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Gone2long · 05-12-2014, 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

If it interests you, it is easy to make rat guards for your dock lines. Rats can easily walk on them to gain access to your boat, without them. Use the aluminum foil pie pans that you buy in packs of 6, cut a hole in the center of it just large enough to accommodate the line, and push the pie tin down the line far enough from the cleat than the rat can't jump to the boat from the line. He can't jump over it (can't see where to land), and can't get to the boat, either, he goes away.

You were lucky, actually, he didn't chew your wiring, he didn't die somewhere really hard to get at; and maybe he's done no damage.

Ann

We use plastic coke bottles, 1 litre size, with the nose of the bottle pointed toward the dock, and the back of the bottle cut off. The rat tries to climb over it, but it spins, and he goes swimming. : ) Happy ending, at least for we yachtspersons.

**JPA Cate** · 06-12-2014, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gone2long

We use plastic coke bottles, 1 litre size, with the nose of the bottle pointed toward the dock, and the back of the bottle cut off. The rat tries to climb over it, but it spins, and he goes swimming. : ) Happy ending, at least for we yachtspersons.

Unfortunately, rats are pretty strong swimmers. The point about protecting one's anchor chain seems quite valid to me.

Now, if only we wanted to eat the rats, we could keep their population down.

A.

Gone2long · 06-12-2014, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Unfortunately, rats are pretty strong swimmers. The point about protecting one's anchor chain seems quite valid to me.

Now, if only we wanted to eat the rats, we could keep their population down.

A.

Hey, not a bad idea. They're considered something of a delicacy out here in Asia : )

captainbri · 08-12-2014, 10:43

I ate rat it wasn't bad

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Gone2long · 10-12-2014, 20:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainbri

I ate rat it wasn't bad

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

That's the spirit : )

G2l

Steadman Uhlich · 10-12-2014, 20:23

Making meals of rats?

Some eat them.

Some people make use of river rats (Nutria) fur to make stylish coats.

Perhaps there is a new potential money making cottage (or boat) furrier industry for sailors in some areas.

Seymore · 11-12-2014, 19:57

We read that Sir Francis Drake dined on wormy biscuits, rotten meat and the occasional rat.

We've come a long way since then, with our one can meals...uh, wait a minute...

GrowleyMonster · 12-12-2014, 09:39

In Louisiana, if it's got a face on it, it's edible.

NornaBiron · 21-12-2014, 12:53

From personal experience I can categorically state that foil pie plates, coke bottles, discs etc do not prevent rats from climbing along shore lines. In order for the discs to work they have to be enormous, way too big to be sensible to carry on a small yacht.

Pre cats we used discs and coke bottles which we centred over the lines and poked cocktail sticks through to make them prickly. Mr Rat just took his time, flattened the discs and pushed the cocktail sticks into the bottles as he walked across!

The best deterrent is a cat, and to make sure that yours is the boat that is unattractive to rats (no food rubbish left lying around etc).

In October we were Med moored in Port Said in Egypt with 9 other boats, rats everywhere. In preparation we had soaked a cloth in our cats' urine and torn it into strips. Everyone tied the strips to their shore lines and no-one had a rat aboard. Maybe we were all just lucky (we had Puss and Fluff so we were ok!), maybe the cat pee worked, either way, we all continued down the Suez canal rat free.

Capt Phil · 21-12-2014, 13:32

One of the most hilarious sights I ever beheld was a commercial salmon troller in the PNW years ago who was plagued with not one but two rats aboard his boat.
He bought a 12 gauge shotgun and proceeded to lie in wait for the pesky little bastards to appear one evening. We were anchored a short distance away and were awakened to blast after blast from inside this guys boat. Finally, after WW111 wound down, he appeared on deck all smiles having dispatched both little varmints to rat heaven.
We rowed over with a bottle of rum about 2:00am to celebrate his win over his visitors. The interior of his vessel truly looked like a battleground! There was hardly a square foot below that wasn't peppered with shotgun pellets. He had evidently wounded one or both animals who scurried around trying to escape the relentless barrage spreading blood, guts and God knows what else all over the interior. But he had the two carcasses laid out on a piece of cardboard on his galley table and proudly showed off his prizes to us.
Boy, did that rum go down good!
I've often wondered what became of the Great White Hunter of the PNW... Phil

MokaKat · 22-12-2014, 15:14

We had a Belize rat on-board our boat for a couple of days while we were in a marina. The marina guys finally gave us a trap to catch it, not a pleasant experience. We called it a BSR (Belize Swamp Rat)! It ended up being fish bait.