Keeping Seagulls off the Bimini

[SJN]

My 310 summer mooring is a bouy. My vessel is the only object around providing a rest spot for birds, otters and seals. The swim step makes a handy ladder for otters and seals to come aboard. I find that a small bag of moth balls tied to the swim ladder is an effect deterrent to climbing aboard. Moth ball stink is bad, otter poop is way worse.

Last summer, a young gull decided that the Bimini is the perfect place to eat, sleep and poop. I created a spider web of small diameter line and tied it between the back stays and edges of the Bimini. It took the gull about 30 seconds to survey the challenge and make a tight landing after I rowed 30 feet away from the boat. Reasoning with the gull and asking it to go live somewhere else accomplished nothing. I assume the gull will be glad to see the boat back later this spring.

The Bimini has solar panels so light access needs to be as unrestricted as possible.

Ideas to solve this mess?

 

[jssailem]

You could put food on the foredeck.. But that may just invite friends. There is always hope. Hope that the young gull found a mate and they sailed happily into the sunset.

Perhaps there is an automated noise maker that will frighten the gulls. I know some Blueberry farmers use sounds to reduce the birds from gorging on his crop.

Maybe the best answer is to tell your boss you need to work remotely. Set up a workstation in the boat and be there to discourage the gull while increasing your sailing time. That sounds like the best option if it was me.

 

[SV At Last]

I have used the Bird-B-Gone repeller 360 with a rail mount on the back of the bimini for several years. Works great in our marina.

Repeller 360°®

 

[Joe]

There are literally a million marine oriented scarecrows. There's the spikey things to keep them off your spreaders, there's the spinning wire and foil turntable for the top of the dodger, there's the clanging pie pans strewn along the shrouds or lifelines, and there's the various animal replicas.... Owls are super popular, but every boater who considers himself a jokester of sorts will have my favorite, the RUBBER SNAKE!. I never had much problem with birds until I spent a fortune on a custom made dodger a few years ago transforming my modest coastal cruiser into a gull magnet.

So.... I bought the snake. It worked! No birds... and.... I get to scare the newbie visitors.

 

[john2]

Wel, we have lots of starlings and when our boat became the highest one (our neighbour sold his boat) the party began.....
What worked was a silhouet of a predator bird, for the first week and then they figured out it was fake.
Next was a halloween cat, it scared them of (and all the neighbours ) for 4 weeks ! Te cat was half way up the mast swinging on a loose rope. No i dont hate cats. But you have all kind of visitors. I moved the boat to another spot, they have more time than we to spend on the boat....

 

[Nauti Laopo]

It may sound silly but when I use to do Landscaping years ago and we would seed the customers lawns I use to put rubber snakes down on the freshly seeded area and it actually worked. The customers always got a laugh out of it and a snake rental did show up on there bill.

 

[sailliny]

We had the same issue and the BIRD-B-GONE bird spiders with Sandbag worked. We have three to get the coverage we needed. We did add a bit of line and snap hooks to each in case they may side off (they never have). We don't have solar panels so not sure if that's an issue with you. Did try the snakes and fake owls and have to say they were not effective.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Did try the snakes and fake owls and have to say they were not effective.

I have a picture somewhere of a gull perched atop a fake owl. Birds are smart. It might work for a week or two but they figure it out.
Strips of flash tape made of shiny Mylar, or hanging CDs works. Birds don’t like the flashes of light or the crackling sounds.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Shiny mylar banners/streamers work. The cheap ones shed their tinsel all over the boat and water

We had the same issue and the BIRD-B-GONE bird spiders with Sandbag worked. We have three to get the coverage we needed. We did add a bit of line and snap hooks to each in case they may side off (they never have). We don't have solar panels so not sure if that's an issue with you. Did try the snakes and fake owls and have to say they were not effective.

How large of an area did it protect?

 

[RoyS]

Owls will not work. I once watched a person installing about a hundred of them along a roof parapet spaced about 20 feet apart. When I came on the scene he was installing maybe number 50 and the seagulls were gathered along the parapet behind number 49 watching him intently.
Hanging cd's won't work either. I was moored not far from a boat with those hanging from his mast and the cormorants were sitting along side on his spreaders. I have a photo but I was pretty far away.
Give the launch operator a pellet gun instead of a tip and the problem goes away.