Steve A

Steve A

Well Known Member
I am building my RV 7A in a garage and I normally keep the garage door open. I have seen a few neighbor's cats in my garage and did not think too much of it until I took my wings out of the wing holder and saw a trail of icky yellow stuff on the lower part of my wings. Several cats have been "marking" every thing with their urine including my wings. With the high humidity, apparently it reacts with cat urine leaving marks on my wings.

I had toyed with the idea of leaving my wings just aluminum and polishing them. THanks to the cats in my area, I am now going to paint them. Anyone with cats should probably put a plastic liner around the wings to protect them. One more reason why I hate cats!!!!!

RV 7A
Finishing/Painting
 
Cat lovers unite

But Steve,

The whole reason for loving cats is that they can do just about ANYTHING they want...I mean, don't you secretly wish you could do that sort of thing to a neigbour you know thats hates you?...:)

I'm sure the paint job will look great!

Cheers

Frank
 
Kitty Dinner

Steve A said:
I am building my RV 7A in a garage and I normally keep the garage door open. I have seen a few neighbor's cats in my garage and did not think too much of it until I took my wings out of the wing holder and saw a trail of icky yellow stuff on the lower part of my wings. Several cats have been "marking" every thing with their urine including my wings. With the high humidity, apparently it reacts with cat urine leaving marks on my wings.

I had toyed with the idea of leaving my wings just aluminum and polishing them. THanks to the cats in my area, I am now going to paint them. Anyone with cats should probably put a plastic liner around the wings to protect them. One more reason why I hate cats!!!!!

RV 7A
Finishing/Painting
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Dogs sit all day with you while you build your airplane. Cats **** on them.
What better way to reward man's best friend than a nice feline dinner!. Send kitty out here to Arizona, my Husky is hungry!

 
Sit a bunch of mouse traps around the shop.. Sprinkle pepper in no cat zones. Build a silencer for your .22.

steve
 
Send your cats over to me. I could use them to kill all the cute little bunnies that dig holes in my yard! I miss one of the neighborhood cats, whose owners moved away - it used to hang out in my back yard and leave me little rabbit parts - gnawed legs, etc - but it kept the rabbits away.

And hey, fewer rabbits means fewer rabbit holes, which means fewer possibilities of your nosewheel RV from flipping over! :D

TANSTAAFL
 
If the cat pee left marks -----etching----on the outer skin, you need to start thinking of other corrosive damage possibilities----like between the rib and spar, or rib and skin etc.

Check it out well.

Mike
 
frankh said:
The whole reason for loving cats is that they can do just about ANYTHING they want...
Click to expand...

Feed a dog, it thinks "they feed me, they must be gods."

Feed a cat, it thinks, "they feed me, I must be a god."
 
I love cats!

I love cats! They taste like chicken! :rolleyes:

If I were you I'd have a hard time resisting shooting that cat with my paintball gun! Tie Dyed cat! LOL :D
 
Don't undervalue un Gatto...

I look at our felines as miniature's of their majestic big cousins. Very affectionate and rewarding. And best of all, they delight in catching rodents - including those wire-nibbling, plastic gnawing mice and rats! Oh... and our kitten delights in catching roaches and beetles and eating them too! ("Mmm... Taste's like chicken" he says...)

So, while you need to protect your investment from a turf marking male... don't be so quick to get rid of the furry buggers. I've had to do major rewiring to a generator at one of my fire stations, and also had a firefighter encounter major electrical problems with her car after rats climbed around and nibbled at the wiring.

BTW... if you "Fix" the males early... they usually don't spray.

dj
 
Ever seen what mouse pee and droppings do to to an aircraft over the long term? Ugly mess and corrosion. A little bit of plastic sheeting will keep the cat pee off your RV project while the cat protects your RV from rodents.

Just a second... funny noise out back...my 3 legged shop cat has a gopher pinned in the shop. It was heading for my -10, no doubt up to no good. Chomp, chomp. Good kitty!

Gophers and rabbits are the bane of A models. I heard that the latest NTSB study is recommending that all grass airstrips be equipped with one or more felines where Van's A models operate from. ;) :D
 
Phyrcooler said:
I look at our felines as miniature's of their majestic big cousins...
BTW... if you "Fix" the males early... they usually don't spray.

dj
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I couldn't agree more. I didn't care for cats myself years ago, but after having a few for many years, I've come to regard them with more respect. If I was given an assignment to design a lightweight predation machine, with a highly manueverable chassis, multiple weapons, and sophisticated sensor array, I couldn't do any better than the common housecat.
By the way, I love a good dog (which most of them are) too.

Cat haters are pathetic!

Just kidding!

But not really.
 
Beware of plastic sheeting

My hangar mate put plastic sheeting over his wings when they were finished. Condensation collected between the plastic and aluminum. After a couple of years he had serious surface corrosion.
 
Sponges produce the same result?

