Ducks and geese seem to love camping out at night on swim platforms, bless their hearts. The trouble is, unlike cats and dogs, they don't seem to mind "going" where they sleep. If you're a weekend boater, you may have several days' of excrement to clean each time you come aboard. But let's face it, even a single night's mess is one too many.
You can rest easy, or soon, anyway. Because there are a plethora of solutions to the wildfowl problem that fall short of ringing their necks and looking up your favorite recipe. Some are effective, some not so much.
Plastic owls and snakes: You can find them at boating supply and hardware stores, and you'll see a bunch of them at the docks. More often than not, you'll also see evidence that your feathered friends don't mind sharing space with them.
Plastic bags–like grocery sacks–tied to dock lines or otherwise affixed around the swim platform. These things flap in the breeze, creating wildfowl-offending noises. They're cheap and pretty effective if suspended in sufficient quantities. But your swim platform takes on a slight resemblance to a homeless abode and if they come unattached they can are both a hazard to the environment and those feathered friend we'd like to discourage, not kill.
Plastic flags, the kind you see on used car lots, can be strung over your swim platform. It might look like you're a having a distress sale, but set up and takedown is quick, and you'll be quite colorful.
Air Horns: These are pretty effective at blasting the critters away, but you have to stay up all night watching for them–and you won't make friends with too many of your neighbors.
Monofilament Fishing Line: Get enough of this stuff strung out and it does the trick. The big drawback is that you have to take it down every time you want to use your boat/swim platform and reassemble it at night; but it's quite effective.
Gull Sweep. A lot of people swear by these, and they are extremely effective if the wind blows. The trouble is, you don't always get a lot of wind on the swim platform when you're docked.
Deer block -- a swath of nylon mesh available at hardware and building supply companies -- is relatively inexpensive and large enough to be suspended over your entire boat if you like. It's also relatively easy to put up and take down. Fishnet works on the same principle, though you may need to interlace it with rope to give it shape.
Some boaters use electric fence chargers or a reasonable equivalent. These work, no question about it. But if you're docked in a marina, you run the risk that a wandering child or tipsy party goer might inadvertently be treated to a shock. Use with discretion.
Or . . . you can get a cat.
– Linda Hoff
