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zeehag · 30-09-2011, 13:22

paper bags and thin boxes do not harbor the huge eggs roaches lay. they WILL fly into your boat and they WILL crawl on lines for moorage and docking. i do not trust CORRUGATED cardboard-- that IS large enough for roach eggs, but paper bags and cereal box/ bisquick box cardboard doesnt do it. roach mnotels and good poison are wonderful;. i spray my lines , docks and gunwhales well...

gonesail · 30-09-2011, 13:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by h20man

in some abodes, roaches belong in the kitchen because they are part of the meal

seriously if someone is desperate enough to eat a roach then they may as well dip their mug into the toilet bowl to wash it down. as for me i will starve to death first

barnakiel · 01-10-2011, 05:06

Seeing how many there are on local sidewalk I bet we are bringing in zillions of eggs on the soles of our shoes ...

How do you handle this?

b.

zeehag · 01-10-2011, 07:04

waffle stompers make great bug egg transportation......not just roaches.....

onestepcsy37 · 01-10-2011, 08:30

Harris Roach Tablets

been using these for several years now, at home and on the boat. this is in florida where we have a large roach population. absolutely positively work. the admiral would never cruise on the boat if she saw a roach.

the tablets are half boric acid, half bait. roaches seek them out, eat them, get thirsty, drink water, and explode. i never even find pieces of them. you just scatter them around the boat. if you have pets or small children, put them where they cant reach them. they cost a few dollars for a box - ace hardware and other stores carry them.

last year i gave some to two different anchor-out liveaboards who were overrun with roaches. after cleaning up the boat and removing other food sources, neither has a roach problem anymore.

it does take a few weeks to work. i think that once you poison the adults and then the hatching eggs the infestation is over.

forsailbyowner · 18-01-2013, 05:19

Ok been fighting the roach battle from hell. Met a girl with an infested rental house and soon had the dreaded german cockroach infestation. They are much harder to beat than the asian or american(palmetto bug) varieties. While on 8 month cruise I tried anything available, multiple bombings spaced weeks apart, drilling holes in liner and spraying 6 cans Bengal roach spray in the holes, Gallons of roach spray advertised to keep killing for 12 months, the roach paste in a syringe, motels, boric acid powder and still had a major infestation when I got to aforementioned gals house. I've finally not seen any dead or alive roaches in the house or boat for 3 days now, here's how I won the battle(temporarily) and what I've learned.

Boric acid: when making baits use no more than one part boric acid to 8 parts attractant. According to a university study I read more concentrated and the roaches can sense it and won't eat the bait. I used one part boric acid 8 parts pastry flour and enough pancake syrup to make thick paste. Take a rectangle of builders plastic, put a dab in the middle, tape it to form a tube, then press down so the mix glues the two layers together leaving a gap so the roaches get in and you won't get the paste all over the place.

When dusting with boric acid make sure you get the powdered and not granular boric acid. A very thin coating is what you want, too much and they will avoid it. My boat has a fiberglass liner overhead and this was a large part of the problem. The Bengal, and bombs wouldn't get deep enough to get them all. I have an access hole over the galley where the voids are most prevalant. I took a shopvac and put the hose on blow side with all the filters out, ran the hose into the access and stuffed a towel around it. Then with the vac running poured boric acid powder into the suction side.(As mentioned earlier) It effectively fogged the whole area between the liner and deck.

Shop vac: A wonderful weapon in the battle. Every night right after dark cockroaches come out of they're holes and forage. I taped a sock over the end of the hose inside the vacuum. Then taped a small pipe about 18" long with a. 1/2" diameter. Leaving the lights off go on the hunt with the vacuum and a flashlight. I did this every night the first night got hundreds and less every night afterwards. ( Got thousands first night out of aforementioned house). Before you turn off the vacuum suck up a bit of boric acid then plug the hose end unless you want to change/empty the sock every time.

Duct tape: is great for trapping and finding areas of infestation. Simply lay it sticky side up along and in corners. The glue attracts them and they get stuck. Also they just walk across it and get stuck while foraging. Must be warm for this to work as the glue doesn't stick well enough to trap them when its cold. Also works great for finding nests as tape near these will often catch a hundred or more in one night.

Caulk and spray foam: areas where nests were MUST BE either sealed off completely or sanitized. Roaches are attracted to roach feces. If you leave the old areas of infestation the smell will bring in roaches from a long way off. If you don't deal with the smell you will have recurring infestations even after you kill every last roach onboard because its like a roach magnet. Even places that are tented quickly become reinfested unless sanitized. Between the house and boat I went through 3 cases of caulk and bunches of backer rod. I got rid of the roaches in a house in one month that had professional exterminators coming to it for at least two years and probably many more as there were roach killing products in the pantry when she moved in.

For your possessions: its a pita but to kill off eggs and roaches in electronics and belongings that are susceptible to holding eggs, put them in a sealed bag for at the minimum 2 weeks. They will die from dehydration.

Put all books,paperwork and paper products in ziplocks. They will stay dry and not be a food source for the roaches.

It took me a month off cruising to beat these suckers. I took advantage of this month to replace all my cushions and do a bunch of finish work and painting. Hopefully no more having roaches crawling across me while sleeping in berth(shudder). Hope this helps someone!

w1651 · 18-01-2013, 08:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by smurphny

When the boat has been vacant for a while, I use one or two of those fogging insecticide cans that you just pop and leave. Seems to get any critters that may be lurking. If this doesn't work, see my "termites" solution in the previous thread.

