Mud dauber prevention

[Seachelle]

Hey, all! Last year, my new Legacy was delivered to me in April, but she sat on the hard (uncovered) in my barn's driveway until July when I finally splashed her. A few weeks before I splashed her, I had gone into the cabin, sat down, and the next thing I knew, I was having multiple sites of pain on various parts of my body. In my confusion as to why this was happening, it took me a few seconds to realize that there were multiple mud daubers swarming around me and I was getting stung over and over. it was horrific!

Anyhow, wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to deter mud daubers from wanting to nest inside the cabin -- they had built nests on the compression post and under some of the storage areas under the settee and v-berth areas. It was a nightmare. I have heard of using scented dryer sheets to keep mice from wanting to nest, but not sure about mud daubers. Any ideas are much appreciated!

Btw, I believe they entered in through either the companionway as the boards are not airtight, or they could have come in through the hawse hole. I didn't want to seal these areas, tho, as I thought it would help to offer ventilation in the cabin during her time on the hard in the hopes of deterring the growth of mold and mildew. Also, this winter season, she has been covered by a tarp/her winter clothes, but I left openings at the bow and stern, again, for ventilation to retard mold and mildew growth.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
~ Chelle
2021 Com-Pac Legacy | SV Sunflower (Sunny)
https://sailawaywithchelle.wordpress.com

[wes]

They do love the interior of a sailboat. When I more or less totally disassembled my 27 during restoration, I found old nests everywhere, including the most out of the way places - inside the boom, under the settee seats, behind the headliner, inside the anchor locker. Not an exaggeration to say I removed 100 of them, at least.

They don't like people, so frequent use of your boat is one solution.

I'm currently trying bars of Irish Spring soap, which is said by some to keep them away - if you can stand the smell. Will keep you posted!

Wes

[BobK]

Spread a few dryer sheets around the inside of your cabin.  That will keep them out.  If you keep your mainsail under a cover on your boom place a dryer sheet at each end of the sail to keep them from building a tube in the sail and staining it.
BobK

[crazycarl]

As suggested by Wes, I've been using "Irish Spring" for years with good success.  The bar will lose scent after awhile, so like in the old commercial, take a knife and slice a few strips off to release new scent.  I wouldn't be surprised if there is an "essential oil" out there that will work too.

[brackish]

Nothing works.....well that has been my experience.  I mix up a concoction with a ratio of 2oz. water, 2oz. witch hazel and five drops of peppermint oil and spray the interior at least once a month, usually when leaving the boat.  It works on almost all insects, including regular wasps but not dirt daubers.  I've also used drier sheets and Irish spring soap bars concurrently with the spray and they don't work on dirt daubers.  I get a dozen nests each season on the interior and at least four or five under the cowl on my outboard, very bad, don't use compressed air to clean out the fine dust left when scraping them off, will clog a carb in a second, carefully brush and vacuum.

I just look for new nests every time I go to the boat, and clean them out, but as Wes mentioned there are probably nests behind panels that I've not even discovered.

Regular nesting wasps tended to build their nests under the cockpit seats every year, but in that case rubbing the underside of the seats with Irish spring soap has been very effective.

Spiders are an even bigger problem for me, but I've made progress there.  Knocking the webs down is ineffective, back the next day. They are mostly nocturnal so you have to find where they live during the day.  In my case they (and their egg pouches) are in the gap on the underside of the rub rail which varies from about 1/4" to 3/8".  I bought an angle nozzle for my portable pressure washer and blast them out about once a month.  New spiders replace them eventually but at least I can keep them at bay.

[brackish]

Oh and if you have a magma grill it it won't light, don't throw it away.  The dirt daubers seem to love places where propane and other fossil fuel has passed,  I've cleaned them out of the grill tubes, propane bottle nozzles, my pullout butane stove, propane infrared space heaters and air intakes for lawn machines.  That and as mentioned above inside my motor cowl very close to the carb air intake.

[Andre]

I have no personal experience with this company but was considering this product when I had many yellowjackets coming to visit every time I opened up my HC at the end of last summer. Interestingly they seemed to come from OUTSIDE hover around me and the interior but not stay. Investigating maybe? I would kill about 20 every day and find another 10 or so on fly paper I hung around the boat. Fall came and they disappeared.

This company seems to have all kinds of industrial strength anti-pest treatments. You may want to contact  them. Like I said, all I know of them is this web site.

Andre

[Andre]

Sorry, here's the link .....

https://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/onslaught/

[Cpy23ecl]

I've never tried it but I read once (maybe in PS) that flea collars around the dock pilings help discourage spiders on the boat.  Doesn't sound real likely since they don't all get on the boat by walking the dock lines.

Fred

[deisher6]

I purchased an '86 ComPac 27 that had been stored for 5 years on the hard at Duck Creek Marina, across the Neuse from New Bern.  The mud dauber nests at duck creek are black and sandy from the local mud.  Like Wes I cleaned out many, many nests from every location on the boat.  Where you would see a trace of black sand there was a dauber nest near by. 

I placed four packs of:
brite NosGuard SG Mold / Mildew Odor Control 2-PK, Slow Release
Slow Release System, Removes and Prevents Mold / Mildew Odors
Also Removes & Prevents any other Foul, Unpleasant Odors
Package Contains (2) 10 Gram Pouches, Formulated for Occupied Spaces

I later backed off to one or two.  I was working on the boat out of the water one hot summer day and watched a mud dauber fly into the cabin.  It went in about a foot turned around and flew away.  It also seemed to work on spiders. 

Obviously strong stuff use at your own risk.

regards charlie

[MacGyver]

I use the Irish Spring soap with fairly good results, but every time I am at the boat I use the bars to wash my hands renewing the surface.
At some point I replace the bars. I have only had mud daubers get in and build under the step, but none anywhere else in the boat, and I keep them where the cooler would sit in the 19, roughly the V berth area.

Mac

[kickingbug1]

   funny thing about irish spring wasps hate it but mice chew on it. never had a mouse in the boat but i usually keep a bar under my work bench. no wasps but something chews on it {mice i suspect}

[Seachelle]

Wow!!! Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your advice and tips!!! I am so grateful! Sounds like I am not alone in tackling this sort of thing, and it sounds, also, like there are great remedies to put into play to try to keep those mud daubers at bay! It was certainly NOT fun having all of those stings last year, I'll tell ya! I still have visible marks where they got me and it's been almost one year since the incident! Yikes! Thanks so much, again, folks! 

[Tim Gardner]

"I placed four packs of:
brite NosGuard SG Mold / Mildew Odor Control 2-PK, Slow Release
Slow Release System, Removes and Prevents Mold / Mildew Odors
Also Removes & Prevents any other Foul, Unpleasant Odors
Package Contains (2) 10 Gram Pouches, Formulated for Occupied Spaces"
Charlie, that pack releases CLO2 (Chlorine Dioxide) gas into the boat.  Occasionally this is OK.  As a regular diet, not so much.
This is an oxidizer that can affect electronics and wiring.

Stay tuned here for the dauber solution. one twenty-second spray onto the surfaces where the daubers like to plaster and they are gone for 3 months.  I need to go to the dock to get the name of the compound.
TG

[deisher6]

Hey Tim : you are right of course, that is why I cut back, not so much for electronics but for me too.  I was getting sore throats.  I have two on the boat now that are three years old...still mostly working; no mud daubers but a couple of small spiders.

What surface doesn't a mud dauber build a nest on?

regards charlie