Ants on Board

[Tom Hildebrandt]

Last year I managed to get the boat rid of cockroaches, this years plague is ants, but none of the traps/sprays I have tried seem to be doing the job!

Suggestions anyone?

[donradcliffe]

Get some Terro ant bait (a liquid about the consistency of syrup), put a bit in some strategic spots, then wait a couple of weeks and they will disappear. It worked for the cruisers, including us, in Trinidad this year.

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Get some Terro ant bait (a liquid about the consistency of syrup), put a bit in some strategic spots, then wait a couple of weeks and they will disappear. It worked for the cruisers, including us, in Trinidad this year.

I second this recommendation. It really is the best. Might be difficult to find where you are though, not sure.

[GordMay]

Terro Ant Bait consists of a mixture of boric acid* and sugar in a liquid solution, that attracts sweet eating ants. When ants carry the bait back to their nest, Terro will eliminate the entire colony.

The easiest ants to control are sweet-loving ants.

* Sodium Tetraborate, decahydrate 5.4%

Big-headed ants, little black ants and pavement ants prefer grease and protein; in addition, they will also feed on fruit juices. They respond best to protein/grease baits.

A protein/grease bait recipe from Field Guide for the Management of Structure Infesting Ants is:
* 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) peanut butter
* 3 ounces (6 tablespoons)
* honey
* 3/4 teaspoon boric acid

[osirissail]

I have used all the various types of ant killers over the years and nothing worked very well until my sister sent me a package of the TERRO Ant Killer. It is a little jar of liquid and the packaging has lots of little cardboard squares. You put a drop or two of the liquid on a cardboard square and put it somewhere in the path of the ants you see. And over a week or so, the ants disappeared. Good Stuff.

[aboutgone]

We use 20 mule team Borax...mix with grape jelly......very cheap and works great....Ed Morris

[GordMay]

Managing Structure-Invading Ants
➫ http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publi...les/pb1629.pdf

Especially pages 7 & 8.

[seandepagnier]

What are the ants eating? If you take away their food they will leave. Also, I was hoping this thread was about farm raising ants for eating on the boat (which would probably work pretty well)

[Pelagic]

Small trick the guys here at the Subic Marina do at the onslaught of the rainy season when the ants want to escape the dock ...is to wrap a small piece of cloth around each dock line and shore umbilical. Soak it in engine lube oil and the ants will not cross.

Seems to work

Courtesy of BP – PR department….lol

[Mariness]

Another vote for Terro! If it's too messy they also make it in little plastic cases - works great but no worries about it tipping, or kids/pets getting into it.
We used the drops first, but switched to the cases because of the baby crawling around.
It is the ONLY thing that got the tiny sugar-ants (local name, but they go for anything) that were plaguing us -- a warning if that's what you have, don't clean & destroy their trails, it actually makes it worse! Just put the Terro where you've seen them, ours disappeared literally in about 48 hours.

[rebel heart]

Anything food-ish stored onboard our boat is in plastic food containers. Dry goods in substandard packaging end up in these OXO air tight jobbers:

Amazon.com: Oxo Good Grips POP Rectangle 2-1/2-Quart Storage Container: Kitchen & Dining

[osirissail]

If the bug situation/ants/roaches, etc. gets real bad or just plain too frustrating then it is possible to get your boat "bombed" or fogged by a professional. I have seen quite a few boats have the service done especially for marina boats. The process involves removing anything living from the boat and then they use tape to seal all the vents and portholes and hatches. A fog of insect poison is blown into the boat for several hours and then the boat is left sealed for several days so that the poison can seep into all the nooks and crannies. Then you have several days of ventilating the boat to get the residual smell out.
- - Basically the process is the only "sure-fire" way of ridding the boat of all the built-up pests.

[Tom Hildebrandt]

Thanks Osirrisail, as a last resort the professional fogging would be an option, but I am going to try the low tech approaches first!

[osirissail]

I am into the third year of the "Ants War" and although the poisons, especially Terro seems to rid or at least cause them to disappear for a few months - they eventually come back. And then out comes the little squares of Terro again.
- - The longest time problem is the spiders. When one or two get on the boat and they can arrive by air instead of by docklines - they never really ever leave. Problem comes in when they migrate below decks and live in the dark corners like around you bunk. If you notice small bites on your ankles it is normally these spiders. Normal household spray cans of crawling insect killers keep them under control but only after they present themselves as a problem.
- - When on the hard I use several cans of the most potent crawling insect killer spray to coat the keel blocks and jack stands every few days or after a rain.

[Hud3]

Did you ever try slathering vaseline on any path bugs could take from ground to the boat? I've heard that works, but I've never tried it.