Richard Noddin
Member
Seagulls or herons land on my spreaders, radar dome, and dome rail then dump crap all over the cabin top, deck, cap rails etc. Has anybody solved this problem without shooting the birds?
Best way to keep seagulls off spreaders and radar dome
- Thread starter Richard Noddin
- Start date
dickkilroy
Richard Kilroy
Shooting on do any good they will just come back in droves. Once they like your parking place. I have run wires across my spreaders about 6 inches above, They don’t seem to like the land there wits something rubbing on their bellies or legs. I am currently having problems with the same thing because they are landing on my last head. I hope I have solved that problem by flying the yacht club Burgee up there, that has worked in previous years. As to raider I really can’t answer I have a radar Dome on my meds as well and I don’t think I’ve ever had birds on it.
dickkilroy
Richard Kilroy
Excuse all the incomplete words up to her as I dictate everything. I should read it before I send it but in cases like this I haven’t. Sorry
bharney
Bill Harney
I've had same problem with cormorants, filthiest bird ever, on the spreaders, radome and boom and ospreys on the top of mast.
I strung fishing wire parallel to the spreaders from shroud to mast, monofilament line parallel to the boom, an array of wire on top of the radome and mast, also had to string line from steering wheel up to boom. So far this has worked well.
Good luck
I strung fishing wire parallel to the spreaders from shroud to mast, monofilament line parallel to the boom, an array of wire on top of the radome and mast, also had to string line from steering wheel up to boom. So far this has worked well.
Good luck
jimcleary
James M. Cleary
Richard
Bird protection on sailboat is about the same as lightening protection on that same boat. You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't. With grounding for lightening protection you have a 50/50 chance of a strike weather you ground or not. With bird poop it's about the same chances no matter what you do. We have tried numerous deterrents and seem to have been somewhat successful. Of course the moment I get cocky and brag about my deterrents, I will come back to the boat to find a load of treasures to clean up. The attached photos show that it sometimes doesn't matter what you do, if they are going to get you, they will get you. I paid $600 to replace my instrument boom 10 years ago due to an osprey that used the boom to spy on his next meal.
Jim
Bird protection on sailboat is about the same as lightening protection on that same boat. You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't. With grounding for lightening protection you have a 50/50 chance of a strike weather you ground or not. With bird poop it's about the same chances no matter what you do. We have tried numerous deterrents and seem to have been somewhat successful. Of course the moment I get cocky and brag about my deterrents, I will come back to the boat to find a load of treasures to clean up. The attached photos show that it sometimes doesn't matter what you do, if they are going to get you, they will get you. I paid $600 to replace my instrument boom 10 years ago due to an osprey that used the boom to spy on his next meal.
Jim
Attachments
Hi All,
I still lurk around the BB just to keep up-to-date with the Morgan-382 group and to see what I'm missing without EMANON. Once in a while maybe add something helpful.
We used to hook/tie our our main and storm halyards to the life lines midships p&s so that they bisected the area above the spreaders. This accomplished both keeping the cormorants (10X worse than seagulls) off the spreaders and reduced the slapping. We never seemed to have a problems with the mast mounted raydome.
Good luck and happy sailing.
I still lurk around the BB just to keep up-to-date with the Morgan-382 group and to see what I'm missing without EMANON. Once in a while maybe add something helpful.
We used to hook/tie our our main and storm halyards to the life lines midships p&s so that they bisected the area above the spreaders. This accomplished both keeping the cormorants (10X worse than seagulls) off the spreaders and reduced the slapping. We never seemed to have a problems with the mast mounted raydome.
Good luck and happy sailing.
Warren Holybee
Active Member
I have a bunch of zip ties on my masthead to create spike on the mast head. Including on on the center of the windex itself. It helps, and I have not had to replace my windex since I did that. It was ripped of on almost every crossing until I did that.
The same should work on the spreaders, inspired by this, if you want to buy a purpose made deterrent: Bird Spikes | Bird Deterrent & Control Spikes | Bird-X
The same should work on the spreaders, inspired by this, if you want to buy a purpose made deterrent: Bird Spikes | Bird Deterrent & Control Spikes | Bird-X
Christopher
New Member
I second everything Warren Holybee said. It's what I was scrolling to see or suggest.
dickkilroy
Richard Kilroy
Good to hear from you Alan. Keep checking
Richard Noddin
Member
Thanks all for the informative responses! I don't climb masts any more, so will need to take measures against the birds when the stick is pulled. I did the halyards dividing the spreaders on each side and that reduced the droppings a good deal. The wire ties sound good but how long do they last in the UV up there? Do I use black ones instead of the white?
jimcleary
James M. Cleary
Richard
The black tie-wraps hold up better then the white ones in the sun. Our best solution has been the dividing of the spreaders with halyards. The birds love those big flat spreaders. To protect the flat solar panels over the bimini I use very thin stainless steel wire from the radar dome on the backstay to the back of the panels. The birds hate that and the thin wire doesn't make a shadow on the panels.
Jim
The black tie-wraps hold up better then the white ones in the sun. Our best solution has been the dividing of the spreaders with halyards. The birds love those big flat spreaders. To protect the flat solar panels over the bimini I use very thin stainless steel wire from the radar dome on the backstay to the back of the panels. The birds hate that and the thin wire doesn't make a shadow on the panels.
Jim
Richard Noddin
Member
Thanks, Jim!
I managed somehow to figure that the halyard trick might work, especially if you leave a relatively slack line that will move readily. It seemed to me that birds don't want any interference with their wings whether it's precipitation, wingspan limits, or that halyard "snake!".
It worked well, I think. There was much less guano on the boat next day.
I like the wire above the spreaders idea. How did you anchor the ends?
Thanks again for your help!
terry_thatcher
Terence Thatcher
You can anchor one end of the above-spreader wire to the outside spreader tip, under you boot. I then drilled and tapped a number six hole on the mast side, into which I placed a small bolt. That holds the other end of the wire. So far the birds around here don’t sit on the solar panels, but Jim’s idea sounds good.
KerryJames
New Member
Hi folks, I‘m new to this site but not new to sailing. I’ve been sailing my 1970 Morgan 38 for 25 years now. I’ve been using Bird-X on the spreaders and the top of the mast for most of those years without any issues. My boat is is Huntington harbor Long Island. Two years ago I fabricated new spreaders out of Sitka Spruce and added the Bird-X to a strip of teak. I attached a photo.
