230BR with wakeboard tower and seagull crap was an issue before (previous boat w/o tower) but I am worried it is going to be even worse now that they have a "perch"

Other than a winchester (not good for keeping the boat floating) does anyone have any words of wisdom?

 

[Golfnit]

go buy a plastic owl

 

[mdutton11]

I've seen those - even with battery operated head swiveling. I figured they were a joke, do they really work?

 

[Firerooster]

I designed a flag holder for my tower.... U can see I have three flags up in my avatar. I put up an old pirate flag on mine when the boat is at home and on the trailer(we live out in the desert miles from anything) we get all kinds of birds dove, pigeons, owls, hawks etc that seem to like our wake tower. I found putting the flag up keeps them all away. Plus when skiing, wake boarding, I have an orange flag mount. When anchored my red white and blue amirican flag and two smaller pirate flags. Works out well for any occasion

 

[browneye253]

I designed a flag holder for my tower.... U can see I have three flags up in my avatar. I put up an old pirate flag on mine when the boat is at home and on the trailer(we live out in the desert miles from anything) we get all kinds of birds dove, pigeons, owls, hawks etc that seem to like our wake tower. I found putting the flag up keeps them all away. Plus when skiing, wake boarding, I have an orange flag mount. When anchored my red white and blue amirican flag and two smaller pirate flags. Works out well for any occasion

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'd love to see some close up pictures or instructions on how you made the flag holder. I'd like to fly a flag from the top of my tower but can't seem to find anyway to attach it securely.

 

[Firerooster]

Will, do, give me a couple days to do so. I have pics just need to find them. But I will tell u what I did was order 3 tower clamps from ur wake tower manf. They are usually a meteric thread....

Bullet whips makes quick disconnect whip flag holders for quads/atv's. I had them make 3 bases that fit the meter threads on the clamps. Then I bought the whip holder that connects and disconnects from the base. Bought a couple whip flags, cut the whip down to desired heights and added my own flags. They come on and off in a 1/4 turn and I can add or change to any flag I want real fast. I will dig up the pics for ya

 

[Golfnit]

While I'm not on the sound, I have a plastic bird on my lake dock and it sure does help out compared to the neighbors. Well worth the money for me at least.

 

[Firerooster]

Well rather then digging up old pics... Momma and I just took the boat out today so I took a few new pics for ya. It won't let me post them on here so pm me your email and I will send them to you

 

[mdutton11]

Does anybody else have a bird problem or am I the only one? Seems like I would have had all sorts of creative answeres by now. I am intrigued that the bird decoy might work - one website was saying to use a hawk (daytime preditor) instead of the usual owl (nighttime preditor). Any feedback on that one?

 

[b_arrington]

I use a Gull Sweep on top of my Amberjack bimini. Worked exceptionally well last year. I would expect that with the tower, it would be easier to mount than through the canvas.

I did loose a Gull Sweep in a wind storm on a previous boat so tried other bird-preventing methods; they didn't work so I went back to the sweep. They now make an optional retaining clip so the sweep can't be blown off - well worth it.