Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

What's the best way to keep rodents out of my boat during the winter. I've always had the marina shrinkwrap it so I've never had to worry about it, but I got laid off back in August so I needed to save some money so I'm just using a tarp which I believe the little buggers will be able to get into.

I've heard of dryer sheets or moth balls, but I figured I'd find out what really works.

Thanks

Not sure how to keep em out but D-con has some stuff that will make them go away. They eat it, go to water and don't come back.

I have had success using moth balls when storing with just a tarp. Sure can't give any guarantees,but it has worked for me.


JD

both, and cats are worse than mice

Sorry to hear about the job, Is it a long term issue? I told my wife if the cat jumps on the boat he will be shoot. That little fucker will claw the hell out of the seats just because he can.

Mothballs. And spray the outer area with bug spray. See my post in the thread "Winterising in Oklahoma" for the part on the tarp I do.
Hope the job scene works out. Best of luck.

I use Ropel Animal and Rodent Repellent around my camper and pickup truck that isn't used much.

I have found it works better than mothballs or dryer sheets.

If you have raccoons, there is actually a brand of garbage bag with built-in coon repellent (no, I'm not making this up - I use 'em on my boat all the time).

I hope you find something that works for you because a few years back, my neighbor stored his high dollar bass boat in his back yard.. boat had a custom cover on it... the next spring he pulled his boat out and found a big hole in the cover.. apparently some squirrels got in there and damn near destroyed the interior of the boat.. seats were chewed up and electrical wiring was chewed all to hell.... I have heard that dryer sheets and mothballs work... also one winter my son left his pontoon here at our house.. we live out in the country where there are a lot of "varmits".... he put a cover on his toon and then bought some device that he put on the deck of his boat and plugged into an extension cord that ran into the garage.. apparently this " machine " ( sorry, don't remember the name of it ) was supposed to put out some high frequency that repells rodents and the like... I can't say if it really works or not, but I do know that nothing was on his boat when he picked it up the next spring...

Of course, there's always the Phalanx...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

ron nh wrote:Sorry to hear about the job, Is it a long term issue? I told my wife if the cat jumps on the boat he will be shoot. That little fucker will claw the hell out of the seats just because he can.

Yeah...I'm done for good there. I've been there 30 years and just like that....done. This guy bought it 3 years ago and has been running it into the ground ever since. I'm really surprised they're still open. He gave his son my job. LOL

I'll be good though.....I was only out of work for 3 days. The only problem is that I took a $23,000 per year pay cut. That's why I'm trying to save money.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Dave

Just curious.....How are large animals (coons/cats/squirrels/etc.) getting inside? Underneath my doors may have a 2" clearance (at the most) and my cover has draw strings around all the openings where the bimini connects. No cover or are the chewing through the cover?

PS....I put dryer sheets inside for the small stuff (mice) but mine is on a lift so they would have to crawl down the lift cables and jump to the boat.

I know some local folks who use this with success

https://jet.com/product/detail/f68ee969 ... aQodrhcIEQ

on the camper forum I am on, people swear by dryer sheets and Irish Spring soap shavings for keeping the mice away.

Tim