Birds nest in boom

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Jim Seamans

Jim Seamans

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Mar 21, 2004
2,175
Hunter 356 Cobb Island, MD
Anyone have a method for retrieving bird nest material from the boom. Little bastards were trying to build condos in my boom this last week. There is enough grass up there to feed a horse for a week. Never mind all of the bird droppings on the bimini. Taped it over until I can figure out how to get it out. It is about half way into the boom. Don't think I can get a vacum hose into it but will try. Jim S/V Java
 
Rich Stidger

Rich Stidger

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Feb 10, 2004
4,102
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
I had the exact same problem......

for the last TWO YEARS!!!! Shame on me for letting it happen a second year. Last year I tried using a small shop vac with hose extensions to suck out as much as I could. It seems like that was only partly successful. Then I slacked the topping lift and let the boom hang over the side and I flushed it with a water hose. Pushing the hose into the boom down to the end was effective. This is not a fast process. If you can make up a stiff piece of wire about 3-5' long with a hook in the end you may be able to reach in and grab some of the debris and pull it out. Last year's nesting cost me 3-4 hours to clear out . Total PITA. If you have one of those electric or gas leaf blowers, that sounds like a promising solution. Now NEXT YEAR, do as I did this year. As soon as the cover came off, I covered and securely taped both ends of the boom.
 
Monty VM

Monty VM

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Jun 2, 2004
121
Hunter 430 Shelter bay, Panama
prevention

cant help with the cleaning but to prevent the problem I put an empty plastic soda bottle in the end of the boom when I am done sailing. easy to remove when it is tiem to go as well.
 
Roger (Ninette Manitoba)

Roger (Ninette Manitoba)

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Jan 22, 2008
519
Sundance Sundance 20 Weekender Ninette, Manitoba, Canada
coat hanger

I had the same problem this spring. Went in with a straightened coathanger except for a twisted hook at the end. It took a couple of attempts to get everything, but it eventually came out. Flushing with water afterward is a good idea. (I didn't have that option available, but its a good idea!)
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Doug, they were sparrows. ;D

How would duck tape help ? ;)
 
B

Buddy Richardson

Big sponge trick

We had the same problem. The droppings in the cockpit were really grouse. So on a lark I stuffed a big sponge in the end of the boom. It was a tight fit but it dove-tailed in there fine. The feathered offenders found this hard to swallow. Though this method uses up a perfectly good sponge, I have not egrets.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Doug, The Bill's on an evening G'Rossbeak

are better than the beaks on cliff swallows when a nest needs to be Doug. Jim needs to be careful not to provide a good nesting space atop his mast for Ospreys. He probably thinks that spiders are messy.
 
Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson

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Oct 14, 2005
2,191
1983 Hunter H34 North East, MD
Jim,,,

use a piece of hose with a smaller diameter, like a garden hose section, to reach up into the boom. Stick the other end of it in a regular vac hose and tape over the gap to create a greater vacuum.
 
G

George

Prevention

I store my boat hook in the boom,keeps them out,handy for the capt.
 
M

Mark

Hi Jim try this

A friend of mine had exactly the same problem. So I cam up with a solution that seems to have worked fine for the past few years. What we did was pull all the lines in the boom tight and cleat off. We then got a pressure pack of expanding foam. You know with the little nozzle on the end. We put the nozzle into the end of the boom and filled it with foam but not tooo much tho. When it had dried we released the lines and pulled them back and forth a few times to free them up and "whammo" a bird proof boom.
 
M

Mark

Oh and now I have read your question a second time

Try getting the old wash down hose at the dock and pushing it up the boom with a full stream of water :)
 
Paul Akers

Paul Akers

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Dec 3, 2003
2,101
Hunter Legend 37 Portsmouth, RI
It'll happen until...

...you block the entrance. Those little $%^&*(s are not reluctant to keep trying. If left a day, they will nest in the boom end. I keep a brush stuck into mine all the time. Take a coat hanger to remove the nest material. And do it before they lay their eggs. But keep the end blocked - always! I do like the hose & water solution, too!
 
S

Steve O.

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Jun 4, 2004
125
Hunter 333 Elk Rapids, MI
been there...

I lowered the boom over the side and stuck the hose in at the gooseneck and turned it on full blast. Then I took a piece of foam rubber, like cushion foam or packing from a computer carton, and stuck it into the boom end. Works great! I love to have the birds around, they eat lots of mosquitos. I just don't want them in my back yard! Besides, they poop on my poop deck...
 
R

Rich

adding to Mark's suggestion

I Liked Mark's clever suggestion about using the spray foam, I think I can suggest one improvement on it: wrap a plastic bag around each line exiting from the boom and when the foam is dry pull each line out enough to remove the bag. This keeps the lines from getting stained by the foam...
 
L

Luke

dustbroom

To get rid of the birds nest try this... Tape a dustbroom to the end of a pipe and try to sweep the nest out of the boom. GOOD LUCK LUKE
 
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