Ants inside motor cowling

[jack7771]

16' fish & ski fiberglass boat with a 1986 110hp Evinrude.

I had the boat out at the lake about 10 days ago, and kept it in the water for the 4 days we were there.

Had a problem while out in the lake, and took off the motor cowling and discovered hundreds of ants inside. Most of the ants were around the edge/rim of the cowling, and a bunch were just inside of the motor where the cowling attaches -- apparently packed around a queen ant.

I think the ants must have flown into the motor while the boat was tied up at the lake. Anyway, I dunked the cowling into the water, getting rid of those (I thought). And, I just used my hand and fingers to scoop the ants off the engine.

A week later, I took off the cowling and to my surprise there were some ants still in there!

Besides the obvious question of how & why the ants got in there, I've 2 questions:
1) Could the ants cause any damage?
2) Could the wet cowling cause any problems after putting in back on? (Didn't put it back on right away, but the foam insulation was still wet when it went on)

Jack

 

[clint]

Ants inside motor cowling

A large volume of these ants might cause a problem if you start engine without cleaning them up. A good shop vac will solve this problem. If they did go into the intake portion of the motor they wouldnt live too long with the gas and fumes. Before starting or turning engine over, remove carb intake cover and then open up the carbs at full throttle and vacuum them out. If any are in there they will be sucked out. Also remove spark plugs and suck any that might be alive or dead in there. Start it up on muffs or in a test tank and let it run for at least 5 minute to build up temperture. Let it cool down. When engine is cooled down (cold) spray around engine cowel with ant and bug killer to keep them from wanting to come back. They needed a nest fast and they work very fast and thousands at a time. They decided to take over your Boat and Evinrude Engine. Good Luck!
Clint :$

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Ants inside motor cowling

Sounds like a bad movie...

 

[jack7771]

Re: Ants inside motor cowling

Yeah, I sprayed the cowling and motor after seeing them the second time. They were mainly in the rubber seal part of the cowling between the rubber and the cowling itself. The ants initially were a bright orange, but that 2nd time they were brown and smaller.

I was amazed that they were still in there after a week, because the motor was run on the lake for an hour after the first discovery, and then simply it was a week later. I mean how could they survive? It made me wonder if they'd been eating something (wiring or tubing) in the motor.

Jack