The Mouse.

[jdmidwest]

I bought a low hour new to me Tracker Boat and Trailer last spring.  On a trip to the lake in Oct., I noticed a marker light out on the driver side of the trailer, no big deal.

Left out to Pickwick the day after Thanksgiving and noticed another marker light out on the same side.  Tail light was flickering.  I started getting aggravated at this time.  I had replaced the tail lights with LED ones, bulbs should not flicker.

Fished for about 3 hours that day and decided to portage from lake to river side.  Running across Pickwick coming back from State Line, boat came off plane and started idling rough,  Idled back to ramp and called it done, blown coil pack.  On the way home, the tail light went completely out.

Back at the house that weekend, I started trouble shooting the trailer lights.  After a few meter tests, I broke the tongue over and gave the wire a tug.  That side wire came out, chewed off about a foot into the tongue.  This is a tube trailer with a break over tongue for storage.  A friendly little mouse had chewed the marker light wires first, then up near the tongue.

Rewired that side today, cost $35 for new wire and a wire snake tape.

Just another reason to hate tube trailers.  They hold moisture and rust out.  Dang wasps like to build nests into them.  And rodents seem to call them home.

[fishinwrench]

Mice love wiring.  Darned if I know why, but they seem to find it irresistible.  Maybe I should try chewing on some for awhile and see what the big attraction is. 

They never chew on control cables, steering cables, or livewell hoses.  They don't gnaw on vinyl seats, carpet, or salt impregnated plastic baits or fishing line.   But boy do they LOVE electrical wiring.    I don't get it.  Maybe they think they need some copper in their diet.

[jdmidwest]

Any thought on how to keep them out of a tube trailer? I have something shoved in the tongue where it breaks over. But there are several access holes along the trailer to drain and for lights. Maybe screens?

[Brian Jones]

 

11 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Just another reason to hate tube trailers.  They hold moisture and rust out.  Dang wasps like to build nests into them.  And rodents seem to call them home.

Agree wholeheartedly with tube trailers; especially if you store your boat outdoors or in a barn.  

Not to one up you, but four years ago my buddy and I had an early spring trip to the river planned.  We were to take his boat.  He calls me right before bed time and says his engine is locked up and that we'll need to take my rig.  Later that week he took his boat to Troutt's and come to find out mice had packed one of the cylinders with acorns.  Luckily they were able to just pull the spark plug and dig out enough of the acorns to allow the engine to turn over and push the rest of them out the exhaust.  They told him when he picked it up that, with the open exhaust on OB jets, they see that fairly often.

[Smalls21]

11 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Mice love wiring.  Darned if I know why, but they seem to find it irresistible.  Maybe I should try chewing on some for awhile and see what the big attraction is. 

They never chew on control cables, steering cables, or livewell hoses.  They don't gnaw on vinyl seats, carpet, or salt impregnated plastic baits or fishing line.   But boy do they LOVE electrical wiring.    I don't get it.  Maybe they think they need some copper in their diet.

i had a customer that had a raccoon, make a winter home in his boat. chewed up adapter harness, boat wiring harness, livewell hoses, big nasty mess!!

still better than having a snake in the boat though

[awhuber]

Mice like the wiring because it's made outta food.

http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread.php?t=25163

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, Smalls21 said:

i had a customer that had a raccoon, make a winter home in his boat. chewed up adapter harness, boat wiring harness, livewell hoses, big nasty mess!!

still better than having a snake in the boat though

The boat I am currently running was bought from a customer after making an estimate on "getting it running again" after it had set for 7 years in a storage shed.   Everything rubber had to be replaced, carbs rebuilt and all that nonsense.   While cleaning it out we kept finding snake skins and eventually rooted out a 4' blacksnake.  

The boat was a dirty nasty mess, lots of feathers , bird crap, and snake poop.  It took alot of scrubbing to clean it up, but having that snake living in there kept the mice problem at bay.  All wiring was in perfect condition.  

So there's how you keep mice out of a boat. 

[jdmidwest]

What do you use to get the snake out before a trip????

Call the pied piper?

[fishinwrench]

Why does he have to get out?  Snakes love to go fishing. 

[BilletHead]

     Hey JD on the off season put steel wool in all the openings. Mice do not chew on that stuff. Won't work when you are using the boat as it will just fall out, rust and disappear.

Guarantee if it stays dry they won't go through it. Pack tight!

BilletHead would rather have a dozen snakes than one stinker mouse.