Spiders - how to safely rid a boat of spiders

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LenBuchanan

LenBuchanan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2020
Messages
85
Location
U.S.A
Vessel Name
Feath (fee-a) Gaelic for Calm, Tranquil
Vessel Make
1989 Jefferson 37 Sundeck
Hi all,
I know, I know. Spiders basically come with the boat. We have them on the outside, on the enclosed Sundeck and enclosed upper helm. We don't see many inside the boat itself.
I am looking for ways to eliminate/reduce the number of spiders we get. I have used the 'Spider Away' spray and the bags. I'm not really sure they work that well.
A neighbor a couple of slips away uses what looks to be a 'no pest strip' or something like that. It is a white plastic. I saw them in Home Depot, but it bascially says not for enclosed spaces.
Any ideas, suggestions, fool but safe proof products?

Thanks
Len
 
I've taken to using some of the spider deterrent spray. I use it on the holes where lifelines go through the stanchions, pockets in the canvas, etc. Basically the places I don't have to touch, but where spiders like to hide. It doesn't get rid of all of the spiders, but it definitely reduces them significantly.
 
I have a private dock in range of lots of trees the spiders like to use. So any time the wind blows, spiders travel. I use a home DIY sprayer from the local hardware. It's the usual home use product, gallon jug with tubing and a battery operated spray handle.
I spray places on the boat house and dock where spiders like to build. Then I do similar outside places on the boat. That seems to keep them from the inside most years. When they get inside, a bug bomb is the only sure way to kill them all. I have a dog, so that takes care of any flea problem, too.
 
I read this years ago in a sailing publication and as it sounds odd it worked, we used them on our sailboats. Try using fabric softener dryer sheets like Bounce, etc. , try tucking a few away in out of the way places.

We’ve been fortunate to be spider free here in FL.
 
Home Defense bug killer was particularly effective against spiders. They go spastic and are dead in seconds when touched by the stuff (at least it used to....sold my boat last year).

I and a companion have been using it for over a decade (used wisely) around boats and houses with good results and no negative effects yet. Says indoor/outdoor use.

Get the manual spray as the battery operated one gets lousy reviews.
 
Last edited:
I use Home Defense from Home Deppot at home and also used it on the boat. It did a good job of killing/preventing spiders.
That said, I forgot to take it when we did our first cruise thru the Trent-Severn. Got tons of spiders.
One evening when we were anchored in the middle of a bay in Canada, I killed 86 spiders the first evening with a tennis racket style bug zapper. Then come out just before dusk and they were an easy kill.
Got 54 the second evening.
And 38 the next.
After that it was my chore to go around the boat at dusk and kill spiders.
 
I had sugar ants on my previous boat. Tried everything throughout the years. Final tried Tim-Bore and didn't see a bug for over a year and finally sold the boat. Comes in a powder. Mixed it with water and sprayed it behind all the paneling and out of way places with a garden sprayer. It's good on termites also. The Bore stands for boric acid which you could try also.
 
There is a hedge type fruit which is supposed to clear your boat of spiders. It looks sort of like an avocado. It dries out and gets hard but supposedly is still effective. I used to keep a few on my boat until my grocery store stopped selling them.

Not really sure if they worked or not. Anyone heard of them?

pete
 
Lots of Bounce sheets. They work.
 
1001 ways to use dryer sheets?.... never saw them work but on a handful of things plenty or other products do.

Right tool for the job.
 
We kept our boat at a marina in Beaumont that had spiders in the rafters. Every week they stained the decks, and we ended up stripping the wax off to get stains off.

I found a bug treatment at Tractor Supply and using a fifteen gallon tank and pressure wand sprayed my fafters and the neighbors, who had not seen his boat since I had been there.

Stuff worked great, spiders fell from ceiling as I went, and those that didn't crawled away as I sprayed, you could see them running.

Was there two years and never had a single drop or single spider again.

Stuff was cream colored and half a bottle did my slip. Cost around $100 from what I recall.

Not sure how hazardous it was, but I did not care by then.
 
LenBuchanan said:
Hi all,
I know, I know. Spiders basically come with the boat. We have them on the outside, on the enclosed Sundeck and enclosed upper helm. We don't see many inside the boat itself.
saw them in Home Depot, but it bascially says not for enclosed spaces.
Any ideas, suggestions, fool but safe proof products?

Thanks
Len
Click to expand...

Paper towels! Our exterior was pretty much infested when we purchased it where it had languished for a while. After an initial pressure wash which flushed out quite a few, I would go around the boat every week or two and, following the poop trail of spider nests, would squish those I found with paper towels. A year of this and I have no more nests. I walk the decks nowadays and find maybe one nest per inspection, which is easily dealt with. We have not had a problem with the interior but in my rental apartments bug bombing between tenants is pretty effective.
~A
 
Spiders eat insects. If you have a lot of spiders it is because you have a lot of insects. Take care of the insect problem and the spider problem will take care of itself.


