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Hmm. Between the heron on the top deck and this little guy on the lower deck, I need a plan. Love wildlife, but, man, they are messy.
 
It's a river otter as Larry pointed out. To be sure put a coiled line on your swim step over night, if it's got sh:t on it in the morning, it's an otter.
 
Just be glad it wasn't this guy.

Terry
 

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Cute little guy, love watching them on your boat, just not on mine...
 
While moored at Cabbage Key, I watched a family of otters running through several bass boats pulled up on the nearby shoreline. Bam, bam, bam, bam as they went in and out of every single hatch on each boat.
 
I had an Osprey use my hard top as a dining area. Took me 20 min to clean up the mess.
 
gsholz said:
Hmm. Between the heron on the top deck and this little guy on the lower deck, I need a plan. Love wildlife, but, man, they are messy.
Click to expand...

We had a boat in CA that we had a lot of bird problems, lots of poop, solved it with the spider things. They really worked for keeping the birds away.
 
Make very sure they don’t get inside your boat. Very sure
 
Nomad Willy said:
Make very sure they don’t get inside your boat. Very sure
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I had one inside my flybridge and he made one hell uv a mess before I unzipped the windows to let him out. He obviously flew up the flybridge ladder into the flybridge but didn't have the moxie to fly down the ladder to freedom. :oldman:
 

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Nomad Willy said:
Make very sure they don’t get inside your boat. Very sure
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Yup!!
A boat that used to moor near me (a Ranger Tug) had an otter get on board. It messed and chewed everywhere. Thousands of dollars in damage. Even replacing all of the upholstered items still could not totally get rid of the smell.:banghead:
They are cute, but go be cute somewhere else!:nonono:
 
Based on the two recordings I got, it was on the boat for "only" 4 minutes. Hope there is no surprise waiting when we get to the boat in a couple of weeks.
 
I had a mink visiting my previous boat. Tried hot sauce, bleach, a variety of stuff. The solution that worked in that case was a motion-detecting chime, the kind that many small shops have to signal a customer entering. $10 as I recall. I put it down on the cockpit floor and the little bugger stopped visiting. A motion-sensing light might work as well.
 
Reminds me of back in the late '70's in Lake Union, Seattle. Seems a family of Otters suddenly took a liking to the material OMC outdrive boots were made of . . . with predictable results. Lots of sinkings . . . First they thought someone was sabotaging boats, well someone two legged, but finally figured out the culprits! I think they trapped them and rehomed them . . .:D
 
The "hump back" run is a dead giveaway. Otter.they are smart!

pete
 
what about closing the transom door:facepalm:
 
Looks like he was coming aft from the salon??? And then went out the gate.
 
Had a muskrat nest in my exhaust. Chewed an elbow out for air supply and stuffed mill weed up the 7inch exhaust. Patched the fist size hole with a silicon baking liner and some high temp tape. Blew the nest out but the rat only took 15 minutes to chew my starboard side and disable the boat. Emergency haul out before it got in the engine room. Now have stainless grates in each underwater exhaust. Damage potential is high.
 
Keep the side doors closed, and do not leave a port the bugger can get through open.
The also do not like walking on rock salt, that typically keeps them off dock fingers and swim platforms. They HATE being chased away with a hose with a spray nozzle..:socool:
Lucky for them they don't taste like chicken
HOLLYWOOD
 
Barabus said:
Had a muskrat nest in my exhaust. Chewed an elbow out for air supply and stuffed mill weed up the 7inch exhaust. Patched the fist size hole with a silicon baking liner and some high temp tape. Blew the nest out but the rat only took 15 minutes to chew my starboard side and disable the boat. Emergency haul out before it got in the engine room. Now have stainless grates in each underwater exhaust. Damage potential is high.
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Wow. You just confirmed something I've long suspected.

When I bought my current boat, I noticed rubber plugs in the exhaust thru-hulls. The boat was kept in a marina that was inland quite a ways from the ocean, in nearly fresh water. I noticed other boats had the same plugs. I surmised that they must have had a muskrat problem.
 
Have spiders spinning webs and birds pooping, as well as bees plugging up fuel vent, but no otters yet.
 
gsholz said:
What is that thing? Otter? Muskrat?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W8XjN-m7-HYvwUUT1vin51EMutrLf3Do/view?usp=sharing
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I am voting for muskrat, just because it looks small and the wrong shape for otter (too round and squatty, tail really thin).

My sister had otter incursions at her dock in Skyline (Anacortes area). She resorted to a piece of plywood full of large nails which were hammered all the way through. Lash it in place over their usual ingress. Place containers of mothballs around as well. This solution worked :)
 
If you need to keep the transom door open for some reason, a little bowl of Listerine by the door will keep them out. I had river otters under my deck. Fire crackers dropped through the cracks wouldn't make them leave. Pouring Listerine through sent them running for the water. Moth balls also work. Use one at a time and keep the rest sealed in a glass jar.

Sea otters are protected under MMPA. River otters aren't even when in marine waters. They make nice slippers.
 
We have muskrats in our marina in Lake Washington. I keep two 5 inch fenders in the exhaust outlets when leaving the boat to keep them out. We used to have a live-a-board on an old Chris that could hear them in his exhaust. He would fire up the engines and shoot them across the fairway.
 
Andiamo2018 said:
River Otters ARE protected.

https://www.otter-world.com/otters-endangered/
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"In the United States Otters are protected under the Endangered Species Act." Statement from the Otter World website.

Yes, some otters are protected under the MMPA and the Endangered Species Act. The southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is protected. The northern river otter (Lontra canadensis) is not. In fact the river otter has been making such a comeback that I don't think it is even listed as "vulnerable" anymore.

It appears that the website Otter World lumps them all together as protected even though it acknowledges that there are 13 different species in the world.

"In the United States, rats are protected under the Endangered Species Act." I found that on the website Rat World. But it is only the giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens) in California.
 
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