Tarps under the roof on covered docks?

[Dave S]

Does anyone use a tarp under the roof of their covered dock to keep spider poop and bird droppings to a minimum? This is a common pratice at our Marina but I have yet to see an installation that looks very good. Tarps are attached in all kinds of different ways but many are sagging and flopping around in the wind and some have broken loose and were sitting on top of the boats too over the winter.

Since keeping my boat in a covered slip is a new thing to me, I decided to erect my own tarp over the weekend. I guess Im not too satisfied with the results so I am asking if there are any tips you can offer and also any recommendation on the tarp you feel works best. The tarp I put up is 10 x 30 and it covers the roof area pretty well.

Thanks.

 

[goblue]

Spray the underside of your roof with a spider/mite product developed for fruit trees. You will have no spiders and the birds will go where the food supply (spiders) is better. We have no spiders on our dock and have been using this technique with good sucess for years.

 

[Stray Cat]

I do what goblue mentions. I spray during the week when almost no one is at the dock. Once during a season seems to be enough.

I can imagine the tarp would be quite a pain. Especially if the birds "load" them up!

 

[Dave S]

Thanks for the suggestion but I would probably be thrown out of the Marina if I sprayed the roof. Someone is always there. Besides that the Marina folks said they used to spray the roof but it damaged Isenglas so they don't do it any longer. And we are talking about some mighty high roofs to boot that I couldn't reach with a conventional tank sprayer.

BTW.............it was quite "harrowing" trying to get that tarp in place too on my ladder on the narrow walk ways on either side of the boat. :smt021 :smt021

 

[goblue]

And we are talking about some mighty high roofs to boot that I couldn't reach with a conventional tank sprayer.

We don't use a conventional sprayer. The garden shops sell the product in a plastic bottle that attaches to a garden hose. The spray will go 30-40 feet up with the nozzle adjusted properly. It takes me 5 minutes to really soak the dock, a couple feet of dock lines where they attach to mooring cleats and six finger pilings. Our dock is 50 feet long and has two 17x50 slips. This is the first thing I do every spring after I clean up tht gifts left behind by the gulls. Once it is clean they move over to a neighbor who never cleans his dock.

 

[RobF300]

you will want to build a frame work for the tarp so that you can pull it tight, people use PVC, or 2x3s, etc...

 

[Dave S]

Rob.........excellent idea! :thumbsup:

The PVC frame would be the easiest thing to do because it will fairly light as well. I think I'll give it a try.