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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Bugs, specifically spiders

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NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/10/2010 : 08:44:07

I cleaned the boat last sunday, and came back this past saturday to find my boat with more webs and spiders than ever. Any of you have a good method of keeping them away? I was told to just spray the hull with Raid. Is that safe?

1989 C-25 TR/WK #5894
Miss Behavin'
Sittin' in LCYC on Canyon Lake, Texas

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 08:51:18

I'd start an all out, scorched-earth, chemical attack... keep in mind that the bilge is a location, w/ nearly infinite nooks and cranies, where bugs can set settle in...maybe one of those 'bug bombs' in the bilge, w/ all the boards in place, plus your cabin cleaning approach.

Edited by - on

JudOWNED
1st Mate

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USA
98 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 09:03:17

I assume you mean outside the boat. There's nothing you can do, really. I'm on my boat every weekend at least and sometimes daily. Everytime I come back it's covered in webs.

Inside, I just spray of course. Haven't had too many problems there. But you'll never be completely rid of them. Sailing's an outside sport. Bugs are a part of nature. You'll always have them to some extent.

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 09:47:06

You didn't say if they're inside or outside the cabin.

On the outside you can hose them off. Insecticide will kill some of them in the cabin, but I try to avoid insecticides. They add to our body's load of chemical poisons, and that gives us cancer.

How about getting rid of spiders in the cabin by using one of those dusting mops with long, soft, plastic bristles? It would only take a few seconds to brush them away, and it would take the spiders a day or so to rebuild.

Happy sailing, without spider bites!

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 09:55:08

I've always heard to spray your dock lines.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 10:35:43

It's mostly outside. They make their webs out there to catch the flies. There's enough small spaces for them to build small webs that are hard to clean up and make the whole boat look horrible. And it's not a quick job to clean up before launching.

Edited by - NautiC25 on 05/10/2010 10:36:19

ruachwrights
Captain

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USA
258 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 10:49:05

I find the Phial of Galadriel works wonders.

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 11:27:51

I don't know if San Antonio is like Florida, but there is no way to eliminate spiders. I use to have my boat 600 yards off shore on a mooring, an every week the first thing to do was clean of the webs before sailing. The worst is when they web the windex. I have had to go up the mast to free it up sometimes. The one thing I found that will get webs loose is pool chlorine, 2 cups per gallon of water, in a pump-up sprayer and do under the gunnels then rinse with pressure. The chlorine releases the bounding agent in the web and they fall off.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 16:13:38

Starbright makes makes a great product that that discourages spiders without major toxins. I had a hard time finding it because WM was always sold out, a very positive endorsement. I spray it inside the sailcover, coaming cubbies, cabin, and other locations; it doesn't kill, it interferes with their sense of smell and makes them inclined to find a better place to spin.. I works pretty well without adding to the toxin load.

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 18:33:07

What is the name of the product????

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5397 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 19:06:00

I'm afraid you'll have to travel to the middle of the earth for that product.

I might be a wierdo, but I like spiders (except poisonous ones) because they eat bugs (most of which I don't like).

I've never had one foul my windex (that must be an awesome spider!), and we get some 6" tiger striped spiders here in late August (which I usually relocate to the woods), but largely I live and let live.

When they get out of hand, I simply grab my broom and clean them out.

Edited by - on

two port feet
1st Mate

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77 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 20:25:35

I will trade your spiders for our blue berry bird droppings

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2010 : 20:39:49

Just looked it up : "Spider Away" by Starbrite. WM lists it as Spider Away Cleaner, but it isn't a cleaner. It has a pleasant scent that fades quickly, but it retains effectiveness for a while - I usually refresh it weekly topsides and less often in the cabin with good results.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3468 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 03:22:15

I also have spider issues with webs along the bow pulpit and a few other areas. These guys are very inductrious. I could have cleared the webs, gone sailing and then next day, some of the webs are back already. I have tried various products. One that is citric acid based is called Skeeter Defeater Spider Spray. It is fairly benign to humans and the environment. It hooks up to the water hose at the finger slip and you spray the areas or the whole boat if you like but then it uses up quite a bit of the bottle. I generally concentrate on the 2-3 areas where the webs most commonly form. It lasts for a couple of weeks or so and then need to respray. It is better than doing nothing but not excellent. I have also used the spider sprays you can pick up at Home Depot. These are very effective but deadly to probably to all life forms and not that great for the environment. That stuff, I use only sparingly. Once in awhile, the webs are so strong that they will stop my Windex but that usually clears after a windy day. Luckily, I have no real problems inside the cabin.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 04:59:16

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dave5041
 Starbright makes makes a great product that that discourages spiders without major toxins. I had a hard time finding it because WM was always sold out, a very positive endorsement. I spray it inside the sailcover, coaming cubbies, cabin, and other locations; it doesn't kill, it interferes with their sense of smell and makes them inclined to find a better place to spin.. I works pretty well without adding to the toxin load.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Thanks! I'll try looking for that locally, or having them ship it in for me. I'll probably get something strong for inside the cabin from Lowes or HD.

