How to Keep Birds Off Your Boat

by Alex A. Kecskes

It’s spring, and if you’re a boat owner, it’s time to open up your boat for all those parties and excursions with friends and relatives, and for those racing events that bring trophies to your mantle. Unfortunately, unless you implemented some effective bird control measures last year, your pride and joy will be covered with bird droppings from bow to stern.

Acidic bird droppings can stain and degrade canvas covers and damage rotating antennas and other electronic gear. Bird droppings can also create a dangerous slip-and-fall hazard for you and your guests. Removing dried bird droppings is no simple task, even with powerful cleaners. There’s also the problem of dead fish and bones that gulls leave on your decks and covers. If you host a party on your boat, you’ll have to be ever-vigililent for birds dive bombing for food and annoying guests.

Either way, if you failed to protect your boat with bird deterrents, you’ve got a number of problems on your hands. But you won’t make the same mistake this year. You’ve learned your lesson: keep birds off your boat with effective bird control devices—the kind the professionals use—or suffer the consequences of pest birds.
Here are two effective bird deterrents the pros use to keep birds off their boats:

Solar-Powered Bird Repeller

This nifty device uses rotating, motor-driven “arms” to harmlessly prevent birds from landing on your boat. You place the unit wherever pest birds tend to gather most often and the repeller does the rest. Its arms spin around continuously at 30 RPM to deter even the most determined birds. The best bird repellers feature adjustable arms that protect up to a 5-foot diameter area of your boat. And since the unit is solar powered, it saves energy. It even works at night because it has the ability to store electricity during the day.

Bird Spiders

These devices feature wildly flailing arms that bounce and whip about in the breeze. No bird worth his salt will go near one of these bad boys. They’re maintenance free and easy to set up on decks, rooftops, and virtually any flat surface of your boat. They'll keep gulls, cormorants, pelicans and pigeons off your boat covers and canvases. Bird spiders come in various sizes--including 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-foot diameter arm lengths to create ever widening diameters of protection. Look for bird spiders that feature a glue-on base for easy mounting. Some spiders come with railing mounts for easy attachment to boat rails. Other attachments include a removable sand bag base that makes it easy to place them on boat canvas and Biminis. Additional boat bases let you mount spiders on masts and radar units. Bird spiders are easily moved to areas wherever pest birds tend to gather on your boat. The best bird spiders have a U.V.-protected polycarbonate base for lasting durability in harsh sea weather.