A Whole Lot Of Peck'n Go'n On,, ??

[Lucky Bum]

This started when I pulled "GETAWAY" for the winter two years ago. My dock is an all metal floating type and the boat is birthed on the starboard side. As you can see the white vinyl tape looks like something pecked away and peeled it from the waterline. I repaired this aft quarter this spring with a new peice of tape. And this fall 2008, it has happened again ( about half as much though).

Has anyone experienced the same... Would it be the mallard ducks doing this while hiding between boat and dock?

 

[Joe11688]

This started when I pulled "GETAWAY" for the winter two years ago. My dock is an all metal floating type and the boat is birthed on the starboard side. As you can see the white vinyl tape looks like something pecked away and peeled it from the waterline. I repaired this aft quarter this spring with a new peice of tape. And this fall 2008, it has happened again ( about half as much though).

Has anyone experienced the same... Would it be the mallard ducks doing this while hiding between boat and dock?

That's really odd, Chuck! I've never heard of anyone having that problem. Sometimes the seagulls stand on my spreaders and do poo-poos all over my sail cover, but that's about it. I don't think that you're going to solve this problem unless you can lure him in with crumbs of bread,-- and smash his crumby little head! Ducks aren't too bad with orange sauce. All kidding aside, the only way to cure this problem is to remove the tape and extend the bottom paint to the top of the boot stripe. You could always use a white enamel paint instead of the tape. Maybe that tape has something in it that he likes. :dance: Good luck with this one, Chuck! I really don't know what to tell you.
Joe

 

[Lucky Bum]

That's really odd, Chuck! I've never heard of anyone having that problem. Sometimes the seagulls stand on my spreaders and do poo-poos all over my sail cover, but that's about it. I don't think that you're going to solve this problem unless you can lure him in with crumbs of bread,-- and smash his crumby little head! Ducks aren't too bad with orange sauce. All kidding aside, the only way to cure this problem is to remove the tape and extend the bottom paint to the top of the boot stripe. You could always use a white enamel paint instead of the tape. Maybe that tape has something in it that he likes. :dance: Good luck with this one, Chuck! I really don't know what to tell you.
Joe

Joe,
If it is Mallard Ducks, seems to me they must have beaks with knife sharp edges allowing to get under the vinyl tape edges in order to pull the tape off?

Why is it only on the aft starboard quarter? And not on the other part of the boat?
Joe you have always been able to give me a reason why,,,,but now this is starting to worry me. If my boat is being eaten by visitors, what else could they be attacking. When I broke my rudder last summer I did not notice anything munching on it but,,,,,,,,, hummmmm maybe,,,,,, . A Roswell Ohio incident is brewing here ?

 

[Joe11688]

Joe,
If it is Mallard Ducks, seems to me they must have beaks with knife sharp edges allowing to get under the vinyl tape edges in order to pull the tape off?

Why is it only on the aft starboard quarter? And not on the other part of the boat?
Joe you have always been able to give me a reason why,,,,but now this is starting to worry me. If my boat is being eaten by visitors, what else could they be attacking. When I broke my rudder last summer I did not notice anything munching on it but,,,,,,,,, hummmmm maybe,,,,,, . A Roswell Ohio incident is brewing here ?

Chuck,
It's a mystery to me. I knew that your rudder blade was going to go in time, because mine did, and the replacement rudder that I bought off O'Day back then, also went. I remember that you had mentioned this same problem before. This friend of mine who lives up the road from our club and belongs to a YC just up the river from us told me a story about squirrels getting into their boats on the water and doing damage to them. I was a bit incredulous when he told me this, and I still am, but he was dead serious when he told me. He's a retired school teacher and he owns a 40' cutter on the river. He was also a past Commodore of that club. We have all kind of wildlife that hang around our club, like swans, geese, ducks, and blue crabs. We also have squirrels, but they stay near the trees and never bother us. Here's a picture of a large swan that came right up to us last summer. He was trying to mooch some food off of us. I introduced Penelope to him and she reluctantly agreed to pose for a picture with him. :cry:

