How to control spiders on your boat?

[dive7mmwet]

We moved our girl late this year and at this marina Northern Wisconsin we have a plague of nasty spiders and their poop makes a mess on the out side hull, deck and other areas, I have them controlled on the inside with a pest strip we bag the strip, and ventilate the boat prior to use and it works great.
I am putting one in the main sail bag next year to keep the spots off the main!

I have started at the marina asking dock mates and have got they march on your boat via dock lines to treat your lines? I think they sail in on parachutes like in Charlotte's web!
next a hedge apple its supposed to kill them? that my daughter brought on the boat not sure on this one?
any tips I am missing love the help!

 

[Ross]

Re: how to control spiders (on) your boat ???

All of that spider poop comes from the spiders eating bugs. If there were no bugs there would be no spider poop and probably very few spiders. Spiders are much like barn cats they are there because that is where the food is to be found.

 

[Ron20324]

Re: how to control spiders (on) your boat ???

I was just tied up in Chestertown (MD) for 2 nights. Back in the home slip, I saw two varieties of large spiders like I've never seen, and a cricket. Maybe I should have tied up centered in the slip, rather than beam-to.

 

[Ross]

Re: how to control spiders (on) your boat ???

Several times in the morning or late afternoon sun I have seen the gossamer of spider silk forming curtains on all of the standing rigging where the baby spiders have ballooned in and been snagged on the shrouds. Spiders are everywhere.

 

[quadrille38]

Here is what we do to try to manage spider population. First we adopt a mind set that it is really their boat and they let us use it on the weekends. Seriously though try this. We use Home Defense insect spray. Spray the dock lines to reduce the traffic there. You can spray stanchions, rigging or other places where they gather by holding a rag behind and spraying towards it and catching any drips. Use the saturated rag to wipe zippers and pockets in the dodger and Bimini where they nest. You only need to spray about once a month. And as for those lovely black spots they leave we've found Tilex works to remove the stains.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Spiders...

Note to Ron: even boats out on our club moorings were plagued with spiders--apparently there is a variety that can fly or parachute!

After dark, I would make the rounds on deck with a flashlight and a can of Raid insect spray. By the second night of a weekend, most within arms length were deceased.

"Spider Away" and "Home Defense" are both chemical deterents used with varying success against the ones that inhabited the docks, but on a boat would become a sticky issue in the hot sun.

I found that dryer cloths under the sail cover did little good--raising the main after not sailing the boat for more than two week resulted in a rain of 8-leggers of all sizes!

 

[Ron20324]

Several times in the morning or late afternoon sun I have seen the gossamer of spider silk forming curtains on all of the standing rigging where the baby spiders have ballooned in and been snagged on the shrouds. Spiders are everywhere.

Yeah, Ross... I noticed that today on the helm, leaning back and looking at the rigging. Backstays, topping lift, shrouds... they were like tinsel on a tree, there were so many. Time to floss, i guess.

 

[All U Get]

While traveling from Fla. last spring I was raising the main and had to unzip the sail-pack. Somewhere while climbing around I had been bitten by one of these bugs but didn't notice anything until my wife had pointed it out. By then we were off-shore headed for Charleston. The welt was 3" round, red, and a raised spot in the center, no bite mark. Two days later the spot was still there so I stopped in at a Charleston hospital (near City Marina) to get it checked out. They could only advise me to come back if it got worse. We kept moving with the good weather and the spot faded away after two more days. I kept an eye out for spiders the rest of the trip home.

All U Get

 

[EWARREN]

I have used Simple Green with a lot of success to remove the spider tracks.

 

[Forrest15112]

I use a product called Suspend SC on the boat and at home. It kills spiders and most insects and is very safe for pets and people after it has dried. It leaves no odor, even when first applied. It comes as a concentrate that you add water too. In its concentrated form, i can detect a slight latex paint kind of smell, but that required putting my nose almost in the bottle. If you spray the cabin, nobody would be able to tell by odor.

