How to Keep Rats Off a Boat: Dock Lines and Power Cords

How rats reach a docked boat

Roof rats are climbers. They travel along palm fronds, branches and fences to the seawall, run the seawall cap and then cross to the boat on anything that touches it:

• Dock lines, from the cleat or piling to the boat.
• The shore power cord and water hoses.
• Boarding steps, gangways and swim ladders left down.
• Branches hanging over the boat or the dock.

It's the same route they use to get from the yard to the roof; see roof rats from the yard to the attic and the roof rat.

Rat guards for dock lines

A rat guard is a disc or cone that fits on a dock line so a rat can't walk past it. You or your marina can fit them, one on each line. They help on the lines when they're the right size and in the right spot, but cords, hoses and steps are routes too, so guards alone won't do it.

What we do on board and on land

We treat docked boats on board: the galley, the cabins and the bilge. For rats on board, we use snap traps only, set in the cabins and the galley where people and pets can't trip them. We don't use rodent bait anywhere on board, including the bilge. The only bait that goes in a bilge is roach gel bait or roach bait stations.

On land, we inspect the yard and the house for the route and the entry points, and set tamper-resistant bait stations outside, on land only, never on the dock. We treat the land side of docks and seawalls, and we never apply anything over or toward the water. At the house, we seal the gaps rodents are using with exclusion work. We don't do repairs: roofs, soffits, the seawall cap or the dock itself are a job for a contractor. We'll tell you how many visits your home is likely to need. Keep kids and pets off treated areas until dry, and follow your technician's instructions.

Our home plan doesn't cover a personal dock or boat slip. Docks and slips are a separate add-on service, quoted after the inspection. Roaches aboard too? See roaches on a boat.

For the home, our general pest plan is $125 per quarter, about $42 a month, and monthly or custom schedules are quoted after the inspection. For plan customers: "If pests come back between visits, so do we, at no extra cost." There are no long-term contracts and no cancellation fees, just a simple service agreement. We're family-run and licensed, with 30+ years in the business, and hablamos español. See rodent control, living on a canal, wasps and spiders on the dock and pest control in Lighthouse Point. Browse more guides.

Rats on a boat questions