Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Actually you are both right, they are placed on mooring lines to keep rats and other animals from either boarding or leaving a vessel.

We used rat guards in certain ports, where we knew there were rats and or where we used manila lines. Rats don't do too well on steel cables unless they are wearing tennis shoes. Rats guards are used to keep rats off the ship.

When I was on the Sir James Dunn years ago we had a real problem with mice. They were under a water tank on the boat deck. We set up traps and the watchman hosed all the traps over the side.

The Second Engineer came out of his cabin one day and saw a mouse running along the alleyway. He looked up and saw the Watchman at the outside door and hollered at him to get the mouse. The Watchman replied, "I'm a Watchman., not a cat!"

As far as I know rat guards are employed to keep rats on the ship not to keep them off. The idea is to stop the spread of disease being imported from countries where rodent borne diseases are prevalent.

Most ships you see using rat guards on the lakes are deep sea boats. They use them everywhere. Onboard lake ships there aren't any problems with rats. I have encountered having a racoon oboard but have yet to see a rat.

Do the lakers use rat gaurds on their mooring lines to keep rats from boarding the boat?

Do the grain haulers have problems with vermin on board?