Back when we had our wooden boat, from time to time we had to evict a few Ship's Carpenter ants (ants in Maine being more skilled than common southern termites or common carpenter ants).
Now our yard says we have to get our fiberglass boat treated for a bad infestation of polyester mites, the fiberglass equivalent of teredo worms, carpenter ants and termites.
Excerpt from COMPASS POINTS, the Journal of the Arizona Yacht Club, April 2010:
“All the rain that Southern California and Arizona have had this year has caused an outbreak of Polyester Mites. Scientists do not know why large amounts of rain cause the outbreak but have noticed this phenomenon over the years, beginning about 1960.
“Polyester mites live in both fresh and salt water and are very hard to find. They appear to be most active at night. When lying in your berth at night you can often hear them. Most of them make a clacking sound when eating, which comes from them taking very small bites of fiberglass.
“There is another strain of Polyester mites that makes a whirling sound, similar to that of a dentist’s drill. There was an outbreak of them at RooseveltLake about 12 years ago. This strain bores small holes into the fiberglass eating the fiberglass at it is removed.
“Many of us took our boats out of the Lake during that period to avoid damage to the
bottoms. The low water seems to have destroyed the mites at RooseveltLake.
“Polyester mites do have one redeeming value. Because they process fiberglass in their bodies into natural compounds when they eat the fiberglass, there is no fiberglass leftover that man has to dispose of. This is a good way for us to rid the earth of old fiberglass boats."