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Beware of Critters

J

JEG

Active Member
I imagine most of us have built Empennage/Tail cone first as Vans recommends.
This means there will be some time before the stabilator and vertical will be put in service. My stabilator was has been on the table for a month or so and yesterday while having an adult beverage and admiring my accomplishment noticed some movement in hinge area. On further inspection found lots of droppings and a nest that will require dis-assembly of a portion of the stabilator to remove. A good idea for those in an areas where mice or rats might intrude is to tape over the litening holes.

John 337JG
 
Mel said:
Mice urine is VERY detrimental to aluminum.
Click to expand...
And stinky :)

Best to find them while they're still alive. Every year to three, one of the little critters makes a home in my father's 4Runner in the winter. And the following spring, we look for dead critters. Why? Because one year we didn't .. until summer, when the car acquired a ... funky, mousey smell. Eww.

(turns out that Toyota tried to make some of the noise insulation from soybean-containing materials. And mice seem to love them)

TODR
 
But Akzo epoxy...

Mel said:
Mice urine is VERY detrimental to aluminum.
Click to expand...

...primer makes clean up easy and with no detrimental effect on the aluminum...:)

I din't have a whole nest but did have traces in a stored wing...

PS the AZ ones also like GM Trailblazer underhood insulation...
 
About ten years ago a mouse almost cost me an engine in my '56 Porsche Speedster. Caught it just in time as it was overheating from the nest. I credit Cleco (my cat at the time) with preventing any such problem during the build. Birds, mice and wasps are very creative, and all can really cost you, especially when you are out of gliding range.

Bob Kelly
 
I keep a large supply of De-Con poison on hand in each of my hangers, and barn. I feed the mice as much as they like, year round.
 
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Rodents....

About once a week I see the damage done to cars from infestations of rodents. They love vinyl wire insulation. I am a full time auto mechanic in a resort (beach) area, and a lot of my customers leave their beach and airport cars here all winter. Holy cow...What a mess.
As far as the RV.... I was waiting for hangar space to become available at my home base, and my newly minted 9A sat on the ramp for the first few weeks. During preflight I heard a strange noise coming from the horizontal. A tap or two released a torrent of smokin' mad bees. Found there way in through the rib holes behind the elevator horn. quite a job to extract them and their nest. aluminum tape neatly covers these holes on my bird....

Regards,
Chris
 
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