That said, dryer sheets do work to repel spiders.
 
One lesson I learned was after a haulout.

For weeks afterwards I could not get rid of the spider explosion.

One dy when in the dingy I noticed some webs....inspecting the "dripcut" on the underside of my teak rub strakes they were FULL of webs and newborn spiders.

One spray of Home Defense and no more spidey pests for weeks.

Lesson learned...find the mother load of them on the boat, dock or structure and spray!

Not easy to place dryer sheets around outside usually and maybe they work for some, not for me on any "tip" I have ever read.
 
I had one spider web at the door. That spider captured and devoured the ‘skitters
 
Portable hand vac after dark when they all come out. You get 90 percent of them the first night. Repeat one or two nights later and they are gone for weeks without chemicals.
 
I think the vacuum would work better better
 
Greetings,

I read a lot here, hardly ever post... but for this topic I have a suggestion that's worked for me: Peppermint oil.

I know, it sounds a little crazy but one year I was trying to git rid of spiders & I was looking at various commercial concoctions but the my wife opposes chemicals due to pets. Someplace (don't remember where) I read that spiders taste thru their feet and they don't like peppermint... OK, I have no idea if that's true or not. I just know I spray Peppermint oil water and they go away.

I had amazon deliver Peppermint essential oil and glass spray bottles.
Note, you need the glass spray bottle as peppermint oil will eat thru plastic bottles. A bottle of oil lasts a long time as it only takes a half dozen drops for each spray bottle full of water.

Mix a few drops with water in the spray bottle, shake and get to spraying. I don't know why, but it works pretty well.

Only downside was that dock neighbors asked why my boat smelled like peppermint candy canes...
 
MVCalypso said:
Greetings,

I read a lot here, hardly ever post... but for this topic I have a suggestion that's worked for me: Peppermint oil.

I know, it sounds a little crazy but one year I was trying to git rid of spiders & I was looking at various commercial concoctions but the my wife opposes chemicals due to pets. Someplace (don't remember where) I read that spiders taste thru their feet and they don't like peppermint... OK, I have no idea if that's true or not. I just know I spray Peppermint oil water and they go away.

I had amazon deliver Peppermint essential oil and glass spray bottles.
Note, you need the glass spray bottle as peppermint oil will eat thru plastic bottles. A bottle of oil lasts a long time as it only takes a half dozen drops for each spray bottle full of water.

Mix a few drops with water in the spray bottle, shake and get to spraying. I don't know why, but it works pretty well.

Only downside was that dock neighbors asked why my boat smelled like peppermint candy canes...
Click to expand...

Mmmmmm tasty
 
MVCalypso said:
Greetings,

I read a lot here, hardly ever post... but for this topic I have a suggestion that's worked for me: Peppermint oil.

I know, it sounds a little crazy but one year I was trying to git rid of spiders & I was looking at various commercial concoctions but the my wife opposes chemicals due to pets. Someplace (don't remember where) I read that spiders taste thru their feet and they don't like peppermint... OK, I have no idea if that's true or not. I just know I spray Peppermint oil water and they go away.

I had amazon deliver Peppermint essential oil and glass spray bottles.
Note, you need the glass spray bottle as peppermint oil will eat thru plastic bottles. A bottle of oil lasts a long time as it only takes a half dozen drops for each spray bottle full of water.

Mix a few drops with water in the spray bottle, shake and get to spraying. I don't know why, but it works pretty well.

Only downside was that dock neighbors asked why my boat smelled like peppermint candy canes...
Click to expand...

I think I have come across the same while investigating different solutions.
 
When you empty the vacuum after sucking up bugs of any kind we dump it into a ziplock baggie or a small plastic bathroom trash liner and immediately put on the wire tie. If you just dump into an open garbage bag some will still be alive and crawl out.

For cockroaches we spray the dock lines and repeat after any rain. Never got cockroaches in in very infested places. But also unpacked everything on the dock or in the dinghy so never brought cardboard aboard.
 
South Carolina and Georgia, we call them Palmetto bugs.
If you want a real problem, the much smaller one are called German cockroaches.
I think the only way one can control those is to burn the boat. I’m not sure if tenting the boat and fumigating will help.
I walked away from one boat purchase when I saw them running around the bilges.
 
Permethrin 10%.

It was used by our military to “bug proof” uniforms. (Basically soak it in diluted permethrin) and it would drop bugs on contact

I use it around the house each spring (basically spray it along perimeter, on screens, door jambs etc…)

It worked so well, i spray my boat each spring and it makes it an insect ghost town. If needed, i hit it again each summer. Stuff is amazing

Its available via amazon.
 
spiders dont like some smell i use a harmles bug spray, that only leave a serten smell the spyders are off in minites and stay away for a 2monthsn the spray is in europe for protecting flower, sorry have no more info, but it works
best regards,
Patrick
 
Re: spiders

I agree with the dryer sheet idea. I found that method pretty effective, safe and cheep.
 
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