Mice in the boat

Unfortunately, I have some mice in the boat. The boat is in my garage which is nice, cement, fairly clean space. I live in the country though and rodents lurk there. I had the same mice spend the winter in my lawn mower last year.

I imagine they want to winter-over somewhere warm that they can eat my wires, etc. I have already lost a favorite hat and a pair of gloves to them – I hope to keep the damage to just those.

I have read cotton balls work. Somebody said something about peppermint spray. I am not getting a cat.

Any help/thoughts would be most appreciated.

I’ve heard, and use bounce dryer sheets, all over the boat. Keep it for a short time in barn, and knock on wood, so glad not to have had that problem yet. Nothing else, boat comes out smelling really nice.

They suck…. and can do so much damage. I’ve replaced wiring, air filters and more on lawn mowers, an ATV, and motorcycle kept in a remote garage.\

Interesting to see what everyone does.

sticky traps in and around the boat. put some bird seed in the middle of the traps or peanut butter. had the same problem this summer. worked for me any way.

I’m here to tell you that Bounce does not work along with Moth Balls.

It’s funny because it the years I’ve kept my boat next to the camper at Everts THIS year, I had a nest in my steering column.

I’ve heard the peppermint spray works but don’t have any experience with it. Glue boards do not work in the winter (below 50 degrees).

I like the “Tin Cat” traps. They will last forever if you have the tummy to clean them out every so often.

Moth balls work for me as I keep my boat year round in a pole building next to the cabin. You can get the moth balls at Fleet Farm in a box that has two small moth ball “pucks” (about the size of a quarter) inside a small cloth pouch and you can get them in different fragrances. I usually purchase the cedar fragrance as I am not fond of the moth ball smell. I leave the packets in my boat from September through May and just put them off to the side when fishing / using the boat.
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this exact situation is what God and Nature made barn cats for

desperado wrote:

this exact situation is what God and Nature made barn cats for

Yup, then you can have cat $hit in your boat instead of mice.

True story, that actually happened to me with my first boat.
Not fun when you come back in the spring to take your boat out for the first time.

I had a mouse move in to my previous boat about 4 years back. I caught the little ba$tard the old fashioned way. One day I opened the storage bin and he was running around in there so I grabbed him and broke his neck. He cost me a large drift sock and a lowrance ethernet cable. The ethernet cable had bounce sheets right next to it, so I can say without a doubt that they didn’t work.

I have been using fresh cab or cab fresh (can’t remember which it is) and have not had problems since, knock on wood. I also have about 20 stations of mouse poison strategically placed around my pole barn. I figure dead mice tell no lies, nor do they eat my boat wires.

I would start with mouse traps. I easily eliminated an entire squadron of mice in my shed one year in short order with peanut butter baited traps.
I like the better mouse traps instead of the old fashion kind.

My friend put moth balls in the hood of his outboard and the made a nest on them. The mouse urine really activated the vapor they give off. They even chewed some up and put them in the air intake. I have used bounce sheets and been lucky. My uncle use to store collector car and used spearmint oil on cardboard squares on each floor-mat and swore that it worked better than anything and did no harm to any finishes or your lungs when your went to use the vehicle

Mwal

I use pure Peppermint Oil soaked into cotton balls and also lots of whole cloves.
I put a bunch of ’em on tin foil around the boat.
Never had a problem with them after I started doing it.
Boat sure smells good in the spring!

I’ve heard that cab fresh/fresh cab…whatever it is…works good too

I have used Irish spring soap cut into slivers and put on foil and placed in strategic places in the boat. It worked for 6 years. Last year with the harsh winter they started eating the soap. After the Irish spring failed I went back to the old fashioned way of snap traps with peanut butter bait.

Saying <insert whatever> works because there hasn’t been a mouse in the boat would be like saying Stick Bait works. (it doesn’t, mice love cheese so I’ve heard).

I’ve used bounce sheets and mice have pooped on them. Mothballs were within an inch of a boat cushion that was chewed up by Pugs whiskered friends.

I’m not a fan of placing bait (mouse food) in my boat.

Traps work well in and around the boat. I don’t know anyone that’s said Cab Fresh hasn’t worked for them…I haven’t tried it though.

Oh, bull snakes are out of the question too.

I checked into cab fresh last year at Fleet Farm, after someone mentioned it on this site. When I read the fine print on the package, I believe it does not work at temperatures below a certain point, or the life expectancy is extremely short. Either way, I do not believe it is a viable option in below zero temperatures.

I would suggest reading the package before purchasing, my memory is not what it used to be, but I know that after reading it, I did not feel it was a viable option for a North Iowa winter.

elk_addict wrote:

When I read the fine print on the package, I believe it does not work at temperatures below a certain point, or the life expectancy is extremely short.

If you put it in the enclosed areas of the boat before it gets really cold, the entire boat smells of the stuff even in really cold weather. I was getting some work done on my boat this summer and the rigging guy said “what do you keep in this boat? It’s the nicest smelling fishing boat I’ve ever worked on”.

I guess if it doesn’t work, the mice will at least smell nice.

desperado wrote:

this exact situation is what God and Nature made barn cats for

My parents barn has cats that got into the boat one year. I leave the lockers open to breath and such. Three of my trolling rods had all the handles shredded off…. like they were a scratching pole or something.

haleysgold wrote:

I use pure Peppermint Oil soaked into cotton balls and also lots of whole cloves.
I put a bunch of ‘em on tin foil around the boat.
Never had a problem with them after I started doing it.
Boat sure smells good in the spring!

I’ve heard that cab fresh/fresh cab…whatever it is…works good too

I use fresh cab in the pop-up and it sits out all winter and seems to work just fine.

Put a ferret in the shed for the winter….no more mice.

if you think a barn cat is bad … ferrets are curious/mischievous little critters that get into everything (they do rate high on the “cool pets” scale though)

Cab Fresh is the way to go. Been using it the last three years in the boat stored in a barn on a farm. No problems so far. And yes the boat does smell great in the spring when you open it up for the first time.

I use Comet cleaner. I’ll take and sprinkle it on the ground creating a loop around the perimeter of the boat. I once heard the mice wont cross it. If you don’t want to go around the whole boat, then you could just sprinkle around the trailer tires.

Cab Fresh works in Northeast Iowa.

GlennRengo wrote:

Moth balls work for me as I keep my boat year round in a pole building next to the cabin. You can get the moth balls at Fleet Farm in a box that has two small moth ball “pucks” (about the size of a quarter) inside a small cloth pouch and you can get them in different fragrances. I usually purchase the cedar fragrance as I am not fond of the moth ball smell. I leave the packets in my boat from September through May and just put them off to the side when fishing / using the boat.

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What Glenn said! Has always worked for me, along with a few mousetraps scattered around the garage to knock the population down. On my “to-do” list today as a matter of fact, just as soon as I tear myself away from trolling IDO.

Glenn….I remember you telling me that you went from bar to bar up in those hick areas and picked the pucks out of urinals for your boat. What, did you get a union raise enough to be able to buy them now?

Sorry Glenn R. Wrong Glenn. But he’ll be along to get the message.

My question is what is so terribly wrong with just using mouse poison. DeCon etc???? Works for me have not had a problem since I started putting a couple of boxes right in the boat.

Tom P. wrote:

My question is what is so terribly wrong with just using mouse poison. DeCon etc???? Works for me have not had a problem since I started putting a couple of boxes right in the boat.

I have a block in my steering column as of last summer. I don’t have to worry about anything getting at it there…’cept a mouse.