On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:06:42 -0500, Dave Brown
wrote:

No doubt this has been discussed before, but let's see if we can get a
little more boat action going in here and see what may be new on this topic.

I received an e-mail this morning from someone asking how to deter
rodents from nesting in their boat over the winter. The winter of
2006/2007 was a particularly bad year in our region and yet last winter,
we didn't have a single occurrence in any of the 200+ boats we store.

There are common remedies like dryer sheets and moth balls, but I have
seen infestations with both of these used. Plus, the smell never goes
away for either (not to mention the health effect the moth balls can
have on humans).

Last year I went with rodent baits hoping that if they were going to get
in, they'd at least be killed before the upholstery was trashed and
carpet urine soaked. Of course, having one of the little buggers die
inside an inaccessible panel wouldn't be pleasant either.

Thoughts? Ideas?

I'm guessing you didn't have any last year because the population was
down. Not providing food and nesting materials in the stored boat is a
start.
I found this, which covers a number of solutions.
http://my.boatus.com/forum/forum_pos...TID=50954&PN=1

If you can't keep them from getting in the boat, I like the bale of
hay and plenty of poison idea.
The fox scent - I don't know if that might leave a smell.

--Vic