There is a wasp that has decided that my mainsail is a great place to build a nest. Every time I remove the mainsail cover, I have to unzip the front and throw it back and duck to avoid being stung. So far I've been stung twice. This is most discouraging, and I'm afraid to let the kids prep the sails even though they want to help. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to dissuade the wasp from coming back? I'm not about to spray wasp killer on my mainsail.
Use soapy water in a sprayer. It will kill the wasps and shouldn't hurt your mainsail. Also works well if you get any inside the cabin.
Shawn
If that doesn't work a little Sevin dust may be in order. Don't over do. Just a little puff should do it.
A bounce dryer sheet keeps the mud dauber wasps away. You might try sticking one of these under the sail cover.
BobK
Bounce sheets help keep spiders away too.
Take a small or medium sized brown paper bag and stuff it with newspaper, tie it at the top and hang it somewhere near the problem area. Wasps will think it's a hornet's nest which is one of their natural predators, and they will leave and not come back. This is how I keep them from building nests inside my boats when they are on the hard in my yard. It works like a charm. I don't know if a brown plastic shopping bag would work or not since your area is obviously exposed to the elements, but it's worth a shot.
I've appreciated this thread. I'm highly allergic to wasps- have to carry an Epipen or else I could move upstairs a bit earlier than planned. The only thing I'm more allergic to than wasps is light beer. I carry a Guinness with me at all times just in case. :)
Bob
Inside the boat, I use Irish spring bar soap, lay it out, super cheap for 2 bars at Walmart.
you might be able to buy a soap holder box for traveling and use that with some holes in it then put it inside the cover, one on each side, small holes, would do the trick I bet.
We watched em fly in the boat and build nests, when we took and put the soap in it, they would fly in and fly right back out, it was crazy!
Mac
This weekend the Wasps had left. I put a few bounce sheets under the sail cover. I already had them inside the boat, but for odor. I did not realize it had other benefits. I appreciate all the tips. Thanks!
AND they're back. We went out last night and had a nice paper wasp nest attached to the bottom of the boom, and a mud-dobber(sp?) nest just under the companionway cover. 4 parts water to 1 part Palmolive took care of the wasp on the boom, then we just knocked off the nest.
The mud dobbers don't defend their nests, so once we were out on the water we just broke apart the nest to clean it off. Lots of paralyzed spiders in there. I guess that's why there were so few webs on the boat...
We'll see if they rebuild or move on. I stuffed dryer sheets under the hatch-lid hoping to keep them away. Unfortunately I'm going to be away from the boat for a few weeks, so I'm sure I'll come back to some lovely surprises...
I'm with Mac on this. The wasps tend to build nests under the cockpit locker seat hatches so I started rubbing the underside of the hatches with Irish spring soap. The surface is rough so it tends to put a lot of the dry soap on it. The wasps don't like and won't build nests there. When done I put the bar, broken into pieces on the main cabin shelves and top step of the companionway hatch. Seems to work. Unlike the fabric softener sheets, I like the smell of Irish Spring.
Awesome info!
Just brought home a CP23 full of wasps, now headed to store for soap and dryer sheets.
Thanks! :)