One of the most annoying things on a boat, right after a leak over ones bed, is bugs. Flies, ants, cockroaches…. will make one scream. Here it is over seven months since the boat was actually connected to a dock or pier for those legged pests to walk to the boat, and last night Chris let out a scream as one ran over her foot.

Yes we have nuked the boat a few times since we left the dock, and once since we returned from the Bahamas, and now we seem to have had a reoccurrence of Armageddon, Attack of the Bugs.

While at the dock it was a nonstop battle. Every time a storm tide would rise up as high as the bottom of the finger piers, you could watch the waves of bugs run up the dock lines like Hannibal marching the elephants over the Alps. It was crazy.

Ask nearly any live-aboard or long term cruiser, and they will tell the same tale… “I think i brought a box with Groceries to the boat. “. Or. “I got a couple of packages and forgot to leave the box ashore”. Bugs love paper and cardboard. They can hide among it and it literally only takes a few to act like rabbits on steroids. You have to take the stance no unnecessary paper to the boat. Now that means watching how you store products like toilet paper.

So here we are one month post bug bombing and still seeing them. Time to go all Arnold on them. In an enclosed boat you have only a couple of options to use, so as A, not to poison yourself, or B, blow your boat and self into next week.

Raid makes one of the products, called Fumigator. It uses no flammable propellant to push the spray out, instead its a chemical reaction with water you place in the cup to create a penetrating fog. Safe for enclosed spaces like boats.

And yes, roach motels, boric acid, chemical sprays that guarantee to make Godzilla sit up and take note. I have watched the damn little buggers in the past sit up and go “Is that all you got.”

So this time we opened every cubby, cabinet and storage space. Does it really work? So in the past its been a standoff. So this time i am hoping that we might get the upper hand. Trying a new method of using fumigator below the floors while floor hatches stay closed to concentrate it to all those hidden crevices. That and follow up with residual sprays below floor hatches to catch the smart ones.

Will it work? Time will tell. We plan round two in one week, and then round three in a week after a that. And if it keeps Chris from another midnight scream as one runs over her foot its worth it.

So if you are in the anchorage and you hear a blood curdling scream after dark, don’t laugh too hard, but turn the lights on while holding a shoe. EEEEEKKKKK!