Winter storage

I need a little input. I am thinking about storing the boat in a friends barn for the winter and was wondering if there is somthing that I can put inside the boat (under the cover) to keep any mice out? I know he has a few cats running around the farm but is there more I can do? Thanks

I stored my boat at my brother-in-laws for a few winters and always threw moth balls in storage compartments,rod lockers and places mice would like to nest.Always seemed to work.A good washing and airing out did the trick in the sping.

no they will be in there as well as dust have fun!

Dcon and dryer sheets?

My Father in law was a big moth ball guy, until a mouse made a nest in a seat cushion inches away from the moth balls.

Scented dryer sheets, a tin cat mouse trap (Keeps on trapping) and a little luck has worked for me over the last 10 years.

Others has said they’ve had luck by doing the above and then sprinkling liquid peppermint on the ground around the boat trailer.

I kept the boat in my parents barn last winter and didn’t do anything special with it, didn’t even cover it. Apparently the cats in there were all the mouse deterrent I needed.

For about 15 years I used irish spring soap,downy dryer sheets,mothsballs.Worked like a charm until last year.One little package of jerky got left in the glove box and the mice moved in.Make sure you have nothing they want to eat in your boat and add every thing above to it.They chew wires,seats lures,balsa bobbers,gulp,trigger-x,carpet ect…
I trapped 7 in one night and 4 of them were eaten by the ones that didn’t get trapped.

In my parents barn I tried moth balls once and my boat ended up smelling like moth balls and mouse pee. In my storage shed that I have now I just use a lot of traps and check often in the fall. After it gets cold and snows I haven’t had any more mice get in, just during harvest time (when they are looking for somewhere to stay for the winter).

Customers that store their boats and campers at my place have only used dryer sheets and none of them have ever had mice in their stuff, I ask each year if they had any issues. I don’t use anything in my boat anymore, but I also took as many precautions as I could when I built to try and keep as many out as I could.

I use Fresh Cab. It was designed to put in combine cabs for winter storage and has worked good in my boat. It smells a lot better than moth balls. You should be able to find it at implement dealers and ag supply stores.

living on a farm for the last 16 years, i’m qualified to respond to this one. some days i wish i weren’t…

get the food out.

liberally bait with a PROVEN mouse/rat poison for YOUR VARIETY OF RODENT. PROVEN. DON’T TRUST THE COUNTER PERSON UNLESS THEY ARE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND EVEN SOME OF THEM DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT…

Some rodents are herbivores, some are carnivores, some are omnivores. Find out what yours are. The county extension agent is a time waster unless she’s cute and will flirt over breakfast at the coffee shop.

all the publicly available poisons take three days to act. Put out poisons for all three kinds of rodents and see which ones disappear the first, second and third. Use 1st and 2nd. Skip #3 even if it’s free as the rodents will stop eating it after the first mortalities end up in the nest. They aren’t stupid. they just are different from us and for that we should kill them. I know that sounds terrible to nature loving BigG, but rewiring your boat is a pain in the azz.

use cats if you can. best route. i would but training 40 high prey drive dogs to not eat cats when they are running in groups of three is running against darwin…

brian’s tin cat is also a help.

poison.

I would suggest making a bucket trap to leave in the boat. Simple design, it’s just 2 plastic (or styrofoam) cups taped mouth-to-mouth (making a rolling drum) – poke small holes in the center of the bottom of each cup and thread a wire through the holes. Then you tightly suspend the drum over the open mouth of the bucket. Smear peanut butter around the drum. You don’t need much, but it needs to be all the way around. Fill the bucket with a couple of inches of water (more on the water in a second) and position the bucket in a mannor that the mice can easily get to the edge. I’ve even rigged up a little “walk the plank” situation with a paint stir stick before.

The premise is simple. The mouse wants the peanut butter. He sees that all he needs to do is step out onto the cups that are smeared with it. He can’t resist. Step/spin/splash. I’ve caught as many as 5 in one night in my garage with this thing.

Back to the water…Mix a heavy dose of salt into the water – it’ll keep it from freezing and it will preserve the mice (mitigating the order a great deal).

Anti-freeze would work, but you’d have to worry about the cats. Or not. Just saying.

Good luck.

Be careful about using poison at someone elses place, he may like his cats.

Thanks guys. I’ll try some of each sounds like a fun way to pass the long winter months, pestering the mouse population.

Cab Fresh. Use it in my camper. Menards also has it.