I had my wings sitting in their cradles for a few weeks, resting on sponges. Not real sponges, but the kind you would buy to wash your car with, that do not get stiff when dry. Apparently, there is a chemical in there that also reacts with the aluminum, because I got some serious surface corrosion on my wing where the sponge was touching. My other wing had a towel layered over the sponge (between the sponge and the wing) and that one is OK. After a call to Vans, I used scotchbrite to clean out all the corrosion, then cleaned it with alumiprep 33, then primed it (with a self-etching primer), then sealed it.

From now on, I'm using old towels or carpet (my empennage has been sitting on carpet for a lot longer than the wings, and is still OK).

I guess the moral is, the protection of the surfaces is not finished just because you are done building the part!
 
Cat Urine Update

I suppose the upside all of this is, the cat urine incident as energized me to get busy and protect my investment NOW with a good epoxy primer. I told the guy at the paint store about the cat p*ss and he said you are lucky. South of town is a primate research center operated by the local university, and he said the monkey urine was eating the cement in the bottom of their cages. So be happy we are not talking about monkey urine.

I am a firm believer in the law of intended consequences. Get rid of the cat and suffer with the mice. Actually before we hid the dog food, we had a raccoon in the garage. No wonder the cat's are marking everything.

So I guess I can't honestly hate cats and not raise the ire of someone. I guess I am mildly irritated with a cat but I will get over it. I will safeguard my investment and not blame the poor animal. Has anyone every had problems with owl or bat feces??
 
Steve A said:
Has anyone every had problems with owl or bat feces??
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Not the feces but a big owl was eying my cat for dinner one night. The old guy (18) is deaf and has a bum front leg and only about half his teeth, so I scurried out and grabbed him. No match for the owl any more. Mr. owl was not too happy with me. I'm glad we are at or near the top of the food chain!

I think it can be agreed, most types of urine and dung are bad for aluminum airplane parts. I hear in Oz that dingos like to dine on fiberglass sailplane parts. What happened to my wheel pants and where is my left wingtip? Grrrrr...

The animals are out to get us... I'm sure of it... I hear them talking sometimes...
:)
 
lead poisioning

thats weird, all the cats around here die from lead poisioning. :eek:
its a joke.....i love cats....its whats for dinner. no really cats are vey cool critters.
 
The City of Portland uses feral cats to control rodents at PGE Park, the local minor-league baseball / soccer (futbol) stadium. They put out cat food, and there are never any rats in the stadium.

And if you don't like cats, maybe you just haven't met the right one... ;)

692px-Cougar_pounce.jpg


They do purr, you know .... just scratch them under the chin :D
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
The City of Portland uses feral cats to control rodents at PGE Park, the local minor-league baseball / soccer (futbol) stadium. They put out cat food, and there are never any rats in the stadium.

And if you don't like cats, maybe you just haven't met the right one... ;)

692px-Cougar_pounce.jpg


They do purr, you know .... just scratch them under the chin :D
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John, I think kitty here is looking for your little Husky.
:eek:
 
I LOVE CATS!!! Here are some photos (RV relevant!!!) just to mess with you cat haters out there.

2 of my cats (I now have 3) in my shop:
20030915_dot_and_daisy.jpg


Daisy:
20030426_daisy_on_plane2.jpg


Dot:
20030426_dot_behind_plane.jpg


Daisy & Dot:
20030426_daisy_going_in.jpg
 
Part 2 for you cat haters!!! Muuaahaha


Daisy:
20030426_daisy_on_plane1.jpg


Daisy:
20030827_daisy.jpg


Dot, wishing she was out in the shop with me:
20030513_dot.jpg


Daisy as a kitten, helping with panel layout:
20021104_daisy_panel.jpg


Dot:
20031107_dot_in_tailcone.jpg


Dot again:
20031107_dot_refusing.jpg
 
Cats

Just read this thread. Looks like that Mountain Lion on TODR's post on the second page didn't just pee on the wings, it must have EATEN the whole RV. Looks like it couldn't get it all down though; looks like the throttle linkage is sticking out just inside it's right front leg!
 
Steve A said:
I am building my RV 7A in a garage and I normally keep the garage door open. I have seen a few neighbor's cats in my garage and did not think too much of it until I took my wings out of the wing holder and saw a trail of icky yellow stuff on the lower part of my wings. Several cats have been "marking" every thing with their urine including my wings. With the high humidity, apparently it reacts with cat urine leaving marks on my wings.
Click to expand...
You need a catcam to help identify the perp. ;)
 
DaX said:
Feed a dog, it thinks "they feed me, they must be gods."

Feed a cat, it thinks, "they feed me, I must be a god."
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Feed a cat to a dog, "URINE PROBLEM SOLVED"
 
not a problem with females

"FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS CATS WERE WORSHIPPED AS GODS....THEY HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THIS".............my old girls would'nt stoop so low as to pee anywhere NEAR my airplane factory,they only come in occasionaly to investigate my progress...or to wait for hour after hour after hour staring at the corner where they saw a mouse once about twenty years ago..which they ate.Punkass males are the culprits when you get sprayed- never the girls as far as I know.
 
