Termites In my H28 mast!

[Jay Greer]

Well, S.CA has termites and so do my mast spreaders! After applying ten coats of varnish, we set them aside till they were needed. Last week I went to fit the new tang attachments into them and found a perfect pyramid of termite pellets under them! So, what does one do? Making new spreaders at this time would be a pain! There wasn't enough termite poop to make me fear the wood had been structuraly weekend. So, I took them to a friends resturaunt and stuck them in the freeze locker for seven days. It is a known fact that them critters can't stand temperatures much under 40 deg. So I hope to get the sticks stepped this coming week.
Jay

[Tom Robb]

I'd think a couple of hundred degrees would work better.
How did the bugs gwt from the ground to the spreaders?
In houses they make mud tunnels from the ground to the wood and winter doesn't seem to slow them down much.

[sdowney717]

I wood think soaking them with gasoline and wrapping them in plastic would kill them as well.

[sdowney717]

there is a kind of termite that needs no ground.
Very very bad in FLA, you got to tent the house with plastic and fumigate. Gasoline vapor will kill them in small pieces of wood.

[DJM]

You can also call up a professional fumigator. Some have a chamber you can put your stuff in and they will fumigate it for a fee, using the same gas they fumigate houses with. I don't know if the chamber would be big enough for a mast. If you can take the speaders off the mast, they wil fit for sure. I think it cost around 70$ to have a grandfather size clock done.

[Nicholas Carey]

You could always use CPES -- the solvents in that stuff should kill them fer sure :B

[Thorne]

Termites in CA can eat their way up through wooden cradle / sawhorse legs and into boats. (don't ask me how I know this)

Bad juju! Hope the freezer fixed it.

You ** could ** try CPES or thinned red lead paint in a syringe to coat the inside of any tunnels they may have created, which ** might ** reduce the chances of rot or structural failure.

[Bob Cleek]

Used to be this stuff, chloropentaphenol or something like that. Long ago outlawed as too deadly (read: effective). Paint it on and it kills anything that eats it. Smells bad but works great. I guess you can't get it anymore.

Yes, there are "dry wood" termites out in certain areas of CA. They swarm like bees and land in dry, decaying wood. Pretty rare for them to hit a boat that is decently maintained. They'll do a number on a dry shake roof, though... and then move on into the rafters. Dry shake roofs have been outlawed here now as well. Too much of a fire danger. I guess the dry wood termites are having to switch to boats!

[Jay Greer]

You can also call up a professional fumigator. Some have a chamber you can put your stuff in and they will fumigate it for a fee, using the same gas they fumigate houses with. I don't know if the chamber would be big enough for a mast. If you can take the speaders off the mast, they wil fit for sure. I think it cost around 70$ to have a grandfather size clock done.

I did call several professional fumigators. All wanted to come to where the boat was located and make a bid. I could see $$$'s going down the drain for a problem of killling one or two critters. In case you don't know, dry wood termites will fly in hot weather, land on a piece of wood they find inviting and, as a pair, bore in and set up house keeping. Since this was a situation that happened during a three week hot spell, I didn't feel that too much damage had been done.
The male and female will lay eggs and after they hatch, all hell will break loose!
One service owner, who had a lot of common sense, recommended the deep freeze treatment which saved a lot of frustration and bucks as well!
Fair Winds,
Jay

[hansp77]

Spreaders sound easy enough...
for your mast, you could get a sufficient length and diameter of heating ducting and cover the whole thing, sealing both ends with an air inlet on one end and an outlet on the other. I don't know what gas the professionals use, but if this is not available, then you could try letting off a few airosol insecticide bombs into it, or even hooking it up to the exhaust of your car or engine.
Just an idea, and not too expensive either.
Don't know if it would work.

[Jay Greer]

Spreaders sound easy enough...
for your mast, you could get a sufficient length and diameter of heating ducting and cover the whole thing, sealing both ends with an air inlet on one end and an outlet on the other. I don't know what gas the professionals use, but if this is not available, then you could try letting off a few airosol insecticide bombs into it, or even hooking it up to the exhaust of your car or engine.
Just an idea, and not too expensive either.
Don't know if it would work.
Rest easy! There are no termites in the mast! A wandering critter got into the spreaders while they were stored in the shop! I have done what you suggest on several occasions with other boats; calling a termite service and having the entire boat fumigated with their brand of gas called "Vicane". This product robs the air of oxygen and kills all that might be exposed within the tenting without effecting food or other items that cannot be removed from a House, RV or Boat. It is effective but also costly! If it can be avoided, I prefer not to do it.
Another way, I use on antique furniture that has bugs, is to seal the piece in a plastic bag. Suck the bag, as flat as possible with a vac, and fill it with CO2 gas from a beverage supply. Several days of this treatment will kill critters as well.
Jay

[WadeH]

Just curious here. Will the freezing kill the eggs too. The reason I was wondering is I have heard several people talk about putting up rice for long term storage and they freeze for several days and the thaw and then refreeze. They told me that the freezing will not kill the eggs so you thaw and then refreeze to kill everything. Which to me it makes sense since these critters can survive a cold winter and be back at you come spring time. Can not say for sure but I would hate to have a bunch of them eggs left in my wood.

[Mrleft8]

Do you really want to depend on a spar that has been compromised by wood boring beetles?
(I'm guessing you have "Powder post" Beetles, not termites)

[Jay Greer]

Do you really want to depend on a spar that has been compromised by wood boring beetles?
(I'm guessing you have "Powder post" Beetles, not termites)
Well we do have powder post beetles in WA where I live but this boat is in S.CA where the termites were swarming over the past few weeks. Additionaly, termite poop consists of corn meal like pellets and is pretty hard to not recognise. The masts will be replaced along with a new set of spreaders by next June, so I am not very concerned that the bugs will make much progress by then. That is, if they are indeed still alive. My son wants to go sailing and I want to go back home to Port Townsend.
Jay

[SamSam]

A fairly new way to kill them is with heat. Sam
http://www.teamtoo.com/Heat-Blast-Termite-Elimination.html

[Jay Greer]

According to the termite service I spoke with, that works too. The only problem was that the ten coats of new varnish might cook along with the bugs so they recommended the freeze option.
Jay

[paladin]

Old trick we used when sailing in remote areas.....
always fill containers about 80% full of flour/rice/beans/sugar etc....fill the remaining area with chunks of dry ice, rubber band wax paper over top...let it set for at least 2 days after dry ice disappears, put on lid, tape seal.....
if you get critters on board and can't get rid of them without a gazillion bug bombs.....seal all openings in the boat with tape/plastic and rubber bands.....get lotsa large blocks of dry ice...leave inside boat on old blankets....when ice is about gone repeat......someplaces you can purchase compressed CO2 or dry nitrogen cheaper. On a 44 foot boat it takes three cylinders.....

[Tom Robb]

Flying termites - Yike - what a nightmare!

[andrewdarius]

I just asked the folks here at the museum and they sent me this link,

http://www.keepsafe.ca/bugs.shtml


We often have to deal with infestations. Loans from abroad or from private collectors are not always stored in the best conditions. Just as you are careful to not disturb the varnish, we are terribly concerned for how any method to remove the insects could damage surface decoration, color, stain, etc...

If you have the time and the parts are smallish, a common method is to store the object in an oxygen-impermeable bag with an agent that will aid the process of oxygen removal. I may be mistaken, but this may be a paper referred to as scavenger paper, which may contain a form of iron oxide, I'm not sure. It will take a few weeks, but this may be a method worth trying.