Once again boaters on the west coast are seeing a rise in severe damage by Toredo worms. These little fellows have been the scourge of mariners for centuries on wooden boats and wooden pileings boring there way into wood they were also refered to as saltwater termites.
Nature has a way of balancing itself, scientists have noted portions of the Pacific Gyre, that plastic garbage patch the reported to be the size of a medium size state floating in the middle of the pacific has sections that appear to be being attacked by a mutant form of Toredo worm.
This is great news for the enviroment, not good for owners of fiberglass boats. These same creatures that have morphed to consum petro chemical plastic are being brought to marinas in the warmer waters of Southern Callifornia and Mexico by passing cruising boats. They have been known to cause severe structural damage to fiberglass boats with near sinkings and failed keels and rudders once the boat is infested. Some bottom paints are effective on these creatures some are not. They do require fairly warm water to survive. In that there are few occurances of these damaging pests in the warm gulf states there is some speculation that loud country music repels them though this therory is speculitive.
For now the best defense looks to be for West Coast sailors to haul and dry store their boats during the summer months. Relaunching in the winter after tempratures drop, playing loud country music at a minimum of six hours per day.
Cepheus dream
C36 MK I # 825
MK I Tech Editor No Mas
Steve, I just heard about a mutant moth that eats aluminum air frames!
Good to see you're still around, nothing like some Frosty humour on a chilly April 1st morning.
This one was very weak, has been touched on by others but, I was compelled, you guys were doing nothing. You can not let tradition die!
I am still tickled when I recall the email I received from Frank Butler refuting any truth to last years story.
I put together something for an aircraft owners site, they wear tight underwear, humor is a bit foreign there, they are not sure what to do with me.
Cepheus dream
C36 MK I # 825
MK I Tech Editor No Mas
In Oregon, the Oregon State Marine Board sells an Invasive Species permit that is said to protect against this mutant worm.
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B
We have just been notified that the two Catalina's we imported 4-5 years ago were infected with some sort of Jamaican Beetle. Boats need to be fumigated (which Catalina is paying for). Apparently quite a few boats from the factory were infected back then.
The real problem is that they have been here for so long without detection (and could have spread to our country.
Cat375 - Rock The Boat - Hull 54
Lake Macquarie - NSW - Australia
Of course to fumigate the Jamaican beetle properly requires a minimum of 0.5 kilos of ganga...
---- Howard & Linda Matwick ----
--- S/V "Silhouette" - Nanaimo, BC ----
--- 1999 C36 MkII #1776 M35BC ---
Teredo navalis A/K/A Ship Worm
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Naval shipworm
Teredo navalis, the naval shipworm, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae, the shipworms. This species is the type species of the genus Teredo. Like other species in this family, this bivalve is called a shipworm because it resembles a worm in general appearance, but at the anterior end it has a small shell of two valves which is specialised to bore through wood.
This species may have originated in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, but has spread around the world. It tunnels into underwater piers and pilings and is a major cause of damage and destruction to submarine timber structures and the hulls of wooden boats.
__/)__/)__/)__Capt Mike__/)__/)__/)__
Punta Gorda Florida
1990 Std WK M35 Hull #1050
Another good reason for keeping your naval clean.
Cepheus dream
C36 MK I # 825
MK I Tech Editor No Mas
I don't see any problem for us good ole boys sailing the Gulf of Mexico, I mean, who doesn't play loud country music? And what would be the point of not?
Capt. Sam Murphy
1994 Catalina 36, Hull 1327
Shoal draft, two cabin model.
Panama City, Florida
I have heard that some of that Lasqueti Island Gold will do the trick.
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B