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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2046
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 Posted Monday, October 20, 2008 @ 10:47 PM
Hi Guys,
New subject, new topic.
Jorgen said under 'Super Ball in Wing': it´s time to start lifting the tailwheel onto a drum, put sheet metal around the main gear and mouse traps on the seats.
Please can you explain / describe / photograph the 'sheet metal around the main gear'.
I have to lay up our Champ when I shoot off to Australia for the winter, and last year we did indeed get a family of (smelly) mice nesting in her.
I would be very grateful for any advice on how to prevent this.
Yours, Bob
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Jorgen
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Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
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Posts: 836
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Posted Tuesday, October 21, 2008 @ 12:19 PM
Hello Bob,
good thinking, the forum contains quite a lot of information under different topics which is then lost to someone trying to find answers. Our hangar is on the countryside adjacent to our farmstrip and there are unfortunately quite a lot of mice, so we need to take precautions.
I´m in London at the moment but I´ll be happy to get back with some pictures on how I try to solve the mice infestation problem when I get home next week. I try not to use too smelly cheese for those eager to run of buying anti-mice equipment in the mean time.....
Take 5(b) just 4 fun/ Jörgen
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Jorgen
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Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
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Posts: 836
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Posted Sunday, October 26, 2008 @ 06:16 PM
Hi again,
regarding mouse-proofing; Mice are very skilled free-climbers and it´s remarkable how small a mice can get when it squeezes itself through a hole. Stopping them from entering your aeroplane means devicing obstacles at possible entry points that they can´t pass. Lifting your tailwheel onto a drum stops them from entering through the tailwheel, and I regard the outriggers to be difficult enough to climb as they are.
I stand metal around the main gear as a fence. Cut two rectangular pieces of metal, long enough for a confortable perimeter around the wheel and as wide (=high) as can fit under the wing and gear doors. Bend the metal at the ends at a sharp angle so you can hook the ends together and hook the two pieces together. If you have gravel or uneven surface in your hangar you should place the aeroplane on a piece of plywood or similar so the mice won´t find holes under your "palissade".
In addition, my landlord the farmer has a couple of cats and also puts Warfarin (rat and mouse poison) and traps around the hangar. So far I haven´t catched any mice inside an aeroplane, but I use the trap anyway as a precaution. In other words, I don´t have any empirical data to support my choice of Danish cheese in the traps.
I´m mailing some pictures to Collin for posting, note the paper obstacle (similar to the ones used on the mooring of ships) that I taped to the electricity cord for the batterycharger and the engine dryer (see "Engines- Internal Engine corrosion"-thread) and the mouse trap on the seat for catching the super-Mario mouse that entered in spite of all my precautions. Dont forget the trap when you do your preflight, catch a nut in that and you won´t be flying that day
Take 5(b) just 4 fun/ Jörgen
[Edit by Jorgen on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 @ 04:22 PM]
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Bob Grimstead
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Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2046
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Posted Monday, October 27, 2008 @ 09:05 PM
Brilliant Jorgen,
Thanks for the details and the photos, that's just what Matthew and I need to fix up our countryside aeroplanes.
And the comment about nuts and the mouse-trap has just made my day.
It's great to start the day with a laugh!
Yours, Bob
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Collin
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Location: McMinnville. Oregon
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Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 @ 05:56 PM
These pictures are from Jörgen.
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Jorgen
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Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
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Posts: 836
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Posted Thursday, September 10, 2009 @ 03:49 AM
Hi Fellow Fournieteers,
I spot some change in the colour of the leaves here, so autumn is coming and with the decreasing temperature the mice start looking for hibernation places indoors. We´ve been through precautions you can make, I just wanted to add a notice I came across from the British Gliding Associations Technical committee TNS 06/05:
"1.8 Dynafoam Seat Cushions (Information)
Reported by Ian Mitchell from North Hill:
It appears that mice like Dynafoam!
A seat cushion was extensively eaten by mice when the glider was left outside
one night. The advice is, if you must leave a glider out overnight, remove the
Dynafoam seat cushions as well as all the normal paraphernalia."
Apart from cheese in a mouse trap it´s probably not wise to leave anything edible in the aeroplane, so maybe it´s best to remove your seat cushions when not in use.....
May the 4´s be with you/ Jörgen
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joethepro
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Location: columbus,ohio
Registered: Feb 2007
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Posts: 27
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Posted Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 09:42 AM
peanut butter works best on conventional mouse traps (head retention devices) I guess they have to push harder to get it off the roof of their mousey mouths. Can you imagine seeing some nice cheese grabbing it and getting hit in the back of the head with a hammer. Sure would ruin the dinner party you were at.
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Jorgen
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Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
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Posts: 836
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Posted Saturday, November 26, 2011 @ 04:49 AM
Hi Fournieteers,
autumn is moving towards winter, so I did some Mouse proofing a month ago. As I was tucking "SE-XST" in for winter (se picture below)
...I heard some loud trumpet calls above and snapped a lousy cellphone picture through the hangar door on the huge formation of cranes on their way south to their winter habitats. Mr and Mrs Crane sends their best to all fellow Aerial creatures which of course includes all Fournieteers out there!
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
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milnerd
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Location: Long Valley, NJ
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Posted Sunday, November 27, 2011 @ 07:33 AM
I also had a mouse problem in my Zlin about 10 or 11 years ago and came up with a similar solution to Jorgen. Since I started doing this I have not had a problem. I used a strip of aluminium roof flashing, some pop rivets and a couple of strips of velcro. When not in use they lie flat. They only took a couple of minutes to make so I thought I would post some pictures in case someone wants to do something similar.
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SteveBeaver
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Location: Columbus, Ohio - USA
Registered: Jan 2007
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Posts: 459
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Posted Sunday, November 27, 2011 @ 09:45 AM 
Not sure that would work with all mice Dave:
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