Otters

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To paraphrase the words of the late Frank Perdue (of Perdue Chicken), "It takes a tough man to make a tender otter."

Ted
 
koliver said:
Failyre, again.
Ammonia, fenders in the way, chicken wire on the swim grid, all together, a total failure.
This morning, a fresh fish face on the chicken wire and fresh Otter poop on the aft deck.

I have given the mooring bouy back to the otter family and moved Retreat off to the YC outstation, where no otters have been a problem in recent memory. The next move, if we don't go out again, will be back to the shelter in Coal Harbour. My neighbour has had an otter problem there, but I have not. Will see what this winter brings.
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Score: Otters 3+, boat owner 0 :whistling:
Sorry for your troubles, but in a way, and when read from far far away, it's kind of amusing!
 
I once had a comrade who accompanied me on my backcountry routines, staying in rustic cabins, which of course suffered from mice and shrews and the like. She would catch one and skin it and tack the little mouse hide out to dry next to the door, swearing that it would be a deterrent!

I always slept armed.

ANyway...
 
Update on the otter wars:

Those otters are persistent and resourceful.
This season's attempts to keep them away:
1 remove the dinghy, as they were using the dinghy as a staging area, they would climb from the water to the swimgrid, then leap up onto the dinghy tube at its stern, they climb onto the stern deck of Retreat.
2 build a chicken wire fence around the swimgrid. As chicken wire is not self supporting, I used 1/4" line to lace it to the swimgrid all around, then to pull up on it towards the davits. This proved most effective to make my own arrival at the boat by kayak difficult, but had no deterrent effect on the otters.
3 Winter covers over the rails: These haven't been in use since I got Retreat into a shelter, but now make it significantly more difficult for the otters. Did i mention how resourceful they are? They regrouped, brought along their best engineer and found a way in. I then added snaps all along the bottom, outside edge of the cover, to make it a tight fit against the transom above the swimgrid. They still get in. They have learned how to undo the snaps. I added more snaps last night, so will see if that helps. This after spending an hour cleaning up.
More to come.
 
I've given up on snaps (not because of otters) and am slowly replacing all with common sense fasteners wherever possible. Snaps tend to either come off too easy or too difficult. I bought a little tool that helps, but the twist fasteners are still better and longer lasting.

Maybe your otters carry this little tool with them? They are clever. When we had them under our deck I found that a little cup of Listerine (or a brand X copy) kept them away for awhile. Actually worked better than mothballs.
 
I hate those DOT twisty fasteners, very short lived in my experience. I much prefer these.
 
DDW said:
I hate those DOT twisty fasteners, very short lived in my experience. I much prefer these.
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I agree, LOXX fasteners are great. I can't imagine otters figuring them out, so long as you make sure they aren't watching you when you take your covers off :ermm: :lol:
 
I sympathize entirely with your situation with otters, and I enjoy watching them when I am in their home areas. However, I view any persistent threat to good order and discipline aboard Frolic regarding animal behavior with a gimlet eye, and countermeasures tend to be draconian and final.
 
Maybe feed them from someone else's swim platform…
 
Comodave said:
Maybe feed them from someone else's swim platform…
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:iagree:I was thinking the same thing!

We had an otter problem earlier this year, he thought our boat was his/her personal bathroom. Took good old fashion "Original PineSol" in a spraybottle and srayed the swimgrid and walkways. He never came back!!:dance:

Seems like everyone at our yacht club does this and put a wide mouth plastic container with holes drilled in the lid and filled with PineSol left on the boathouse walkways
 
Are there hunting seasons for otters. :confused:
 
rochepoint said:
:iagree:I was thinking the same thing!

We had an otter problem earlier this year, he thought our boat was his/her personal bathroom. Took good old fashion "Original PineSol" in a spraybottle and srayed the swimgrid and walkways. He never came back!!:dance:

Seems like everyone at our yacht club does this and put a wide mouth plastic container with holes drilled in the lid and filled with PineSol left on the boathouse walkways
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I'm gonna see if it will work on skunks. Thanks for the idea:thumb:
 
Keith, you have tried every humane thing, time to go postal. A nice 22 with scope should not bother the neighbours.
 
