Tom
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 51,904
Every spring the swallows arrive and make their nests under our deck and under the ramp down to the dock. For the next several months (through late September/early October) our boats get inundated with bird poop. I'll look out the window and see several families lined up on the rails, all with their butts facing inboard. That bird poop can really stain gel coat.
We've experimented with all kinds of anti-bird tricks over the years, but settled on the system shown in the first attached photo. I attach a number of plastic spring clamps to the rails and string 50-60 lbs test monofilament between the clamps. If kept taught, the birds won't land, and therefore don't line up to poop. With 300 feet of rail, it takes a lot of clamps and monofilament. However, this isn't foolproof; The birds finally send in a kamikaze pilot to land on the monofilament and hold it down while the others land safely.
A friend, neighbor and forum member has taken this one step further. As seen in the second photo, he fabrcated metal clamps through which he strings galvanized wire. It seems to work more reliably than the monofilament but it's a real PITA trying to unravel all that galvanized wire and clamps. As I told him when I once put up the system on his boat, this is for the birds.
We've experimented with all kinds of anti-bird tricks over the years, but settled on the system shown in the first attached photo. I attach a number of plastic spring clamps to the rails and string 50-60 lbs test monofilament between the clamps. If kept taught, the birds won't land, and therefore don't line up to poop. With 300 feet of rail, it takes a lot of clamps and monofilament. However, this isn't foolproof; The birds finally send in a kamikaze pilot to land on the monofilament and hold it down while the others land safely.
A friend, neighbor and forum member has taken this one step further. As seen in the second photo, he fabrcated metal clamps through which he strings galvanized wire. It seems to work more reliably than the monofilament but it's a real PITA trying to unravel all that galvanized wire and clamps. As I told him when I once put up the system on his boat, this is for the birds.