It's very effective against spiders, roaches, & ants. It has a long list of bugs that it can be used against, but those are the biggest pests around here. I live on the edge of a large swamp in south La. When I first moved in, 16 years ago, we had a problem with spiders in the house. I never saw any brown recluse or black widows, but being the only male with 2 young daughters, they may have well as been all brown recluses and black widows. We also would get ants inside. Suspend SC was recommended by the local do it yourself pest control store. I have been using it ever since, and have had zero problems with ants, rarely see a spider inside, and never really had problem with cockroaches, which is unusual for south La. My neighborhood is full of live oaks where they supposedly live, but we also have a pretty large population of anoles, gecko's, skinks, snakes, etc. that possibly keep the larger insects in check.

I spray all the higher bilge areas that never get wet, the nooks and crannies where I would stay if I was a spider, the bilge ventilation openings, and the dock lines. Supposedly this stuff dries to a crystalline form that bugs pick up and ingest when cleaning themselves. Spiders are supposedly like cats and will clean themselves all the time. I've read on the package that it can be used to treat human bedding and pillows for bed bugs and lice. Luckily, we had no lice outbreaks at any of the schools my kids went to and never used it, but is supposedly safe after it dries.

 

[wflowe2]

Look at the positives. The spiders silk is about the best wind direction indicator there is and on my boat, when the light is right, these wind indicators are spaced from the deck to the top of the mast and all over the sails so you really get a great amount of information. Saves a fortune in tell tales.

As for the poop, I use LA's Totally Awesome cleaner. It is available from one of the Dollar store type chains and really melts spider and bird poop stains away with no scrubbing. It works great on many tough stains and is cheap. Just spray it on, let stand for a minute or two and hose it off

 

[zeehag]

hose the boat down irregularly and open stuff irregularly and watch as they webs appear in your shrouding..... awesome pretty in morning hours, pita in rest of day... they bite nasty, but they also donot walk your lines.. they make their own
and they LOVE bugs, which are many in tropics......

as much as i do not like spidey, there is a reason for em..
i like gekkos better, but they are harder to get on the boat .....

 

[shemandr]

As long as we're on the subject, I have a little problem with the little buggers which is well known to my sailing friends after I published the attached article in our newsletter. Or at least I tried to attach it.

 

[Steve Dion]

Simple Green & Totally Awesome both work great on spider poo.

Keeping them off the boat is really the trick!

 

[jwing]

I use a product called Suspend SC on the boat and at home. It kills spiders and most insects and is very safe for pets and people after it has dried. It leaves no odor, even when first applied. It comes as a concentrate that you add water too. In its concentrated form, i can detect a slight latex paint kind of smell, but that required putting my nose almost in the bottle. If you spray the cabin, nobody would be able to tell by odor...

I use a similar product called Viper. It has the same main ingredient. Very effective for against wasps and lady beetles, too. I never tried Suspend, but Viper persists even through a season of rain. I apply it to my house and my boat twice a year, spring and fall. Highly recommended.

 

[Jerica Carsberg]

Prevent spiders on your boat

There is a product called Home Defense it is to be sprayed around your home perimeter, doors etc. can be used inside or outside and lasts for months. I spray it on a rag and wipe it on railings, lifelines and anywhere spiders might land. They will avoid it at all costs. Works for all bugs including ants. Let me know how it works for you. Granted I'm not in a high volume bug zone. You may need to use it a bit more often. Spiders can fly on the wind. I've seen spider threads in open water!

 

[nramsey]

These sprays all seem to contain some type of pyrethroid insecticide. If you read up on them they are all very toxic to fish and some are very toxic to humans. I think I'll stick with hosing off the boat, cleaning up the spots and removing the spiders I see.

 

[bshock]

I too can recommend Ortho Home Defense. Last year it was a constant battle with the spiders on the western part of Lake Erie. I would go at them once they came out of their hidey holes at dusk with Raid, but they'd always be back the next weekend. Since I started using Ortho Home Defense, once application would last weeks. I've only applied it twice this year with excellent results. I spray the bimini and the other places I've seen the spiders use as a refuge, such as the nooks and crannies of the steering wheel column.

 

[braol]

I use Ortho Home Defense spray inside and out. I also epoxied window screen over my vent holes on the aft of the cockpit so now I get airflow but no bugs. I also had bees coming in those vents so I HAD to do something. It's either that or get a few pet geckos...they eat bugs like it's going out of style!

 

[NotCook]

Spiders seem to come out and start weaving new webs about dusk. To dispatch them, use a shotgun with about #9 buckshot, or a machete for the close ones.