Critters on your boat

[Nandy]

This is unbelievable. I finished working on my motor a few weeks ago. I am on the breaking process and I have not really run this motor too many times. Last time I ran the boat, two weeks ago, everything was going ok.<br />Today when I started the motor no water was coming out of the motor tattletale port, after a few seconds I shut it off. My heart sank, after all the work on the motor the thing broke again. After much thinking I decided to keep my hope high and check if the port was somehow plugged. I pulled the hose and started again, in 3 seconds water was coming off the hose. Ahh, what a feeling. After sacrificing one of my fishing gadgets I had a wire strong and long enough to unplug the port. To my surprise a large plug came out. <br />I cleaned this port good as well as the hose so I am intrigued as to where this plugged came from. As I washed it out I see that the plug is no more that an insect larvae. Apparently this one mother got into the port, plugged it with grass and dirt, leave the larvae to grow and then plug the outside with more grass and dirt.<br />How many of you have had a similar situation with insects on your motor or boat?

 

[FlyBoyMark]

Re: Critters on your boat

They're called "mud dobbers" This is a wasp that does this to any hole or opening they can find, then if on any surface they can attach thier "nest" to if there are no holes around. Inside is the larve of the wasp with paralized insects waiting to be eaten alive when the larve starts to develop. They are also a pain the but to us pilots also..they git into the pitot tube that gives us our airspeed indication and any other opening in the airplane.

 

[cajun555]

Re: Critters on your boat

Any thing with holes in them that I don't want plugged up I have to put duct tape over.

 

[Mettaree]

Re: Critters on your boat

Golf Tee works great to plug pee hole.<br />

 

[Nandy]

Re: Critters on your boat

I have a cover for the powerhead but the stupid thing stop short of covering the pee hole. For now the boat will be on the garage since it makes it easier for me than drag the thing from the back yard and leave thread marks on the lawn. I will probably get another powerhead cover, one that will cover the pee hole. <br />It surprise me that there is no more people with similar experiences. I also had a nest of wasps under the coupler. I got stung while removing the cover. It's been over 2 years and my thumb still hurts if I lift anything heavy. After I killed them I started placing a plastic bag to keep them from comming in. Every now and them I find small spiders but there is not much I can do about that.

 

[FlyBoyMark]

Re: Critters on your boat

I forgot to mention...got in my pee hole two weeks ago, freaked me out in the middle of the everglades. Thought my water pump crapped out 16 miles from nowhere......till I stuck a paper clip in there and a bunch of mud and parallized bugs came out. AND I keep my boat in an enclosed garage!!!!!

 

[WHALER27CC]

Re: Critters on your boat

I have just spent the last week or so getting rid of friggin carpenter ants on the little boat!!!I got them all after spraying endlessly and feeling like Bill Murray in that golf movie, Groundhog Day...I won though!!!!

 

[moderator1]

Re: Critters on your boat

I'm not sure where to put this. It dos not belong here. <br /><br />I'll try General Outboard topics.

 

[ED21]

Re: Critters on your boat

I've had spiders do the same thing & plug up the telltale with a nest. <br />Last year someone posted a pic of a mouse nest in a lower unit.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Critters on your boat

FYI, the "golf movie" was Caddyshack.<br />Groundhog Day was a sappy love story.

 

[Gus Mortimer]

Re: Critters on your boat

The motor I have was sitting for years when I got it and those mud daubers were everywhere. The first time I started it their nests came flying out from under the flywheel and scared the crap out of me! they were in the exhaust leg the telltale, everywhere! and this is what I found even after removing big hunks of them from under the cowl and all over the outside of the engine.<br /> Got mine out of teltale with compressed air.

 

[quantumleap]

Re: Critters on your boat

Just be careful when removing the nests. Nothing worse than gettin stung around the pee hole!!

 

[rwise]

Re: Critters on your boat

pulled the cover off one of mine the other day, red paper wasps went everwhere!