At BirdGard Iberia, we are experts in bird deterrents. Below, we present our selection of the 5 best products to protect your boat from seagulls, cormorants, and other seabirds:
- StopGull TopMast – Prevents seagulls from perching at the top of the mast
- StopGull Spreaders – Keeps seagulls from perching on the spreaders
- StopGull Falcon – Simulates a falcon soaring in the vicinity of the boat
- StopGull Keeper – Protects boat equipment such as radar, antennas…
- StopGull Air – Lastly, perhaps the most interesting product for its versatility in protecting practically any type of boat and any area of it from seagulls, cormorants, and other birds.
The International Sailing School Association (ISSA) also recommends StopGull bird deterrents for ports, marinas, and sailing schools.
Problems caused by seagulls, cormorants, and pelicans on boats
One of the less enjoyable aspects of owning a boat is having to clean bird droppings from the birds that land on it. Seagulls love to perch on the highest part of the mast and on the spreaders. These parts of the boat provide excellent visibility and a peaceful place to rest and eat. Unfortunately, this means that their droppings and food debris end up damaging the paint, deck, and canvas of the vessel.
Finding your boat stained with bird droppings not only means a tough cleaning job and potential health problems from the bacteria present in the droppings; if left for a while, the highly acidic droppings can also cause costly repair issues for the boat’s canvas and decks. Furthermore, large birds like seagulls, pelicans, and cormorants can cause damage to wind and navigation systems installed on the mast.
So, to avoid all the inconveniences associated with birds and their droppings, the best way to protect your boat from seagulls is to prevent them from landing there.
The good news is that there are very affordable, durable, low-maintenance, easy-to-install, and highly effective products to keep seagulls from landing on your boat. We introduce them to you:
1. StopGull TopMast
StopGull TopMast is the ideal product to prevent seagulls, cormorants, pelicans, and other marine birds from landing on the top of the mast. It not only prevents bird droppings on the sailboat but also protects the wind and navigation systems. Seagulls and cormorants, being large birds, often damage these systems when perching on the top of the mast.
StopGull TopMast consists of a mast with 10 blades that rotate with the breeze. It is a robust and highly effective solution.
2. StopGull Spreaders
StopGull Spreaders is the best product for preventing seagulls, cormorants, and other marine birds from landing on spreaders and keeping their droppings off your sailboat.
StopGull Spreaders consists of a tensioned cable that runs from the mast to the shroud. It is virtually invisible from the deck. StopGull Spreaders comes in a kit with everything you need for installation. It’s a very affordable and highly effective solution.
3. StopGull Falcon
StopGull Falcon realistically simulates a falcon soaring around the boat. Since the falcon is a predator, seagulls, pelicans, and cormorants prefer to avoid the area where the falcon is flying.
StopGull Falcon consists of a 7-meter tall telescopic mast, which must be attached to the sailboat’s mast. This telescopic mast ends with a kite shaped and colored like a falcon. StopGull Falcon is designed so that with a breeze, the kite simulates a falcon’s soaring. It flies in all directions and is very realistic. It’s nothing like owl figures, which are static and don’t intimidate seagulls, cormorants, or pelicans from approaching the boat. We’ve included a short video for you to see it in action:
4. StopGull Keeper
StopGull Keeper is designed to protect boat elements like the radar, antenna, and other areas where birds commonly perch.
It consists of a rotating body, which is attached to a flat surface with industrial adhesive, and a series of semi-rigid rods that spin with the wind. It covers a diameter of about 50 cm. The rods are arranged in such a way that they prevent seagulls, pelicans, cormorants, and other large birds from perching in the area protected by StopGull Keeper.
5. StopGull Air
StopGull Air is the most versatile product for protecting your boat from seagulls, cormorants, and other birds. There are numerous accessories available to protect any part of the vessel and any type of boat. You can place StopGull Air on the folded bimini, on the open bimini, on the boom, on the handrail, on an inflatable boat, on cushions, on the engine, on a Boat Vent3, and more.
StopGull Air features a base with two blades ending in wind vanes that rotate with the wind. There are two models of StopGull Air depending on the blade length: the standard version and the StopGull Air XL version.
Another advantage of StopGull Air is that it can be easily folded when sailing, taking up minimal space. It is a robust, economical, and effective product that never disappoints.
The International Sailing School Association also recommends StopGull bird deterrents for boats
The International Sailing School Association (ISSA) is a non-profit organization founded in Switzerland over 50 years ago. It operates on all continents and has more than 3,000 sailing schools.
After more than a year of installing StopGull bird deterrents on various sailboats in several countries with diverse climatic conditions, they report that the effectiveness achieved by StopGull deterrents in preventing birds from perching on various elements of the boats has been completely satisfactory.