I've had carpenter ants aboard my moored and anchored out boat now for
about a year. After doing some research on the Internet I found out the
queen can live for as long as fifteen years and can produce thousands of
drones and workers from stored sperm. As you know, the queen flies onto a
boat, drops her wings and sets up shop someplace where you will never find
her. She and the workers like to chew tunnels in wood so your bulkheads or
other wood could be in jeopardy.

You can bug bomb or tent your boat and that will probably kill the queen
but who wants to breath lingering, unhealthy fumes, not me. And, what to
do with the dog or cat?

So, I figured out a humane way to get the queen. I found a plastic gallon
bottle/lid in the dumpster. Then I looked around on the ground in the
woods for broken tree branches that had holes gnawed through the length by
carpenter ants. I found a suitable piece about two inches in diameter that
had several ant channels bored the length of it. I broke it off (it was
dry and rotten) to a suitable length so it fit into the gallon bottle
which has about a four inch diameter lid. I threw in some dirt, leaves,
grass, gravel etc. and wetted the contents down because the Internet said
carpenter ant queens just love wet wood because it's easy to chew. Then I
placed the works in my yacht stuck in a convenient unused corner. Lo and
behold, it took less than a week for some drone to find it and report back
to the queen and the queen must have moved into the branch because now
when I spray some water to keep things somewhat moist into the jug some
worker ants come out of the branch tunnels to investigate.

So now I have my own ant farm. The workers come out at night and carry
away crumbs. During the day I don't see hide nor hair of them. Soon I will
screw the lid back on the bottle and carry it to shore and place it in a
good place in the woods for carpenter aunts then open the lid.

So, if you discover carpenter ants on your yacht give this method a try.
Effective, clean, eco friendly and didn't cost a dime.

Wilbur Hubbard