Black Ants on My Boat

[Karl Seibel]

I recently noticed alot of black ants walking around on my boat when it is parked in my driveway. And sometimes they go fishing with me when not invited. Should I be concerned about this? Are they eating away at something? and if they are what can I do? Thanks Seibel

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

If they are those great big black ones they are carpenter ants. I had them on my front porch one summer and thought nothing of it till my floor was hollowed out. Had to rebuild the floor. They were easy enough to get rid of with some spray from the hardware store. I used a lot of it and they have not returned.

 

[Pecker]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

As long as they are not fire ants! OOOOweeeee those babys hurt! I get fire ants (that's all we have) in my boat too. <br />I guess they're after the moisture during the hot summer months. That's the only time they attack my boat.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

I am an exterminator, so here we go: If you are seeing these medium to large black ants on your boat, they are very likely Carpenter Ants. They prefer moist wood to live near/in. Just a little spray here and there will NOT get rid of them. If they are in your transom, it could be being hollowed out even as we speak. You can try this: Tarp it off really tight, and toss a few of those store bought foggers in there, and leave the tarp on for an hour or so. It may penetrate enough to kill them. Otherwise, you could have an exterminator come out, we have machines that can gas voids to kill those things. My project boat had Carpenter Ants in the transo, I thought it was both funny and ironic.<br /><br />Another possibility is that there is a source of food or moisture that has collected in the bilge that they are coming to the boat for, and the colony is not in the boat.

 

[jrc27]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

i have the same problem, noticed the ants one day and thought nothing of it. a few days later i went to charge the batteries and noticed a bunch of white specsn the rear of the boat. that's when i figured those little *******s are eating my boat. didn'y look like wood looked like specs of foam.. the other day i bought a couple cans of roach and ant killer.. sprayed the s@#& out of it.. hit all the specs and the few ants i saw.. tried to get the bow area but hard to get to(stratos bass boat) noticed today they were outside the boat in spots not sprayed... so i hit those spots.. hope this works.. do those ants mainly go after just wood? is the fog spray safe?

 

[andrewkafp]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

Yeah<br /><br />I like the tight tarp and fumigate idea.<br />The bombs are OK as long as there are no living things around when you let them off...

 

[Karl Seibel]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

Thanks I'll have tp bomb them soon...Seibel

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Black Ants on My Boat

Just so it is clear, Carpenter Ants do not eat wood, and it does not have to be wood that they live in. They need a certain amount of moisture content present for the larval stage of their reproduction. The actual material they live in is irrelevant. They love foam because it is easy to chew through, and often times if they are in your boat, there is some of that foam holding water as well as the wood that is soaked. Surface spraying usuall does not do much to Carpenter Ants except kill a few foragers. Getting to the colony through slow acting residual chemicals that are spread through contact, commercial baits (the store bought stuff is crap), or direct gassing are the best ways. Tarping and bombing may work as the gas is trapped and works its way into their passageways.