Lost garage space!!!

[Western-Mass-Bass]

So to avoid those long winter trips to the wood shed while freezing , I decided to move my cord wood into my garage. Unfortunately my aluminum queen will be out in the elements. I just purchased a decent semi custom boat cover for it. Going to cover it with tarp after cover is on but how do I combat rodents while under cover? Traps??  Mothballs??  Dryer Sheets??  All the above!!!! Lol    Could use some good advice.  As always thank you.   Lee

[Ski213]

I live in the country and mice and I are in constant combat. Keep the boat as far away from any outbuilding, fence row, or grown up area as you can. The boat being on hard pavement seems to make a difference as well. They seem to like cover and the more they have to be in the open to get to the boat the better for you.

Those little guys are really persistent. I've had very little luck with any of the stuff I've read about. Mine will make a nest out of dryer sheets but im not saying you shouldn't try them. 

I think the key is to keep them from setting up shop in your boat. I'm not huge on killing anything that I don't have to but a trap is the best way to keep them from establishing a colony in your boat. 

[Scott F]

You sure you can't keep some wood and the boat in the garage?

[Gundog]

My opinion.....

Get a cat. Even though in the Tom & Jerry cartoons Tom never gets Jerry.

[Way2slow]

I have a small storage room in one corner of my garage about the size of a closet I keep a lot of odd ball stuff in.  I also have a number of different garden chemicals like Round UP, Weed and Brush killer, Stump killer, insecticides, fungicides etc. and when you open the door, you get a little whiff of the stuff.  If I knew which one or which combination it was I would tell you and keep some in my boats but there is something in there that is deadly to mice with them just being in there.  

I keep large plastic bins just outside that room for Cat and Dog food.  It's almost unavoidable that some gets dropped on the floor when filling the animals food bowls, plus my wife keeps a bowl sitting around for a couple old feral cats she has been feeding for several years.  Well, it's very obvious this is prime pickings for those little furry creatures.  They find it, then try to set up residence in the storage room near the buffet line, but something in the storage room kills them.  Over the years I've probably found 10 mice dead on the floor of that storage room or just outside of it, but other than the dead ones, I have never seen signs of mice in the garage.

[WIGuide]

I use fabric softener sheets in mine and haven't had much of an issue. If you're leaving it outside, leaving the drain plug in probably isn't the worst idea either. 

[Junk Fisherman]

I heard a tip once that you use a cheese grader and shread Ivory Spring soap all over the floor of the boat.  Keeps the mice out and when you vacuum it up in the spring you will have a nice clean odor in your boat.  

[A-Jay]

I'd build a wood rack near your dwelling to make the trip reasonable and store the boat inside -

I'm willing to give a little to keep the boat in good condition. 

Chewed seats, chewed wiring, chewed everything . . . .

Cold hands don't need to be "Repaired".

A-Jay

[WRB]

Cold weather is good for the wood not for your boat!

Biuld a simple lean roof shelter for the wood and let the mice live there.

Tom

[Gundog]

How about this cat. He seems like he means business.

 

[gim]

I have found that storing a boat, ATV, car, riding lawn mower, or other large item where mice and other critters like to make a home is much worse when the floor is dirt or gravel than it is with concrete.  My grandfather left his riding lawn mower, ATV, and boat in his shed every winter for about 3 years with a gravel floor and he was constantly battling them.  Then he got concrete in there one spring and the problem virtually disappeared the following winter.  I'm not saying that concrete is the end all be all when battling rodents, but it seems to make a big difference from what I have seen.

[BrianSnat]

Throw a few blocks of poison in the boat. It gives them a ready "food" source.  Worst case is that you will have to deal with a few mouse carcasses come spring.

[Further North]

On 10/28/2016 at 4:08 PM, A-Jay said:

I'd build a wood rack near your dwelling to make the trip reasonable and store the boat inside -

I'm willing to give a little to keep the boat in good condition. 

Chewed seats, chewed wiring, chewed everything . . . .

Cold hands don't need to be "Repaired".

A-Jay

This is what I'd do.  I little inconvenience compared to all the work/money it'll take to fix what the mice will ruin is an easy choice fro me to make.

I actually went one step further: Built a detached 24' x 36"garage for the boat.

20 hours ago, briansnat said:

Throw a few blocks of poison in the boat. It gives them a ready "food" source.  Worst case is that you will have to deal with a few mouse carcasses come spring.

At least one and probably two or three will be in places you can't see...and worse, can't get to without taking the boat apart.

But hey, if you don't mind Ou de Rotting Souris, no problem.

[Robeng]

I live in Michigan.  Boat is in garage with cement floor.  I clear out boat.  Open all hatches.  I put mothballs in open sandwich baggies all over inside, plus cedar wood blocks, and clothes dryer sheets.  In garage on floor I bait them in two places and sometimes kill one or two or none all winter.  Never had a mouse problem.  I used to do this with my camper and never had mice.  

[the reel ess]

Get a wood cover and put the queen back in the garage. Even if you cover the boat well, you're still exposing the trailer and tires to the elements and exposing the boat to temperature swings, spiders, cockroaches, lizards, squirrels, etc.

[J Francho]

Moth balls and dryer sheets work for me.

[ww2farmer]

17 hours ago, J Francho said:

Moth balls and dryer sheets work for me.

same here.

Some people claim it's just a feel good measure that doesn't really work, but I'll can tell you from past exp. it does. I store all my farm equip./boat with moth balls and dryer sheers spread generously in and around them. Last winter, one of the guys at work put a machine away in the shed without using anything, and guess what............they went to get it out this spring and mice had done quite a number on it, while leaving EVERYTHING else in the same shed that had moth balls and dryer sheets in/around it alone.

[J Francho]

Red Squirrels are the exception.  The only thing that works for them is lead.

[ww2farmer]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Red Squirrels are the exception.  The only thing that works for them is lead.

So I should leave all my jig heads laying around the boat LOL.........................

Oh......... you must mean lead in it's high velocity state 

[J Francho]

12 minutes ago, ww2farmer said:

Oh......... you must mean lead in it's high velocity state 

Somewhere around 700 fps... at least I think that's about where my pellet rifle shoots.