Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have had three boats in my covered slip at Smith Mountain Lake since 1996 and never had any 'critter' issues until today. In the past 2 days (haven't used the boat since Wednesday) something (I think a bird of some sort) has pecked holes in two of my fishing chairs and one of the cushions on the L shape seat. I think it was a bird of some sort since there was some milky looking poo on both of the seats.

I don't leave any bait in the boat or anything that would seem to be food for critters so not sure what's up. I know that some of my neighbors have those fake owls in the rafters to discourage birds from nesting in the rafters.

So, looking for any ideas or suggestions. Strange to me that this is just now an issue. My Sylvan tritoon is a nice boat and this did not make my day.

I have no suggestions, but can sympathize.
My parents and some of their neighbors had problems with ducks nesting on their boats.
One of the neighbors had to have the whole interior redone, including the wiring.

May one of those cargo nets can help to cover up the seats.

If you have a bird problem at the dock, rafters etc., buy a couple rubber snakes (Dollar Stores) and put them in the rafters. It works.

joe20toon wrote:If you have a bird problem at the dock, rafters etc., buy a couple rubber snakes (Dollar Stores) and put them in the rafters. It works.

The rubber snakes are a good idea... also, when we were having issues with woodpeckers knocking holes in our houe and nesting in the attic, I bought several of those cheap inflatable owls from the garden center at wal mart.. after we hung them up, any slight breeze would make them move and really helped slow down the wood pecker problem.. My neighbor, who also has a lot of wood on his house put a huge wooden owl on the side of his house... a week later the wood peckers had beat the hell out of the owl...

They must be either using the stuff inside for nesting or there's food in the, which I can't imagine. Weird. That sucks!

We too had a bad bird issue at the dock. Our dock is a covered, shared dock that has 12 slips. I tried the hanging Owls and the birds just ignored them, and sometimes, sat on them..... I wasn't getting pecking damage, but was getting crapped on non stop. I solved the issue by buying a roll of Monofiliment bird netting @ Lowes. I've used it at our primary home in Gettysburg for years on our lower patio that is beneath our screen room/deck. The beauty of this netting is that you can't really notice it from 10 feet away unless you know it's there. It's also in expensive too.

At the lake, I took the bird netting and crawled up into the rafters with an electric staple gun and went to town. Closed off the entire area above our boat with this black netting. It's got a grid pattern of about a half an inch. The netting comes on a roll 7 ft wide X 100 feet long. Works GREAT. Now I'm the only one not getting crapped on in our boat house. I wouldn't do much for keeping the birds from coming onto the boat, which hangs a couple feet below the netted top area, but the birds seem to pick on others. I thought of also taking a piece of netting and attaching it to hang vertically down so when I raise the boat, it's encapsulated on all sides, but haven't had to go that far yet.

The birds are going nuts this year...... not only have I left up the vertically hanging bird netting for the past 6 years here in Gettysburg, but I've had to put up temporary vertical netting on our front porch, since coming home from the lake for a couple weeks, and found a mud and straw nest built onto the side stone walls of our covered front porch too. I just shoved the bird netting into the vinyl soffit at the roof and let it hang down. Problem solved.

Yesterday's project was to put bird guards on the house exhaust vents that come through the walls, as several of us here are having birds come into the vents..... crazy stuff.

Strake wrote:...Yesterday's project was to put bird guards on the house exhaust vents that come through the walls, as several of us here are having birds come into the vents..... crazy stuff.

Reminds me of this!

Just to follow up to the responses, we did get a couple of small rubber snakes (all they had at the local Dollar General) and put in the boat.

Just for info I called my State Farm agent to see what my deductible was and how I might proceed with filing a claim if the repairs got expensive. He told me that State Farm boat policies do not cover damage due to insects, vermin, birds or domestic animals. I thought that was odd and wonder if there are boat policies that provide more comprehensive coverage.

smlranger wrote:Just to follow up to the responses, we did get a couple of small rubber snakes (all they had at the local Dollar General) and put in the boat.

Just for info I called my State Farm agent to see what my deductible was and how I might proceed with filing a claim if the repairs got expensive. He told me that State Farm boat policies do not cover damage due to insects, vermin, birds or domestic animals. I thought that was odd and wonder if there are boat policies that provide more comprehensive coverage.

You got me curious, so I just checked my Progressive Ins Policy...... (also on SML) .....

Under my Comprehensive Coverage it states:

10. causeddirectlyorindirectlyby:
a. insects, birds, or other animals, including rodents and other types of vermin,
unless the covered watercraft sustaining the loss was secured with a fitted
cover at the time of the loss;
b. marine life; or
c. smog, humidity, mildew, mold, ice, freezing, thawing, or extremes of tempera-
ture.
This exclusion does not apply to:
a. loss resulting from impact with an animal or marine life; or
b. ensuing loss caused by consequential sinking, burning, explosion or collision
of a covered watercraft;

So if I'm reading this correctly, although it says damage from birds, and other animals is not covered UNLESS the boat was covered with a fitted boat cover. We keep a fitted cover on unless we are using the boat daily, then I'll leave the cover off for a few days at a time.

Strake wrote:

smlranger wrote:Just to follow up to the responses, we did get a couple of small rubber snakes (all they had at the local Dollar General) and put in the boat.

Just for info I called my State Farm agent to see what my deductible was and how I might proceed with filing a claim if the repairs got expensive. He told me that State Farm boat policies do not cover damage due to insects, vermin, birds or domestic animals. I thought that was odd and wonder if there are boat policies that provide more comprehensive coverage.

You got me curious, so I just checked my Progressive Ins Policy...... (also on SML) .....

Under my Comprehensive Coverage it states:

10. causeddirectlyorindirectlyby:
a. insects, birds, or other animals, including rodents and other types of vermin,
unless the covered watercraft sustaining the loss was secured with a fitted
cover at the time of the loss;
b. marine life; or
c. smog, humidity, mildew, mold, ice, freezing, thawing, or extremes of tempera-
ture.
This exclusion does not apply to:
a. loss resulting from impact with an animal or marine life; or
b. ensuing loss caused by consequential sinking, burning, explosion or collision
of a covered watercraft;

So if I'm reading this correctly, although it says damage from birds, and other animals is not covered UNLESS the boat was covered with a fitted boat cover. We keep a fitted cover on unless we are using the boat daily, then I'll leave the cover off for a few days at a time.

That is almost exactly word for word what my State Farm agent read to me. I keep the cover on the boat when we are not here or if I am not using the boat every day. The boat was not covered when the critter did their thing.