Bird-B-Gone plastic or SS spikes?

[jen1722terry]

Hey CDers!

I had planned to go climb up Mt. Washington this morning up here in New Hampshire, but the 100-Plus knot winds kept me home. So here I sit pondering spring outfitting.

One thing we want to add this season is a bird (specifically cormorant) deterrent system on our spreaders. in 2015, we lingered in Northeast Harbor into late August. We left the boat for 3 days and when we returned, the entire deck and canvas was plastered. 3 miserable hours later, we completed the cleaning.

Some cruisers have recommended a bird deterrent on our speaders, as well as rigging lines just above the main sail. Bird-B-Gone spikes were recommended were recommended for the spreaders.

Our question is: should we order the plastic spikes or the SS ones? The plastic has a 5 yr. warranty while the SS has 10 years.

We are not too worried about snagging sails, for we never use a genoa and rarely use our light flasher.

Any advice will be deeply appreciated. You all enjoy looking forward to launch day.

Jenn and Terry

[Sea Hunt Video]

Bird-B-Gone spikes seem kind of expensive.

I have seen several sailboats in South Florida use tie wraps (or "zip ties") on their spreaders. It seems to be the same principle as Bird-B-Gone but at a much lower purchase price.

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/cableti ... fgodCX8MCg

They tie the 8"-10" tie wraps on their spreaders about 1"-2" apart with the long "pointy" ends pointing up. They say it works. The portion of the tie wrap pointing up will not support the weight of even the smallest bird. When I put S/V Bali Ha'i back in the water (hopefully soon ) I will try this method.

[Jim Walsh]

The tapered spreaders of the CD31 lend themselves well to installing the Bird-B-Gone spike strips. Daisy also makes a deterrent.

[Frenchy]

I'd stay away from the SS spikes. A friend ripped his mainsail when he had to get it down quickly. The sail
snagged on the spikes while he was pulling it down. -Jean

[rorik]

Splice an eye in each end of a light line, seize one end to the rigging 2"- 6" up, seize the other eye to a tiny padeye you've just added to the side of the mast. Do the same on the other side.
Cheap, replaceable.

[Sea Hunt Video]

As I said, I have not yet actually tried using the tie wraps on the spreaders. From the above posts, I would think there are at least two (2) or three (3) positives in favor of the tie wraps.

1. The tie wraps are soft, very flexible plastic. They will not rip or tear the sails.

2. Each tie wrap is an individual unit. If one fails the other 10-12 on the spreader are still fully "operational". With the line/string drawn across the spreaders if any part fails (eye splice, padeye, line, etc.) the whole system fails and the entire spreader is once again a nice "resting spot" for the birds.

3. If, when, a tie wrap fails, it can be individually replaced without having to replace the entire "system" as I think you have to do with the "Bird-B-Gone" rig.

Just my two cents worth which is what my thoughts are worth - if that

[jen1722terry]

A thousand thanks to you all.

Being pathologically cheap, I'm leaning toward using the electrical ties. Thanks Roberto. I'll use black ones to be (hopefully) more UV resistant. I have a bargain bag of 100 of them in the correct size.

Or, as an alternative, does anyone have a recipe for cormorant stew?

Cheers!

Jenn and Terry

[Carl Thunberg]

Are you sure they are cormorants? Cormorants don't normally roost very high. They usually hang out on the deck, but not up in the spreaders. Have you seen cormorants up there? I would suspect seagulls.

I have a chronic problem of ospreys roosting on my Windex. It's a great perch to fish from, and they leave fish bones on my deck. It's fun sitting on the porch watching them, and they are a great deterrent to other birds. Get yourself an osprey. For whatever reason, they do not poop on the deck. I can live with the bones.

[bottomscraper]

On Mahalo we used to have "bird wires" on the spreaders. This was nothing more than a single strand of stainless steel safety wire attached about 4" above the spreaders. It attached at the mast end to some eye straps installed on the mast and the other end was just wrapped around the shrouds. Since the yard where we store the mast now removes the spreaders every year we don't bother installing them anymore. What we do still do is "decorate" the boat with old CD's (compact disks). We hang them from the end of the boom, the bimini frame and up forward from the staysail boom. They are attached to some pieces of small line so they dangle and wave in the wind. This has been rather effective in Casco bay. I have also used the same trick to keep the local gang of crows out of my vegetable garden.

There is some jerk in Bucks Harbor that has his power boat covered with a spider web of small diameter monofilament fishing line. Last summer I had to rescue a gull that was all tangled up in it. The gull did swim away but I am not sure it was able to fly.

