Zebra Mussels in Pickup

[pvanv]

Just a note for the freshwater guys here... Was preparing for spring launch last week, and happened to notice an odd appearance to the plastic inlet screen/strainer on my 1-year-old Nissan 9.8. Looked sort of like a poorly cast plastic strainer. Didn't notice that when the motor went in last year.

The screen is easily removed with one stainless bolt on these motors, so I checked it out. The cavity inside the screen was loaded with a dozen of those doggone Zebra mussels. They must have entered when they were small, and then grew larger -- there's no way they could have made it in through the openings in the strainer at their adult size. The motor does not get tilted up throughout the season, so it wasn't unexpected to find a mussel or two on the outside of the LU, but this invasion into the inlet is a new thing.

Since they were blocking about a third of the water inlet gallery, it's good that I got them out, though the motor was cooling fine last fall. None seem to have made it up into the water pump area. Maybe the water velocity was too high for them in there.

Will apply some Aurora antifouling wax in the cavity behind the strainer, as well as to the plastic strainer itself this season. We'll see how it looks this fall.

 

[hondon]

Re: Zebra Mussels in Pickup

We should start a whole new thread on this one.In California you now have get your boat and trailer inspected tagged each time you or before you launch at a different waterway.These are some invasive little buggers.

 

[pvanv]

Re: Zebra Mussels in Pickup

I mentioned this in the Honda/Tohatsu forum because the affected motor -- the Nissan/Tohatsu 9.8 -- has an especially fine inlet, and yet they still got in. Maybe this post is better off in a general discussion forum...

AFAIK, there isn't any official inspection system in place for this in NY. Always a good policy to make sure you haven't trailered an invasive species (in bilge water, etc.) to a new lake. And of course saltwater has different (though similar) issues.

This motor is always used on the same boat, and in the same lake (Ontario), so no worries about transplanting the species. Just amazing that the little freshwater buggers got INSIDE the strainer.

On a side note, some local campgrounds have recently banned outside firewood because of invasive bugs discovered in some firewood.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Zebra Mussels in Pickup

This is a trailered boat motor? I would think that after time out of water they would be dead and not grow. We have them around here and yes the "seeds" are tiny...... would pass right through a window screen. They are tiny.....

 

[pvanv]

Re: Zebra Mussels in Pickup

This particular rig is not trailed from lake to lake. It's in the lazarette well of a 28-foot sailboat. The LU stays submerged all season. Marine growth is limited, as the leg is protected with antifouling wax. But this will be the first season that I will be applying the antifouling wax inside the water pickup gallery.

Goes in at Wilson, NY on Lake Ontario by the first of May, and stays in until late October. Cruising grounds include the Great Lakes and tributaries. Yes, the zebra buggers are definitely dead a couple of days after fall haulout.