 

[Lucky Bum]

The white swan

Joe,

Now have you heard this... Ohio gets a brown migrating swan in late fall. The Bass Islands gets thousands of them, along with a number of the white swan. Because the browns are the natural migrating bird they are protected, however the white ones are domestic birds that have gone wild and follow the brown. This was told to me by Ohio Division of Wildlife who studies the migration of many birds in our area. The subject got started when I asked about the increase of the Cormorant on Lake Erie and how they have to be eating our game fish and why don't they let hunters shoot them and control their population. He said he wishes the same but they are also a migrating bird and are protected. He mentioned the white swan and how destructive they are by destroying the local rookeries as they pass through. He said he'd certainly look the other way if the hunters would shoot them ( the white swan ) but try and get away with that with the locals.

"GETAWAY" is put away for the winter by the time the swans come through. They are a pretty bird. Much nicer looking than the natural brown swan we get. Hummm we do get plenty of Canadian geese, could they be the culprit?

 

[LordNelson]

Are you sure it's a bird? Could it just be wave action? i would think this would be a difficult area for tape to stick as it is right where the water meets the air. it would be subject to constant water action, especially in the stern as it lays at a flatter angle to the water. (although i have no tape here i do seem to get more algae growth in that same spot.)

 

[Joe11688]

Joe,

Now have you heard this... Ohio gets a brown migrating swan in late fall. The Bass Islands gets thousands of them, along with a number of the white swan. Because the browns are the natural migrating bird they are protected, however the white ones are domestic birds that have gone wild and follow the brown. This was told to me by Ohio Division of Wildlife who studies the migration of many birds in our area. The subject got started when I asked about the increase of the Cormorant on Lake Erie and how they have to be eating our game fish and why don't they let hunters shoot them and control their population. He said he wishes the same but they are also a migrating bird and are protected. He mentioned the white swan and how destructive they are by destroying the local rookeries as they pass through. He said he'd certainly look the other way if the hunters would shoot them ( the white swan ) but try and get away with that with the locals.

"GETAWAY" is put away for the winter by the time the swans come through. They are a pretty bird. Much nicer looking than the natural brown swan we get. Hummm we do get plenty of Canadian geese, could they be the culprit?

I've never heard of a brown swan Chuck. There may some up here but I've never seen them. My friend Norman who lives in Alabama says that they have black swans down there where he lives in Ozark. I tried to feed that swan out of my hand and he grabbed a hold of my hand with his beak, but he didn't hurt me. We haven't had any problems with the geese at the club, but they sure can defecate the property if they're left to graze on it. A guy on the river uses fireworks to scare them off once in a while. We do have an early goose hunting season in Ma., that starts in September. This is how we keep the population of Canadian Honkers down. Maybe you can set up one of those deer hunter's cameras with the trip line, near the dock and try to get a picture of him. Who knows? You may get lucky and get a good picture of him caught in the act,--red beaked!
Joe

 

[Lucky Bum]

Are you sure it's a bird? Could it just be wave action? i would think this would be a difficult area for tape to stick as it is right where the water meets the air. it would be subject to constant water action, especially in the stern as it lays at a flatter angle to the water. (although i have no tape here i do seem to get more algae growth in that same spot.)

Have also thought of wave action, and wonder why the port side does not get affected... There must be a relationship of this cozy nook and the constant shade created by the hull and the floating dock. What could have the strength to peel vinyl?

 

[LordNelson]

if the water action loosened the tape, the constant movement of the loose tape by would might have caused it kind of like metal fatigue, although you would think it would just peel it more.

my boat is on a mooring but i seem to get more algae on one side of the boat. i think it is due to the prevailing winds causing it to face one direction more than the other. the sun shines on the one side more because the boat gets more sun from the west than east due to trees. maybe there is something about the wave action from the way the boat is sitting at the dock?

what about a muskrat? i have heard of them chewing through the boot of an I/O and sinking the boat at the dock.