Seagull defence

Seagulls like to perch on boats. My radar provides a nice spot for them and is conveniently sited for them to excrete directly onto the cabin windows. You can buy "plastic owls" which are supposed scare them away, see here for evidence that they don't work.

So I decided to design my own defence system. The main feature is a "spray" of rigging wire held by some sealant in the middle of the radome. I put a few silicon nails upright, and also held by sealant, around the edge as well.

Seagull defence - landing discouraged.

They also land on the liferaft canister, so I strung some fishing line between the radome and the mast which holds it over the liferaft canister. They don't like fishing line so this is effective, more so than adding bits of broken CD (or similar) to a line. They still drop mussel shells from a height - hoping that they will break open - but at least I am rewarding [bird brain] intelligence then.

Return to Boat Pages.