Sydney Termite Sniffer Dog

Boating journalist David Lockwood of the Sydney Morning Herald reported on July 13 that a sniffer dog and Quarantine officials were seen at a Sydney marina boarding a boat recently imported from USA, following reports of a termite/insect/borer coming out of the timber interior.
I suppose you can train a dog to search for anything, usually they sniff out more sinister stuff. Even so,termites are not something you want to find on your newly imported pride and joy.
Should boat importers add pest inspection to survey requirements?

Reading between the lines a bit it seems as though termites don't exist in Australia, or at least in the numbers found in the USA? That could explain the popularity of timber boats in your part of the world.

I've been fascinated and a bit jealous following Aussie threads from Benn, Hendo and others with matter of fact posts about wood boats. Something I'm not used to seeing on this side of the pond.

Craig,
You are right we are still in love with our timber boats down here.
No one is really terrified of them and good boat builders can still be found.
Insurance is not a problem and no more expensive than for an equivalent of an inside out swimming pool.
OK you have to be vigilant as an owner as I have recently found out and I thought I was on top of it most of the time.
Termites are not a problem on boats but the usual dry rot and if not inspected frequently the old toreodo worm.
Mate get a woodie and live the good life.
Cheers
Benn

Where we do have huge issues with termites (often called white ants here), is in the ground, and their love to eat out your house - literally. Especially a problem since the greenies had the really effective (read long & potent lasting insect poisons), outlawed, and their replacements are no-where near as good, so it tends to be newer houses where most termite damage is now found. Thank goodness ours was built back when they could use the good stuff, because I know they are out there by the way they eat out old tree stumps.

Craig, like PeterB, I confirm termites have existed, probably forever, in rural areas,towns and cities. We have a termite treatment industry, with names like "Rentokil", (sounds more like an underworld activity).
Our Quarantine authorities are militant, incoming aircraft are treated to kill any stow away insects. An unidentified insect on an imported boat would cause near panic. Now if they could just keep rot outside Australia.....

I once knew a guy with a Morgan that had so much wood framing in it that it died of Dutch elm disease.

The greater problem for these vehicles was the necessity to reinforce the front struts due to front end collision damage with Panzer tanks from about 1939-45, this problem seemed to have been rectified by the end of 1945 as no further issues were reported.

Andy G said:

The greater problem for these vehicles was the necessity to reinforce the front struts due to front end collision damage with Panzer tanks from about 1939-45, this problem seemed to have been rectified by the end of 1945 as no further issues were reported.

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Good stuff!

SeaHorse II said:

Good stuff!

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AndyG always does good stuff. I love our Aussie contingent.

I once had a Jaguar XK120MC. The doors were aluminum skin stretched over wood frame. You can imagine my surprise when the hinge screws stripped out of the wood. Sir William Lyons and his stellar crew in Conventry, England took care of it in typical British formal fashion. It was the first time that I was addressed as esquire. I was 19. So I guess I have been an esquire since. In 1953 when the car was built it was the fastest production car made.

Andy,I accidentally did some violence to your post 8, feel free to restore it to former glory, I can`t remember enough to fix it myself, abject apologies.

Here`s a common Australian expression, "to white ant" someone. As PeterB said, termites are also called white ants here. It means to undermine someone,remove their support. Imagine timber after the termites have feasted.
Eg, guy has girlfriend taken by his friend (ex) : "He got whiteanted something awful"

BruceK said:

Andy,I accidentally did some violence to your post 8, feel free to restore it to former glory, I can`t remember enough to fix it myself, abject apologies.

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That's OK I can't remember what I wrote, I usually just type and hit the send button, sometimes I hit the send button first then type, that doesn't work so well.

Up here on the Northern Beaches we are smack bang in both Termite and Tick country.One's bad for your dog(cat) and the other for your house.

We had a bit of a fright the other day with the old cat, Fred, had to take him to the vet, dam termites had got into his wooden leg. (sorry couldn't resist)

CPseudonym said:

I've been fascinated and a bit jealous following Aussie threads from Benn, Hendo and others.

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Thats funny!
Here I am all jealous seeing all of the fibreglass boats with flybridges on here and wanting one of them.

I'm only using timber cause I don't know how to lay fibreglass

When I was cleaning up the hard I had to chuck out a few lengths of jarrah cause the white ants (termites) got to them. Granted they were just on the ground in the dirt and leaves etc but it did scare me and got me on the look out now.

I don't know why it didn't cross my mind before. After all I am building this boat in bushland! The little bastards build their houses on the side of trees etc.

Will probably pay to get a pest controller in to lay some baits in AXE after I flip her over again. Will be a funny phone call to make. "Ummm Hi. Yeah look I need someone to come out and treat my boat for termites" hahaha.

Sent from my iPhone using Trawler

Missed the replies somehow? Benn I'll build a plywood skiff soon enough to scratch my itch and Matt don't be jealous of flybridges, I'm flybridge deficient myself and happily so. Too much wind resistance would slow my boat down. I somewhat morbidly feel better hearing about the white ants though, was thinking you guys where missing out on all the fun.