How Do I Keep Birds Out of My Boat Lift Canopy?

If you’ve got boating accessories, you know about the kind of hassle it can be to keep them in top shape, with very little wear and tear or maintenance issues. For the most part, this just involves properly caring for the accessories: but sometimes, pests and other annoyances can sneak in and cause a larger problem.

Depending on your location and the time of year, having birds in your boat lift canopy could be  considered a real problem, because the birds can identify the canopy as a spot to nest and try to make a home there. You can imagine the kind of damage that could happen to your boat lift canopy if the birds were to stay for a long time, even while you were away: holes and other kinds of damage could happen. Even with really high quality materials, your canopy can still be damaged. 

So let’s go over the best options when it comes to keeping birds (and other pests) off of your boat lift canopy!

Using Bird Repellents or Bird ‘Scaring’ Devices  

One good way to keep birds from damaging your boat lift canopy would be to use things like bird repellents or bird scaring devices. Different companies create different versions of what these things are, but the main point would be to use the bird repellent — or the device — to keep birds from landing and nesting on the boat lift canopy, of course.

It depends once again on your needs which is superior. Bird repellent may be chemical in nature, which could wear off over time and become ineffective, or more commonly it could be ultrasonic and based off sound. Likewise, a bird scaring device or some kind of digital scarecrow could run out of battery, break, become defective, or have other mechanical issues. So it may be a hard choice, but you should pick whichever of these two solutions (or both!) that you feel fits the best.

Using Bird Spikes and Bird Netting  

Some more common and less ‘high-tech’ solutions to the problem are things like bird spikes or bird netting. These are accessories that you can purchase for your boat lift canopy. On top of that, they’re common enough that you should be able to find them with little difficulty: likely on the cheap, on top of that.

Bird spikes and netting have their own flaws and downsides as well, of course. While they’re designed to discourage birds from landing or nesting there, this is more effective against species of birds that are larger, rather than smaller birds.

The netting has similar issues: you need to make sure you purchase the right kind of net, so that you don’t accidentally harm birds or even kill them just for their interest in your boat canopy.

Electrical Defenses, Reflections/Reflective Devices  

Another great example of a deterrent for birds landing and nesting in your boat lift canopy would be reflections, or reflective surfaces or devices. Birds actually don’t like this at all, even though it seems like it wouldn’t matter that much.

When a bird is flying overhead and sees your boat lift canopy as a potential place to rest and nest, the reflective surface or device will actually drive them away. Reflective surfaces cause problems for birds: it disorients their vision and gives them problems with it. They will avoid your boat lift canopy for that reason alone.

If none of the above proposed solutions work for you, however, you may also consider investing in some kind of complex electrical defense for your boat lift canopy. Now, these are available, but they are usually expensive to buy and maintain. On the upside, they’re very effective: low-voltage shocks don’t harm the birds, but they do scare them away, and keep them away permanently.

Colorful Decorations or Statues/Objects as Deterrents 

Finally, the last major strategy — and also possibly the cheapest way to keep birds away from your boat — involves using objects and colorful decorations, like small flags or other colorful decorations you can hang, to scare the birds away. The birds see all of the color and the movement and it’s enough to scare them away. This can be a pretty cheap solution if you get enough flags, socks, or other objects to hang and blow in the wind.

If you don’t want to do that, or want to try something else, another (last!) strategy involves the use of statues. Many people have found that using things like plastic owl statues, or statues that mimic the natural predator of many birds is an effective tactic when trying to deter them from landing on your boat lift canopy.

Why Keep Birds Out of My Boat Lift Canopy? 

Though a bit of minor damage may not seem important in the long run — at least not important enough to invest in an expensive protection system — your boat lift canopy is the thing that keeps the rest of your boat safe. It protects the boat from damage, elements, and long-term wear and tear. Keeping the canopy safe and in prime condition is in your best interest. 

If you neglect to protect the boat canopy over a long period of time, don’t be surprised when you inspect your boat one day and it has significant damage. The boat lift canopy is supposed to protect the boat, so if you don’t protect or maintain the canopy, damage is inevitable in the long-term.

Buy a Boat Lift Canopy From Syntex Industries Today

So to make sure that you have the best possible boat lift canopy to protect your investment, come and buy a boat lift canopy from Syntex Industries today! We can offer you a ton of different colors, and we cover the vast majority of different boat sizes and models. 

View the different kinds of easy to install canopies we have for sale. Interested in more than boat lift canopies? View our overall website and check out agriculture machinery, construction, fire apparatus, and home and business products.

If you contact us with an order, we’ll get the specifics from you and get started as soon as we can! We’re more than happy to help you get the best boat canopy possible.