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Heres' one for the Forum...

From a Dog's Diary:
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Diary:
Day 683 of my captivity: My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor.Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates of what I am capable. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. The audacity!There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He obviously has a screw loose.The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe ... for now.
 
Dog and Cat Diary...

I am qualified to post the last comment as I am the owner of 3 Greyhounds and 3 Cats! One cat is white and my retired racers just love chasing her around in circles.
 
I enjoy having the cats around but the urine is a big problem. (btw, the neighbors are dog people and have similar problems with dog pee)
We have a couple of females that "spray". Actually they are urinating. All of the cats are fixed, and some of the males spray and urinate on vertical surfaces and some don't. There really isn't much you can do to change that behavior. Behavior modifying drugs will reduce the occurances, but will not eliminate it. Our cats that spray or urinate on vertical surfaces get demoted to outdoor/barn cats.

I always chase them out of the shop. They eventually figure out it is off limits and don't try to come in any more. I often see mice in the shop. There are no mice in the barn where the horse food, oats, and hay is. The second a critter steps foot in the barn a half dozen little sets of ears follow the sound with their built in radar lock/target acquisition system.

Someday I need to borrow a couple of the well-behaved indoor cats to help take care of the mice in the shop.
 
Rottwielers and Cats

Back in my teens we had 2* Rotts and one cat.

The dogs just adored the cat and she would sort of put up with them. There was no question of who was in charge...The cat of course.

I wouldn't mind, one slip and the cat would have been swallowed whole but she just didn't give a rip.

Very often we would hear this "yelp" from one of the dogs...and one of the monsters would have 4 equally spaced razor like cuts on her nose...Yep she'd been washing the cat again...One lick and the entire cat was soaked.

They used to get about two licks in before the cat let 'em have it.

Talk about "David and Goliath" it was highly entertaining..

Frank
 
Wow, a cat thread on VAF!

Don't have cats. But I have rats that like to run the power lines behind the house and eat veggies out of my wife's garden. I have a ridgeback/mastiff mix who is useless at ratting. So I'm going to need one of these.

Something about discharging firearms within city limits prohibits me from the .22LR option, but with a good night scope, I should be able to pick them off the trees and power lines from the patio. Of course, even this option needs to consider the arc of a miss, but there's a viable backstop at one point along their path. Cats would make the most sense, but Mrs. Courte is allergic, so that's not an option.
 
Cats!!!!!

We have a cat that looks just like Daisy (dan's) that we took in as a stray. I never much cared for cats, but this one has been just a wonderful pet. Changed my viewpoint on cats!
 
Get your rat hunters here!

OK despite my other coments about the cats I currently have EIGHT of them residing with my girlfriend and I. While we are both dog people she started feeding the stray cats outside the office a few years ago. To make a long story short one of the cats ended up having kittens. We managed to capture three of them and take them to the local SPCA. A week later we discovered a kitten we had missed so Amy brought her home and named her Lilly. We soon discovered Lilly's mom (Multi) was pregnant AGAIN. So Amy captured Multi and brought her home so she can have them in a safe environment. Our thinking was we would find homes for the kittens and then get Multi fixed before letting her outside again. Three weeks ago Multi gave birth to six kittens so if anyone here needs some rat hunters we'll have six of them available in about three or four weeks. There are three tigers and three dark calicos.

Oh, the fun part has been keeping my 90 lbs yellow lab away from the room the kittens are in. He knows something is going on in there! So we let him in the room so he can sniff Lilly cat and the kittens while they are safe in their cages. We are working our way up to letting Tucker (the Lab) meet Lilly out of her cage. Of course even though it was her idea to bring the cats home, if he decides to chomp on Lilly it's going to be my fault!
 
Into the 'endless arguement' section for this thread

Cat vs. Dog

Almost as bad a nosewheel Vs. Tailwheel.
 
osxuser said:
Into the 'endless arguement' section for this thread

Cat vs. Dog

Almost as bad a nosewheel Vs. Tailwheel.
Click to expand...

I've had several dogs that could have been named "tail dragger".
 
Nine lives

If you go the .22 route be sure to use 10 shots. I know its not PC, but I'm having the same problem. Field mice or cats, and the cats have hemmed up a rattlesnake and killed another. Guess I keep fighting the battle by hanging parts from the cieling to keep them safe.
 
John Courte said:
Don't have cats. But I have rats that like to run the power lines behind the house and eat veggies out of my wife's garden. I have a ridgeback/mastiff mix who is useless at ratting. So I'm going to need one of these.
Click to expand...
If you wanna good rat dog... look into the smaller breeds. We have schnauzers who takeoff into the yard chasing rabbits, moles and squirrels away. One even nabbed a small bird - not the most pleasant cleanup of course. I think most terrier breeds are like that. Great little dogs. Lazy as anything.
 
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