[Rhodes22-list] Mud/Wasp/Dirt "Dawbers"?

[Jack Chirch]

I'd recommend spelling it with a "u", as they get really annoyed about "w"s.
They're not usually much a problem around here(not too aggressive, as you
say), but they sometimes build those rock-hard mud tubes in unfortunate
places--vents, drain pipes (as in sink), even engine air cleaners.  You may
be fine, just eliminating the ones already found, & occasionally cleaning
out another one or two.

Bugs & sailboats seem to go together; a friend w/ a slip on L. Erie swears
he could sell spiders by the pound.

Good luck with 'em.


Jack Chirch
S/V Pax
Gloucester, VA

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of mputnam1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 10:25 PM
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Mud/Wasp/Dirt "Dawbers"?


Hi everyone,

I have one of my once-every-four-months questions.? 

I haven't been able to be on the boat much of this summer for work reasons
and I recently went down to check on it and found that it has become
"infested" (maybe too strong a word) with mud dawbers (or wasp dawbers or
dirt dawbers, depending on who you ask) ... basically the wasps hover around
the boat and inside I found two mud/dirt cocoons filled with larvae growing
into more of the buggers.? 

One cocoon (I don't even know if that is the right word, but it's a large
clump of mud about three inches long stuck hard and fast to the side of a
wall) was on the outer wall of the battery compartment next to the head and
the other was under the sink.? There are probably more hidden elsewhere that
I can't see ... when I had my engine serviced over the winter, apparently
they found one inside the engine.

I don't know if I'm even spelling "dawber" correctly.? Ed, I tried searching
the archives via google and could find nothing, but maybe I'm misspelling
it.? 

Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you have any advice about how to deal with
this infestation.? I was told the wasps are not particularly aggressive, but
that they are hardy and have a good memory for where they were born.? Are
there any treatments or traps you would recommend?? Have any of your dealt
with the same problem?

I figure this is either something that all of you already know about and I'm
just way behind the curve and have missed any emails on it?... or maybe it's
just something unique to the swamplands of the Potomac River.

Any advice on how to catch/eliminate these dawbers would be much
appreciated.

All the best,

- Mark P.


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