4 pantyhoses with a handfull in each proved too strong. Each weekend I put them in tupperware and took out 1 less until we had 1 dangling from the bolt behind the hatch handle.
We went from a wasp nest on every surface to an occasional flyby1!!!
That's a great tip. Looks like they might even be "mud-dobbers." We occasionally get these, both at the marina and the airport hangers. I'll add the mothballs to my "keep away" arsenal. The best way I've found to reduce the population more permanently is to buy the "Wasp & Hornet Killer" in the black can. It's the one that says it sprays up to 20 feet. If you hit a wasp or hornet dead on he/she (is there a difference?) drops out of the sky. I've hit the nest with a single shot and they all crawl out and die. If a lone wasp or two is checking out your boat for a new home don't kill them. Try to mist them a little. They will leave, fly back to their nest wounded, and kill the nest. After a few years of this you will eradicate most of the population.
The question is, can I stand the smell of moth balls?
Dryer sheets. I put 1 in the V berth, 1 in the aft berth, and I tie one on the inside handle ot the slider. (used to be a wasps nest there) The remainder of the box sits in the galley. Used to have wasp and spiders everywhere, now for over 2 months, zero.
Harrison wrote:Dryer sheets. I put 1 in the V berth, 1 in the aft berth, and I tie one on the inside handle ot the slider. (used to be a wasps nest there) The remainder of the box sits in the galley. Used to have wasp and spiders everywhere, now for over 2 months, zero.
---Harrison
Kinda makes one wonder what that stuff is doing to *us* if the bugs want nothing to do with it!
Also.. I wonder.. if you wear clothes that were dried using those sheets in your clothes dryer, do you get less bug attacks? (we don't use them, so I don't have any idea!)
The dryer sheets work. We had some nasty bugs in Desert Sheild/Storm, and most of us tucked a dryer sheet in our belt lines. Chiggers/No-See-Ums, etc.
For personal protection against the nasty bloodsuckers (Misquitoes) Skin-so-soft that Avon sells, is the true winner, hands down.....keeps most nasty Kritters off of you!
These items were in high demand when we were over there, and Deet, although good....was just nasty to be around. We had a salt consistancy product that was yellow, and placed near eating area's, in old jar lids, dead flies everywhere. Sometimes I wondered just how much of it got into the food supply, as it was used everywhere!
Then if ya had nothing, you resorted to the 'ol Saudi Salute....waving one hand back and forth constantly while you ate with the other one!
what's it mean to put them in Tupperware, or take out one at a time?
I would have answered sooner but the board was down and all.
We put them into a tupperware container as soon as we arrive at the boat to sail. The stench is unbearable!! They do air out quickly. We started with 4 and paired back to 1 as the weeks went by. 1 does the trick.
Thanks Scott,
Since reading it here I've randomly tucked dryer sheets around my whole garage, which WAS a spiders' haven. They've magically disappeared, and the entire garage now has a nice Bouncey scent.
Unfortunately, the garage door keeps bouncing back up ...
any hints??
There are billions, zillions even, of some kind of dauber wasps at my boat's new home. But they really haven't been too much of a problem. First few days there they were pretty pesky, but after killing a few hundred (probably more, but I hate to exaggerate or brag you know) with my formerly nice white corona beer baseball cap, they seem to keep their distance. They even had a big mud nest in my half eaten box of graham crackers. They also seemed to think my stereo would look better encased in mud.
Apparently they can be trained to fear the hat, now if I can train them to eat zebra mussels and chase jet skis we may get some synergy going.
