Protecting Your Hose(s and Wiring)

D

DWK2

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Nov 3, 2003
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When you park at a trailhead, particularly for a lengthy backpacking trip, what do you do to keep the small critters from chewing on your vehicle's hoses and wiring?

Thanks for your advice,

DancesWithKnives
 
You know, I had never heard about this, but I guess it's a problem in some places. A friend was telling me about some place in Colorado where there's a bunch of chicken wire at the trailhead which visitors place around their cars to prevent such mishaps. I thought it was the strangest thing. So I guess chicken wire works! Probably not so good for your paint. I wonder if you could use some kind of braided s/s hose sheath.
 
Not a bad idea. Those braided hoses look good and are supposedly more durable in general. Of course, with my luck that would probably just send them over to work on my serpentine belt....

DancesWithKnives
 
DWK2 said:
When you park at a trailhead, particularly for a lengthy backpacking trip, what do you do to keep the small critters from chewing on your vehicle's hoses and wiring?

Thanks for your advice,

DancesWithKnives
Click to expand...

Moth balls
 
you drive an old crappy vehicle with enough drips and leaks under body to give a ikky tasting oily/dirty / grimy undercoating.

critters love the "newcar" taste. :p

Pat
 
Mannlicher said:
Moth balls
Click to expand...

Ditto. Put 'em in panty hose under the hood. When I was a kid, we did this to protect the farm equipment from mice and such over the winter in our quonsets. Just don't forget to take it out before you start it up and air it out for a minute with the hood up. Naphthalene is flammable.
 
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This is a great thread. I'm curious to hear about any other ideas out there. I know in our area the porcupines are starting to cause some major destruction at trail head parking facilities.
 
Wow! Did not know about this. Good input so far and can't wait to read more ideas.:thumbup:
 
For many years I have used paradichlorobenzene mothballs against bear with great success. Also skunks and the like. I don't think the napthalene mothballs are as effective.

My friend Klaus was having mouse/squirrel problems in his garage so I suggested the para mothballs. He found some were disappearing. One time he opened a desk drawer and a mouse had a nest right next to where he had placed several mothballs. The mouse was actually in the nest at the time.

A few years ago I backpacked the Virginia Lake to Twin Lakes route near Bridgeport. I parked at the trailhead and finished packing, then ate lunch. My engine was quite cool when I put about a dozen mothballs on top of the aircleaner and closed the hood. Inside the cab I set out an open ziploc with a half dozen more to deter bears from wanting to get in.

When I returned in 9 days, there was not a single trace of a mothball under the hood. The mothballs in the cab did not appear significantly smaller. I am wondering whether some small varmints are actually attracted to the
?

I will likely continue the mothballs but I really wonder whether they deter small critters.

DancesWithKnives
 
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Sorry that last post is a bit choppy. I'm posting from an iPhone and having a lot of trouble editing.
 
ejes said:
Ditto. Put 'em in panty hose under the hood. When I was a kid, we did this to protect the farm equipment from mice and such over the winter in our quonsets. Just don't forget to take it out before you start it up and air it out for a minute with the hood up. Naphthalene is flammable.
Click to expand...

I use moth balls, also. I keep them in a cotton sock both under the hood and inside the truck and they work well. I've seen a pack rat tear most of the insulation off of the inside of a pick-up hood in a single night to make a nest on the manifold. Nasty critters.

PS: I usually take both mouse and rat traps to wilderness camp sights. I've been driven half nuts by pack rats that would show up every night and rattle the silverware until dawn. :D
 
I've thought about bringing a few traps and setting them under my truck, on the theory that the presence of a few dead critters might dissuade others. The main problem I can see with that approach would be in state or national parks. A zealous ranger/game warden might decide to make an example out of you.

DancesWithKnives
 
I've never worried about it. Never had anything happen either. Although I could do without the cats getting under there when I am at home.
 
Dave i dont know for sure but i heard that silicon hoses work well as the rats dont like them.
 
Interesting thought, Sasha. There are some substances that varmints seem to avoid. For example, I've watched the squirrels on my porch chew on cotton and hemp string/rope but they won't touch the 550 paracord.

Maybe I just need to leash a big, mean alley cat to the middle of my front axle? Of course, that would probably be nothing more than coyote bait!;)

DancesWithKnives
 
A few years back my mother was hospitalized for several weeks. When she got home from the hospital and tried to start her car... nothing. When my uncle came over with booster cables and popped the hood there were NO wires. Her otherwise new late model Pontiac was totaled by her insurance company. Rats and mice. Every vent, intake and other opening was stuffed full of nest material including shredded wire, insulation, belts and hoses.

Best trailhead deterrant? IMHO, a shuttle service, either an outfitter, friend or significant other.
 
Wow! I have heard some bad stories but that one takes the cake. Sorry to hear about your mother's misfortune but it is a good warning for the rest of us.

Thanks for your input,

DancesWithKnives
 
A mouse chewed the plastic wind dam on the front of my van (and not just a little!), while it was in my garage. I eventually caught that mouse.

My brother has to do things to keep marmots away when he parks in the sierra - like chicken wire around the car.
 
Just when you thought there was nothing else to worry about... :eek:
 
The worst trailhead damage to a vehicle I have ever experienced was from a two legged critter. I had even arranged a shuttle service to drop my car off for me at my ending point, because I couldn't be exact on my arrival time there. My car had been sitting in the lot for less than eight hours when I got there.

The critters stole my cheap stereo from my '66 Mustang coupe, left the original wire spinner hubcaps, pony mats and pony bench seat and battery. Value of the stereo? $50. Value of what Clem and his buddies left? A grand or more. Heck, the '66 could be hotwired in sixty seconds, less time than it took to rip out the Spark-o-Matic AM/FM/8-Track.
 
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