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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Gestation period for wasps

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5369 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/15/2013 : 17:38:54

Previous week I was away so last week I opened the hatch and noticed a good sized wasp hovering above the cockpit. Moment or two later it flew inside but I could not tell where it went.
So I got out my trusty flyswatter and waited. It reappeared and after a few wiffs I connected and splat - no more wasp. Right afterward I made ready to cast off and didn't give it another thought. I chalked it up to a random scout looking for a home.
Later, when I returned to the dock I cleaned up, buttoned up and locked up.
Next time out a few days later, there was another, identical wasp hovering around. It too zoomed down inside somewhere near the quarterberth or head area. Now I'm saying "aw crap", I've got a family on my hands.
So now I am fairly certain these two set up camp in Passage and I'm thinking in a week or two there'll be a whole flock of them buzzing my head. Can any entymologists advise what I might be in for?

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2013 : 18:43:32

I used to get them fairly frequently, and never got stung. They seem to only attack if they perceive that you have attacked them. They are probably mud wasps making a mud nest somewhere inside the boat. The mud nest is about the size of your thumb, perhaps a bit fatter. When I found one, I pulled it off gently when they weren't in sight, and tossed it overboard. They are most likely getting inside the boat through the space between the sliding hatch and the hatch boards. I sealed that opening and seldom had a problem after that.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2013 : 18:47:37

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp#Social_wasp_reproductive_cycle_.28temperate_species_only.29"]wasp reproductive cycle[/url].

Dunno how helpful that is, might wait till a chilly night to go looking for the nest, or simply fog the whole boat.

When we went looking for boats, one of the WB C-250's we went aboard had a wasp's nest in the anchor locker. I told the broker about it, but the guy who eventually bought it found the wasp's nest after he got it home ("Bear").

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Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2013 : 19:09:42

I fogged Pearl once. She had to be opened for about 6 hours before she was habitable. Now I hang a solid "flying insect killer" from Lowe's when I close up. I save the foil package it comes in and slip it back in when I come back. It airs out quickly an seems to be effective in eliminating crawlies too. The next generation of daubers and paper wasps return to their birth sites as their first choice in nest building, so thorough elimination is essential.

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9080 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2013 : 20:01:49

In one of her earlier lives (with me), Passage spent a few idle weeks in her boat club slip, after which I was out hoisting the mains'l when something like 30-50 large spider-like things came tumbling out all over me and everything, and started crawling around! They turned out to be immature mud-dauber wasps that were probably just about to emerge from a long, tubular nest in the flaked sail. One could have nightmares about that...

To me, the lesson was (and has been with other boats) that if you go sailing often enough, wasps give up on their nest building--they can't find the boat so they restart somewhere else.

One time, I found a nest being built on my boat trailer. I moved the trailer about 20' and the construction stopped. I saw them hovering around where it used to be, for a while...

So Bruce... Go sailing!

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panhead1948
Captain

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345 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2013 : 20:07:57

If you find the nest it will be full of spiders, that is the up side of the wasps they kill spiders.

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5369 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2013 : 17:18:30

Dave - thanks, I plan to go sailing as often as possible.
I've got no problem with a few of any kind of critters - it's only when they gang up on me that I get concerned!

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.