I do the same on a regular bases. Wether I see a roch or not I regularly spray my boat.
I also keep plastic and cardboard away from my boat. That all goes to the trash heap. I also keep food and the crumbs to a minimum. I live in Florida so this is just how we live anyway. Florida is loaded with the critters so you have to keep where you live clean at all times.
A little tip is 20 mule team borax if you can still get it and stay on them constantly.

DITB · 02-05-2013, 02:43

Am I the only one to think the English word "cock roach" is somewhat offensive?

I am just starting the battle now. I have seen (and killed) a few recently, and going through this whole thread, I realise it's probably the surface of it.

To begin with, I made two traps of water bottles, where I cut the neck of the bottle, greased a belt of vaseline and inverted it back onto the bottle, stuck with duck tape (which I always thought was called duct tape, why is it called duck tape? next thing I will learn is that high speed tape is really called heiss pee tape!?)

Anyway, the bottles are set with different mixtures of coffee, ovaltine, sugar and honey - let's see what catches most creeps! Nothing is too good for these little stowaways.

I was thinking of making some kind of access control on all mooring lines (grease on a disk or something), but it seems from above they just fly in, like this was some kind of helipad cat!

Good luck to me ...

**boatman61** · 02-05-2013, 03:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by DITB

Am I the only one to think the English word "cock roach" is somewhat offensive?

Cock... Male bird... appendage of varying size found on the male species...

Roach... butt end of a cigarette or joint...

I am just starting the battle now. I have seen (and killed) a few recently, and going through this whole thread, I realise it's probably the surface of it.

To begin with, I made two traps of water bottles, where I cut the neck of the bottle, greased a belt of vaseline and inverted it back onto the bottle, stuck with duck tape (which I always thought was called duct tape, why is it called duck tape? next thing I will learn is that high speed tape is really called heiss pee tape!?)

Anyway, the bottles are set with different mixtures of coffee, ovaltine, sugar and honey - let's see what catches most creeps! Nothing is too good for these little stowaways.

You can buy 'Hotels' from most general stores and supermarkets in the tropic's... they check in but never check out..

I was thinking of making some kind of access control on all mooring lines (grease on a disk or something), but it seems from above they just fly in, like this was some kind of helipad cat!

Best bet to stop them climbing along your lines is to rub blackboard chalk into the lines for the 1st 12 inches or so.. like ants they dislike the lime content in the chalk... also remove all cardboard packaging on shore before taking shopping on board.. leave the eggs on land..

Good luck to me ...

I melt some dark chocolate in a pan and lean a wooden spatula for easy access just before I crash for the night...
Lovely crunchy texture...

rivonia · 02-05-2013, 03:36

To cap it all. Use BORIC acid which is in a fine powder form, run it along all dark crevices,nooks and crannies. DO NOT MIX IT with anything use it as it is.

NEVER take any cardboard boxes on board-the roaches lay there eggs in them

ALWAYS clean up after and food eating/cutting. The roaches are there because of two reasons. 1 you are feeding them 2 a friend has accidently transported them from there boat to yours.

Teknav · 02-05-2013, 04:09

When you mop any surface, make sure the water you use is mixed with half a pint of kerosene in it; half a pint per bucket of water. It will smell a little, but the smell will fade away shortly. Roaches are killed when they taste the mixture; assuming you do not have any pets on board. A few days later, you'll have an infestation-free boat! Mauritz

DITB · 02-05-2013, 04:20

The only pets we have on board is a few (?) cockroaches and those creeps too small to see (or too good at hiding).

I want something high tech, like a night vision scanner with sync'ed lasers that roasts them in their tracks! Maybe not so effective but much more exiting!

Then I will rename them cockroast and feed them to the fishes!

**boatman61** · 02-05-2013, 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by DITB

The only pets we have on board is a few (?) cockroaches and those creeps too small to see (or too good at hiding).

I want something high tech, like a night vision scanner with sync'ed lasers that roasts them in their tracks! Maybe not so effective but much more exiting!

Then I will rename them cockroast and feed them to the fishes!

The bigger golden types are fairly easy to get rid of... its the smaller black 'German Roaches' that are harder to eliminate...

Good hunting..

hellosailor · 02-05-2013, 07:24

DI-
"Duck" tape is a brand name. Like Kleenex or Pepsi. Their main product is DUCT tape, which is actually not used to seal heating ducts because it isn't terribly durable. And since most folks find "duct" doesn't roll off their tongues, some clever guys started a "duck" tape company.
Real HVAC guys use metal tape to seal ducts these days, and gaffers use "gaffer's tape" to secure cables on the floor so you don't trip on them. Gaffers tape looks just like duct tape, costs about 3x as much, doesn't leave a sticky mess on expensive rugs.

Meanwhile your roaches won't care which tape you use. Roach baits WILL kill them, you just won't see where they've gone to die. Most of the baits use boric acid and sugar so they take it back to the nest and kill other roaches, which is more effective than a bottle.

If you want to nuke 'em all, find the original Raid Combat foggers. Not the aerosol cans, but the blue and yellow box with 3 "cans" in it. About $12-15 per box of three. You invert each one in a bowl of water and white smoke comes out. The smoke gets into everything, leaves no residue, kills any critters in the area. It is a 100% kill.

The problem is that roaches are on a 30-day cycle, 30 days to mature, 30 to breed, 30 more for the eggs to hatch, and the eggs survive whatever you've done. So in order to get rid of them all, you need to bomb the boat 2-3 times, 30 days apart, to catch whatever is just hatching and just maturing to lay more eggs.

And then of course, keep out any newcomers. The baits are good at that, they'll kill whoever comes for dinner. You just won't see those bodies, so you have to have faith that they really are working.