Here it is: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=109283&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10104&subdeptNum=10379&classNum=10381

Edited by - NautiC25 on 05/11/2010 05:02:17

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 09:39:49

The stuff actually works best in the cabin where there is no wind or water and less UV. I spray the dark recesses and around all entry points and I don't recall having a single spider in the cabin last summer. For me, tolerating a rare spider is probably better than breathing the insecticide residue. Now if we could just do something with the mayfly hatch. For non great lakes sailors, imagine crunching across a solid carpet of insects while being pelted in a cloud of the 2" critters. Cleanup involves large brooms and snow shovels. The only good thing is that the hatch doesn't last long and you can think of it as a few days of bad weather and not go to the lake.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 10:06:01

Sounds horrible. We just have spiders and mud daubers.

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 11:59:02

Thanks for the name. I will give it a try all over the boat, even the windex.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/11/2010 : 13:02:18

My local West Marine had it in stock, but they are having a free shipping sale online, so I saved some gas and bought it online. ;)

Edited by - on

Turk
Admiral

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USA
736 Posts

Response Posted - 05/12/2010 : 10:19:09

My wife is not a spider person so after trying a few remedies, I went for the all out chemical attack. Cynoff is a talcum powder like chemical that you mix with water and spray on external surfaces of the boat. It drys with a invisible layer of powder that is very toxic to spiders and will last several months (it really does!)

You have to be careful to just spray along the deck-hull line and on the transom above the water line. It is not a friendly chemical to fish and should not be sprayed IN the water.

I also use it to spay in areas of my basement with wonderful results.

I believe it is available in one pound containers (makes 50 gallons) and is used primarily by professionals. I have given out medicine bottle sized portions to all my sailing friends and all attest it works better than anything they've ever tried.

At $60 it may seem expensive, but as it is a powder, it really is a lifetime supply. You use so little of it that you could get a few of your sailing buddies to go in on it to bring the cost down.

I never see a spider on board after using this. (Did I tell you my son has three arms? Just kidding)

INFO:

Cynoff WP

Odorless Cypermethrin Insecticide Concentrate

Cynoff WP is an insecticide concentrate in wettable powder form. This insecticide contains 40.00% Cypermethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide. Wettable powder concentrates give an average 90 day residual. A one pound jar will make up to 48 gallons of insecticide spray. The Number One Choice of pest control operators, apartment managers and others for quarterly and yearly pest control applications.

Cypermethrin (the active ingredient in Cynoff WP, Cynoff EC, Demon EC, Demon WP, CB-AirDevil) gives excellent control for ants, carpenter ants, boxelders (boxelder bugs,) spiders, scorpions, German cockroaches, roaches, silverfish, carpenter bees and other household pests. Wettable powder formulations of Cypermethrin are excellent to use as a surface spray for flies on exterior walls.

Each one pound jar of Cynoff WP is shipped with a measuring scoop. For most pest control jobs, use 1 scoop per gallon of water. Stubborn or severe problems will often call for using 2 scoops of the insecticide concentrate per gallon of water.
Cannot be shipped to NY, NJ, CT, VT, AK

Edited by - Turk on 05/12/2010 10:23:24

DanM
Captain

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USA
256 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 04:29:23

That's funny, Turk, it does not mention mosquitoes.

Our marina manager suggests Ortho Home Defense. We try to avoid chemicals, especially the residual type. Therefore we have placed dryer fabric softener sheets in the cabin and beneath the sailcover with some success. I hear spiders can float out in the air on their silk a mile from shore. Be sure to brush out the crevace beneath the rub rails. They hide and nest there during the day, then spin their webs in the rigging in the evening.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 10:29:19

Permethrins are very low toxicity to mammals, including humans, and degrade reliably with low toxicity in residential and agricultural applications. Around boats they have a couple of problems: Water
• Permethrin is highly toxic to honeybees, fish, and aquatic invertebrates due to disruption of sodium channels.1,3,5
• When permethrin enters an aquatic system, some is degraded by
sunlight while in the water column but the majority binds tightly to the sediment.30,31
•permethrin adsorbed to sediments can persist more than a year.30

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 11:08:36

Yepper we are having a bee problem ( we are killing them and we need them ). The bugs don't scare me nearly as much as the claims the chemical companies make. Now that scares me...

I'm from Sand Mountain Alabama, or the family was. Some were in Anniston.

http://www.amazon.com/My-City-Was-Gone-American/dp/0060585501

Sorry.. to sound like a tree hugger, but it is true.

I can stand the spiders, although I do stomp them..

Edited by - on

JudOWNED
1st Mate

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USA
98 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 11:36:56

Got some Spider Away and sprayed some on the outside of the boat before we left on Sunday...

GOOD LORD THAT STUFF REEKS!!!!!

Thank God I didn't try and spray any inside. I'm hoping the smell fades (to my human nostrils) by the time we go there next weekend. I'm at least hoping it works well. But be warned.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 12:08:48

Thanks for the heads up. Let us know how well it works. I can't try mine out til this weekend.

Maybe it's the smell of rotted spider carcases. lol

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 14:16:00

Funny, I thought the scent was somewhat pleasant with a light spray. Maybe decades in emergency and operating rooms and the unimaginable odors that failing body parts sometimes emit has corrupted my olfactory sense for life.

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