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Shrink Wrap

kaydano

kaydano

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Okay, so I'm bored by the lack of questions on the forum these days, so I'll ask a simple one...

Boat's in a garage. Pole-barn style. Gravel floor, metal sides/roof/door, but most importantly to the question, there is room for mice to get in under the walls all around the building.

Should I shrink wrap the boat too?

Or put something that traps or deters mice on board the boat?
 
Thanks Kaydano, now I'm concerned about mine. I read somewhere that dryer sheets will keep critters out. I am putting them in mine anyway. Steve
 
It can't hurt anyway. Plus, your boat will smell like it just came out of the dryer next spring.
 
If you shrink wrap, that pretty much assures you'll be kept out too, unless you pay "extra" for an access flap. If you can't get in, don't leave traps. You do not want the odor of decaying mice in your boat. If you can access it, try leaving the sticky traps around along with the dryer sheets. And then, check your traps often.
 
Shrink wrap is not going to stop a mouse that wants to get in unless you take the time seal all possible holes and gaps. The cable run under the boat and up to the helm, the area around the transom....everything has to be 100% sealed. If you take the time to go the extra mile then wrap it, otherwise the basic wrap leaves plenty of gaps for mice to enter. Mine is wrapped, with transom and helm and underside having extra plastic taped in to cover all gaps. I also put dryer sheets inside, I left the seats up as mice like dark covered areas and the wide open seat bases create exposure so they won't nest there.

Mice will also look for easy access. My boat is on the trailer, so the wheels create a ladder up to the bunks and boat. I have sticky traps at the base of the wheels and on top of the wheels and at the trailer jack. I am on a wooded lot in New England, so mice happen. With some attention to sealing all cracks I have stored boats outside mice free. Have not figured out how to keep out the spring gnats, but at least they don't eat the boat :)
 
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My boat is kept in an outside storage area that is essentially the same as kaydano describes his pole barn except the front is open. Last year about this time, the topic of "critters" was on a number of pontoon forums. I basically took multiple pieces of advice on prevention; I used dryer sheets in every seat and storage area, and placed six pie tins with mothballs and cloves in various places around the boat. I had zero damage or evidence of critter life last year so will do the same thing this year. I also placed two cans of "Damp-Rid" in the boat. (Some people do not like the smell of mothballs, but the odor was gone about 30 minutes after I took the boat out in the spring; plus I like the smell!)
 
The boat is up on some kind of "blocks". Maybe they are Styrofoam, maybe wood, maybe you have it on a trailer, in which case the trailer tires are the blocks. Regardless, the mice aren't magical and they need something to climb up, or at least something close enough to jump. (They can jump about a foot)

Two things that seem to be fairly effective in deterring rodents are mothballs spread thickly around the area you want to exclude them from, like a sort of fence; and bright light One of those cords with light sockets every few feet and filled with those compact fluorescent bulbs that shines in the 6500K range (It'll be on the box as either a temperature or as "daylight") and hung around the boat, can be a cost effective way of keeping them off your boat.

Nothing is perfect of course. Having cats around the barn is handy.
 
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