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senormechanico · 22-11-2015, 18:48

LOW TECH FIX?

Thin, bare wire, approx 22 ga.

___________________________________________ attached to ac hot.
___________________________________________ attached to ac neutral
___________________________________________ hot
___________________________________________ neutral
___________________________________________ hot
___________________________________________ neutral

rinse and repeat as necessary, to cover the necessary panel area.
Mount on insulating rails crossing the panel.
Fused, of course at about 20 amps to prevent a bird from starting a fire on the panel...

SARCASM !!! for all you weaklings (or is it)

Actually all it would really need is around 30-40 volts, just enough to be really uncomfortable to their feet.

mramoo · 22-11-2015, 19:36

Has anyone tried that self adhesive clear plastic that is used at the boat shows to protect carpet ?

zboss · 22-11-2015, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

I've got a set up similar to yours with solar panels on a pushpit out the back. When I first moved from a marina to a mooring, my solar panels were covered in seagul **** to the extent they stopped working, and it only took two to three weeks to happen.

I then found a solution that has so far worked for the past three years that I have been there and I kid you not, they don't even seem to fly over my boat any more, they go around. I found a dead seagul and I tied it to the middle of the solar panels (after I cleaned it). Couldn't see it from the boat, unless you climbed up and there is no smell. Immediately my boat seemed to become a death zone.

For the past year I have not had the carcass on the boat and it's still bird poop free. Though, it's only now working at my mooring, not if I visit elsewhere. So I suspect, it will start wearing off soon. I'll know at Christmas time when I return it to it's mooring. I might have to find another dead bird. An old chap suggested it's a generational thing. Perhaps.

But it certainly works. It's not unsightly, doesn't smell and protects the entire boat from Seaguls and Starlings.

Best idea yet. Our neighbor boat in the slip always has a Osprey on it... which then sprays poop on my boat. I bet this would work well. I think they sell dead birds at pet shops for snakes. I wonder if that would work.

elknimrod · 23-11-2015, 05:57

I use a Gull Sweep, attached to a mid boom eye and hoisted with a spare halyard. I decided on this method because others have been less than effective. I watched a cormorant actively balance on a spreader wire for 2 hours; that's a lot of poop.
The GS doesn't have to be directly on my solar panels to protect them, which are mounted over the transom above the bimini, the movement is enough to spook any trespassers. So I no longer come back to a boat covered in a solid coat of poop all over the dodger, cockpit and bimini.
The GS has a few mounting options, I've seen them on many power boats and they're easy to put up and take down in a minute.
I do use clear plastic bird spikes on the first set of spreaders too. Now my boat is poop free, which is not the case for my neighbors.
Ed
S/V Emily
Cataumet, MA

zeehag · 23-11-2015, 06:06

wow a lot of conversation on something with an easy cure--move on board and have a cat.
bubba keeps birdees off our boat....even night herons....

barnakiel · 23-11-2015, 06:36

That's one of problems with cats - they are too stable and they make such an easier landing pad for sea birds.

Convert to a mono or go to a rolly anchorage and the problem disappears.

b.

Flyingsailer · 23-11-2015, 06:54

We have put up a plastic fake owl with a little bird tape attached. The birds don't come close anymore.

elknimrod · 23-11-2015, 07:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeehag

wow a lot of conversation on something with an easy cure--move on board and have a cat.
bubba keeps birdees off our boat....even night herons....

You still end up dealing with poop, and moving aboard is hardly easy for most of us. Amusing though.

zeehag · 23-11-2015, 07:28

got no seagulls. bubba kills em and eats em. goood hunter and protector . he willnot allow anything on boat other than himself and me.
moving aboard is hardly easy for anyone. some of us prefer it and are able to deal with the lil sillinesses such as birdee poo as a result.
seems birdees love unattended boats.
birdpoo is one of the lil use taxes you get to pay nature for your privilege.
if you arent into paying momma nature her taxes, place monofilament across top of your panels just an inch or two above em. that also works-- almost as well as a cat.

as long as you are occupying a marina slip, hose water happens, nozzles direct that water, some even with a jet or power wash setting, and these seem to do well in removal , rather easily, of the offensive lil glob of poo left by all but herons. that needs cement solvent.

senormechanico · 23-11-2015, 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnakiel

That's one of problems with cats - they are too stable and they make such an easier landing pad for sea birds.

Convert to a mono or go to a rolly anchorage and the problem disappears.

b.

HAH !
I once had a Cormorant land on the top of my Lord Nelson 35 while I was under sail on a reach at 7 knots while crossing the Sea of Cortez.
No amount of banging on the rig worked, so I extended a boat hook, duct taped the bottom half to a masthead halyard.
I then added a downhaul to it and gave him an uppercut to his ass he'd remember.
It worked.

ArtM · 23-11-2015, 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerry1

Now drinking fishing line on a solar panel, that takes some beating!

I'm still trying to understand how the drinking of fishing line led to him pooping all over his solar panels - and then he managed to blame the sea gulls for it!

zboss · 23-11-2015, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeehag

wow a lot of conversation on something with an easy cure--move on board and have a cat.
bubba keeps birdees off our boat....even night herons....

We had an osprey come down and try and take one of our cats last summer. It got within maybe 3 feet with its claws out and ready to take off with the cat until it realized that there was a screen between him and the cat.

freaked us out. It circled the boat for days before going off and we never saw it again.