Soo-Valley said:
Keith, you have tried every humane thing, time to go postal. A nice 22 with scope should not bother the neighbours.
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Thanks, but I am pretty sure I can't do that, whether or not the neighbours are on my side. From the range, I am pretty sure the first few rounds would damage the boat, no matter how great a shot I might be. Some have suggested a trap (or 8) and relocating the otters to the other side of the Island. I think that would only get them angry and plotting further atrocities on my boat.
 
koliver said:
Thanks, but I am pretty sure I can't do that, whether or not the neighbours are on my side. From the range, I am pretty sure the first few rounds would damage the boat, no matter how great a shot I might be. Some have suggested a trap (or 8) and relocating the otters to the other side of the Island. I think that would only get them angry and plotting further atrocities on my boat.
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I assume you have tried the fake owl trick? I forget what i used but i did finally find something that worked i tried everything. I did find something that they did not like. I remember trying solutions in jugs of pee, bleach, vinegar, even dog poop and i found something they didn't like so they moved i think to another dock.
 
koliver said:
I have a mooring bouy at my home. For quite a few years it has been used only infrequently, but this year and last, I have moored Retreat there for as much as several weeks. That increased use has led me to seek a solution for the Otters that come to visit.

They show up singly and in families of up to 5. They leap onto the swim grid easily. I know I will never stop that.

I hang my dinghy from stern davits. The dinghy bow hangs up as high as the top rail. The stern hangs at the height of the cap rail. The otters leave evidence of their visits in the dinghy, but so far, not on the boat.

I have tried blocking the steps on the transom by hanging up to 4 fenders over those steps. When I hung only a single large fender over the steps I could tell the otters had simply moved it out of their way. With 4 fenders, I have seen no evidence that they have moved the fenders.

This evening, I watched a family group of 5 otters swimming towards the boat. I watched through binoculars, from my dining room, about 400 ft away.

The boat was swinging, so I had a view of the transom, dinghy, parts of the aft deck, and of course, 5 otters. They first leaped onto the swim grid. I didn't see any movement of the 4 fenders, but then I did see an otter on the aft deck of the boat. As I watched, it slipped through the hawse hole on the far corner of the aft deck, the hole on the port side of the boat, and disappeared. On that side, I have my swim ladder, inverted, that I sometimes use to climb aboard from the swim grid. I don't think there is any other possibility for the otters than to climb that 1" SS ladder to the height of the Hawse hole on the port end of the transom and slip aboard.

My shelter neighbour at my Coal Harbour moorage has plastic dinosaurs on his boat and on the dock, which he claims keeps the otters away. I now have plastic dinosaurs on my dinghy for that purpose, but those in Houstoun Passage don't seem at all deterred.

I will be lowering my swim ladder on my next visit to my boat, likely tomorrow, but ask this TF group for other otter-deterrent ideas.

Curiously what they leave behind is not simply excrement, though there is lots of that, but when they have come into my dinghy for lunch, they leave the face of the fish they have otherwise completely consumed. Some blood and guts too, but they are quite clean eaters, except for always leaving the face.
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Open containers of dog poo close to the entry point works like a charm. Bit gross, but decidedly less so than cleaning up after river otters.
 
May I suggest some rat traps placed at convenient boarding spots?
Be sure to tie them off so you do not lose them.
They should not injure the otter, but the surprise and sting may train them.
They work to keep cats out of flower boxes so maybe.

Ted
 
Ted said:
May I suggest some rat traps placed at convenient boarding spots?
Be sure to tie them off so you do not lose them.
They should not injure the otter, but the surprise and sting may train them.
They work to keep cats out of flower boxes so maybe.

Ted
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I would think a rat trap could break a cats or otters leg that snap with considerable force. Don't believe me, snap one on your finger and see.
 
Soo-Valley said:
Keith, you have tried every humane thing, time to go postal. A nice 22 with scope should not bother the neighbours.
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Use target (subsonic) rounds.
 
the neighbor said the cats never got caught, fast I guess . They were her cats.

Ted
 
Ted said:
the neighbor said the cats never got caught, fast I guess . They were her cats.

Ted
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Funny you should say that because after i made the comment on breaking a leg I thought to myself that that wasn't likely to happen cats are just to fast. Has your neighbor ever had any traps disapear ?
 
markpierce said:
Use target (subsonic) rounds.
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Wait until they are settled on the swim platform ...... take careful aim and if it is a "through and through" shot, patch up the swim platform. :D
 
No. she just had a couple. Small flower boxes. We were living on
float houses.

Ted
 
Ted said:
No. she just had a couple. Small flower boxes. We were living on
float houses.

Ted
Click to expand...

Guess you could feed the otters on the neighbor's swim platform? :angel:
 
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