[Joe Myerson]

Hi Jen and Terry,

I don't know what kind of birds you're worried about.

I ask, because where Creme Brulee is moored I have to contend with both cormorants, veritable guano factories, and osprey who leave fish guts all over the deck.

The bird wires described by other posters kept the birds off my spreaders for, maybe, half a season. I now hoist a "false yard-arm" with my main halyard. It's a piece (actually I have two) of PVC tubing that's longer than the two spreaders. It pivots on a yoke of line, so when a bird tries to land, it gives way. No more cormorants.

As for the plastic spikes: I had some mounted on my masthead, where the osprey used to perch. They worked for two seasons. After that, the spikes became brittle. The osprey would break the spikes off--I'd find them on the deck--and enjoy their fishing perch again. The solution: I took a piece of wooden half-round molding, gave it three or four coats of spar varnish, drilled two sets of holes in it and mounted copper ring nails so that the points protruded. The molding is on its third year in place on the masthead, and the osprey have found better places to drop their fishing waste.

BTW, I gave up on keeping a Windex at my masthead because the osprey would break it every fall, when the fledglings left their nests. Even the Windex with a bird spike in the center did not work. The birds would try to perch on the pivoting arrow and bend it to the breaking point.

Good luck,

--Joe

[Sea Hunt Video]

There are UV resistant cable/tie wraps.

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/uv-resi ... fgodfjQLeg

As I said previously, I have not yet used tie wraps. I plan to install on the spreaders before raising the mast & splashing S/V Bali Ha'i. Sadly, it remains an open date as to when that might be.

I have seen 2-3 South Florida sailboats with black tie wraps on their spreaders. Especially when sails are raised they kind of look like eye lashes. Strange. I may use the white or clear.

Of course, as I stated several years ago on this board, if you want to really, really get rid of these $#&@! birds (whether cormorants or others) a simple Remington 870 with 12 gauge buckshot is an effective "dispersant tool". 2-3 days of non-stop 12 gauge assault and they will find another place to eat, sleep and poop. Reminder: Alert you down range neighbors

Jenny, sadly I do not have a recipe for bird stew. The ingredients and prep for a pheasant stew might work well.

[jen1722terry]

Again, friends, thanks for the ideas.

To Carl: definitely cormorants on the spreaders. We lingered at Northeast harbor into mid-August last summer and, as the summer progressed and the boats thinned out, the cormorants got braver and visited the boats further out from the public wharfs with great frequency. Yes, they hit our sail cover a great deal when we were away from the boat for a few days, but they were on the spreaders also. We saw some in the spreaders of other yachts that were moored a bit further out or at one of the outer floats. Could be a quirk of that particular harbor.

And thanks, Roberto, for the lead to the UV-res. elec. ties. Didn't know they existed. I'll order some up as soon as we get home (which could be a few days here in Hanover, NH, with a foot or more of the flakey stuff due tomorrow).

We've seen many, many ospreys, but never had one on the boat. Pity, for they are majestic creatures to behold.

Cheers!

Terry and Jenn

[Joe Myerson]

We've seen many, many ospreys, but never had one on the boat. Pity, for they are majestic creatures to behold.

They are indeed beautiful birds. We have lots of nesting platforms in the marshes around Buzzards Bay. In fact, the 17th-century word for osprey was "buzzard." They do love to perch on mastheads to watch for prey, which they devour somewhat messily on their perches--hence the spikes at the top of the mast.

While I've thought about Roberto's solution for the cormorants, which are protected by federal law, I would never harm an osprey. But that doesn't mean they're welcome to perch atop my mast.

Best,

Joe

[Sea Hunt Video]

Commodore Joe, my friend, please, I would never intentionally harm an osprey.

That is why I used the term "dispersant tool" (disperse them and persuade them to poop elsewhere), recommended to notify down range sailors (buckshot may be dropping nearby), and, finally, acknowledged they will nevertheless eat, sleep and poop elsewhere - alive but pooping elsewhere.

The ONLY good thing about S/V Bali Ha'i being on the hard on a trailer in my yard is that I do not have any birds to deal with. They are in the trees around the house but, for reasons I do not understand, have no interest in S/V Bali Ha'i. At this time of the year (and from about December to April) my brother and sister sailors at the sailing club are under daily bombardment from birds enjoying the warmth that is South Florida.

[mgphl52]

We have an Osprey that perches on our flag pole daily at GGYC.