Wasp problem

[Drinkmilk]

We've been dry sailing too much lately due to boat projects (play jobs) and changing hours at work (pay jobs). The wasps found us and won't stay away. I've knocked several nests down as well as sprayed inside the mast. I held off with the chemicals for family's sake, but used eventually used Raid in the mast. And... they're back. In the cabin now too.

Any ideas?

 

[sailnewbie]

When I first bought our boat there was all kinds of insects in there, from mud robbers to spider etc due to it sitting for years so I went to the dollar store bought 3 insect/flea bombs opened all inside hatches and closed all outside doors windows so on and threw them in, 3 hours later dead bugs of all kinds laying around, swept up and done

 

[kloudie1]

In the cabin, you can use No Pest Strips. http://www.hotshot.com/products-and-solutions/all-products/no-pest-strip.aspx
when I get aboard, I put them into a zip lock bag and air the boat out before closing up and running AC.. They work really well.. especially if you go on a quest to remove all the mud leavings in lockers and under places that ya don't see that they use to navigate back to the boat.

 

[T_Cat]

I work outside and we get extensive paper wasp nests in our upright racking. We use a spray wasp killer for them but up by the cash registers we hang wasp nest decoys so we don't spray chemicals around our customers. It seems to work. Maybe its something that would help for you.

 

[Ron20324]

A year or two ago someone on this forum suggested a product called "Home Defense". Available at MANY stores, I suppose, but I got it at Home Depot. I walked in and there was a large display right there. Comes with a wand with battery powered pump-sprayer. After every rain I saturate-spray the dock end of the lines and maybe a foot up the line. It has been quite noticeable that I have no bugs on board this year. Bow-in the slip, I have never sprayed the mid or outer pilings. For the wasp/bees, when I was a phone man I find you really need the kind that shoots 10-30 feet or so, and have (usually) a 'systemic' poison to do the dirty work. I sprayed a raccon with it, and he's never been back. He might be dead for all I know.

 

[kito]

My C22 has open louvers in one of the crib boards. I see wasps get in through the slots. I'm going to install a screen to that board from the inside. It should cut down the bees inside anyway

 

[Drinkmilk]

That fake decoy looks pretty interesting. And it works? No chemicals either. I'll just have to put a smiley face on it so the kids don't freak out as much as the wasps. :lol My wife is a 'natural remedies' type, so she'll like that one. You know how it goes..."Happy wife, happy life." Where would I put it? On a spreader? Double duty as radar reflector???

FYI, she found today a 1:1 mix of water to peppermint oil recipe online that might work, too.

Oh, I thought about screens, but the little buggers came in the gaps under the sliding hatch. Not sure how to screen that.

Thanks, all, for the ideas.

 

[T_Cat]

Lowes sells the decoys here in California. They seem to work. We never have nests in the areas we put them.

 

[seadaddler]

Had the same problem one summer at my slip and tried everything finally got long yellowish trap at home depot and you add liquid and boy O boy did it worked great and filled up and that was the end after a day or 2 but was not cheap maybe $16.00 but was worth it and kept working with refill after a month.

 

[sailnewbie]

I understand the natural thing, but a dead bug is dead no matter, wait til your alone and use the good stuff and it's over, sssshhhhh

 

[Drinkmilk]

I understand the natural thing, but a dead bug is dead no matter, wait til your alone and use the good stuff and it's over, sssshhhhh

Ha! True, but I did use the "good stuff" about a week ago and they came back. I'm almost thinking they're far up in the mast. That and I've found them a few times under the edge of the front hatch. The one under the handle just inside the sliding hatch was new. I slid it open and was surrounded by several wasps just as surprised as I was. Uncannily, no stings... yet.

Maybe I'll just give everyone on the boat mint gum and tell them to look before they sit. :/

 

[gitpicker2007]

I use that strip in the cabin and it works great on the inside, but I've had an unbelievable problem with them nesting in the end of the mast during storage. I tried blocking the end with a big piece of foam, but they literally pulled it apart. I stood there watching as they literally picked off little pieces till they could get past it. Now I just hit them with that knockdown stuff whenever I'm ready to take the boat out, and leave them alone otherwise.

 

[Jacktar]

Put a piece of screen behind the crib board vent, and both fuel compartment vents and then a sock with few mothballs in it in stern port lazarette and in one in bow compartment, should keep wasps out.

 

[Jackdaw]

A year or two ago someone on this forum suggested a product called "Home Defense". Available at MANY stores, I suppose, but I got it at Home Depot. I walked in and there was a large display right there. Comes with a wand with battery powered pump-sprayer. After every rain I saturate-spray the dock end of the lines and maybe a foot up the line. It has been quite noticeable that I have no bugs on board this year. Bow-in the slip, I have never sprayed the mid or outer pilings. For the wasp/bees, when I was a phone man I find you really need the kind that shoots 10-30 feet or so, and have (usually) a 'systemic' poison to do the dirty work. I sprayed a raccon with it, and he's never been back. He might be dead for all I know.

That was probably me; I'm HUGE fan of the stuff. For spiders mostly.

 

[jwing]

I like Viper. I've used it on the outside of my house for years. One application per year or every other year. Rain does not wash it away. Works well on my boat, too - once a year.

I typically hate using chemicals, but I haven't detected any adverse effects from Viper. I tried all the home remedies/non-chemical interventions first. They only worked in enclosed spaces. Bugs hate the smell of cedar. They also seem to hate the smell of drier sheets, but so do I. It's easier for me to spritz a bit of Viper around the ingress/egress that the bugs use. My annual application is at the end of the fall sailing season.

 

[Daveinet]

A 2 liter bottle of orange soda with about two inches of pop left in the bottom. Drill one wasp sized hole in the clear side. The yellow jackets and wasps smell their way in, but can't find the hole to get back out. They eventually get tired and drop to the bottom drowning in the soda. You can't believe how many it will catch.

 

[pclarksurf]

I think the bug bomb idea mentioned above would work-- but based on your pics I'm thinking if you set it off in a larger container and then pipe the output via a tube into the mast? that would definitely smoke them out permanently, but a little engineering required on your part.

 

[ShotgunSlim]

We have all the usual suspects here in Al.: paper wasps, dirt daubers, hornets, ants

and yellowjackets. I even had a nest of yellowjackets inside the bilge pump at one point. I actually made a Sunbrella material drawstring bag and put it over then bottom of the mast to keep paper wasps out of the mast while the boat sits on the trailer. I also added a screen to the back of the vented top crib board to keep the dirt daubers out, so far that's what has worked for me.

 

[Drinkmilk]

I thought about the soda bottle thing. Nasty but effective. As for smoking them, yah, I have the admiral hunting down incense sticks (punks?) so I don't have to have my hands close to their escape route. Admiral likes incense so it's what we have around.

Sunbrella boot? I sense a project for my girls. Might not be pro looking, but they'll be involved in something. Probably will be a patterned boot or some characters on it, but as long as it's not bright like flowers (attracts bees, wasps) it could work. I understand the cinch tie at the top, but how'd you secure the bottom? Velcro? Gravity?

 

[jwing]

A 2 liter bottle of orange soda with about two inches of pop left in the bottom. Drill one wasp sized hole in the clear side. The yellow jackets and wasps smell their way in, but can't find the hole to get back out. They eventually get tired and drop to the bottom drowning in the soda. You can't believe how many it will catch.

You are correct, sir! I couldn't believe how many wasps got caught in the three of these kinds of traps that I hung on my house: zero! Dammit!