- Joined
- Jan 1, 2000
- RO Number
- 385
- Messages
- 2,808
The service facility put my boat too close to a tree on haul out and I ended up with a carpenter ant infestation.
I consulted with my exterminator, they did not want anything to do with it because of proximity to water. But they said "bait them". So I put out bait, both the sawdust and the sugary liquid they would carry it back to the queen. No help
Then I resorted to insect bombs, In all I set off 6. 2 in the bilge, 4 in the cabin. The residue was killing them when they came in contact, but I still had lots of dead ants every morning in the cabin. So obviously, the colony was still alive.
I was talking to a car dealer and he said they use an Ozone generator to kill ant infested cars. I ordered a big one from Amazon, 10,000 mg per hour. I was a little hesitant because it is an open spark, but my cabin is tight and I used a "sniffer" to check for hydro carbon fumes. It was near zero so I set this thing off in a closed cabin, first 2 hours. No help. Tried 6 hours. No help.
Then I was detailing the boat, and there was 6 ants standing on the cockpit side of the windshield. I got a magnifying glass and discovered a tiny hole where the mounting screw comes up from the deck. The outside has silicon seal but the inside does not. The ants were "guards" to the entrance. I then check, the interior cabin where the mount would be. The headliner is that foam backed naugahyde in that area. I pushed on it and "crunch". They were eating the foam! So I got a hypodermic needle, a very small one that I had for lubricating bearing etc. It is the kind used by home healthcare to inject patients with heparin etc. I chose Malathion as the insecticide. I chose it because it is not harmful to mammals, even if directly injested. It also has a strong odor which would spread to get the queen. I injected first by the windshield mount in hopes it would flow down. Then I injected the area in the headliner. I would push the needle in until I felt the fiber glass that formed the deck and injected. The needle was so small the Malathion would not flow out of the hole in the naugahyde.
Success, a few days of dead ants in the cabin and now...nothing. They're gone. I put a dab of silicon by that micro hole and I think we are done. Then to get rid of the Malathion smell? Ozone generator!
The reason why all the other stuff did not work? Bait, no help because they had plenty of foam backing to eat. Insect bombs and Ozone generator? The naugahyde protected them.
Hope this helps others who have ants.
I consulted with my exterminator, they did not want anything to do with it because of proximity to water. But they said "bait them". So I put out bait, both the sawdust and the sugary liquid they would carry it back to the queen. No help
Then I resorted to insect bombs, In all I set off 6. 2 in the bilge, 4 in the cabin. The residue was killing them when they came in contact, but I still had lots of dead ants every morning in the cabin. So obviously, the colony was still alive.
I was talking to a car dealer and he said they use an Ozone generator to kill ant infested cars. I ordered a big one from Amazon, 10,000 mg per hour. I was a little hesitant because it is an open spark, but my cabin is tight and I used a "sniffer" to check for hydro carbon fumes. It was near zero so I set this thing off in a closed cabin, first 2 hours. No help. Tried 6 hours. No help.
Then I was detailing the boat, and there was 6 ants standing on the cockpit side of the windshield. I got a magnifying glass and discovered a tiny hole where the mounting screw comes up from the deck. The outside has silicon seal but the inside does not. The ants were "guards" to the entrance. I then check, the interior cabin where the mount would be. The headliner is that foam backed naugahyde in that area. I pushed on it and "crunch". They were eating the foam! So I got a hypodermic needle, a very small one that I had for lubricating bearing etc. It is the kind used by home healthcare to inject patients with heparin etc. I chose Malathion as the insecticide. I chose it because it is not harmful to mammals, even if directly injested. It also has a strong odor which would spread to get the queen. I injected first by the windshield mount in hopes it would flow down. Then I injected the area in the headliner. I would push the needle in until I felt the fiber glass that formed the deck and injected. The needle was so small the Malathion would not flow out of the hole in the naugahyde.
Success, a few days of dead ants in the cabin and now...nothing. They're gone. I put a dab of silicon by that micro hole and I think we are done. Then to get rid of the Malathion smell? Ozone generator!
The reason why all the other stuff did not work? Bait, no help because they had plenty of foam backing to eat. Insect bombs and Ozone generator? The naugahyde protected them.
Hope this helps others who have ants.
