Do you marmot proof your car?

Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Post Reply
osprey
Posts: 328
Joined: 5/30/2011
14ers: 52  16 
13ers: 144 17
Trip Reports (9)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by osprey »

Ok. This time.
"Rocks, mountains, snow and ice: what more do we desire?" - Reinhard Karl

“I breathed in the air on the summit and liked it better than the air below.”
MtnResident
Posts: 61
Joined: 9/4/2013
14ers: 58  13 
13ers: 59
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by MtnResident »

Anyone tried those ultrasonic devices? They go under the car hood and are battery operated. I read mixed reviews on them, of course, but haven't tried it.
brown12hist
Posts: 1
Joined: 4/1/2015
14ers: 24 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by brown12hist »

Just hiked Conundrum Couloir and Castle on 6/17/20 and came back to a disabled vehicle at 12,000 feet. After some amateur mechanics that ruled out batteries and fuses we were fortunate enough to get a ride into town from some other hikers. Luckily I parked the Jeep slightly facing the path of the road so that the tow truck could back up that last bit of talus to hook it up and crawl down into Aspen. $1,000 tow before it was all said and done with some very impressive maneuvering from the driver. Found out today from the dealership in Glenwood Springs that it was marmot damage on multiple wiring harnesses. It might never be a problem for me again, but I will 100% be applying the advice of the folks on the forum to ensure I don't deal with this again. Otherwise it was an amazing hike though.
User avatar
two lunches
Posts: 1328
Joined: 5/30/2014
14ers: 37  2 
13ers: 59
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by two lunches »

MtnResident wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:06 am Anyone tried those ultrasonic devices? They go under the car hood and are battery operated. I read mixed reviews on them, of course, but haven't tried it.
i bought some for my house and one for my 4runner.

the mice in my home do not seem to be terribly bothered by any of the devices.. (or at least not bothered enough to GTFO) so i don't think i'd recommend it.
“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” – Mary Davis
The spindoctor
Posts: 10
Joined: 12/27/2018
14ers: 4 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by The spindoctor »

Do they not try to chew through tarps or temporary fencing? Or are they just lazy and move on to your neighbors vehicle without any protection?

Glad someone made this thread, I'm heading out this weekend for the first time and don't want to be stranded 1000 miles from home!
-Justin
TomPierce
Posts: 2735
Joined: 11/21/2007
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by TomPierce »

So over in the TR section there's a report by WildWanderer and comments about the installation of "rat tape." I'd never heard of it but looked it up on Google. Turns out Honda apparently makes it, probably other vendors as well. It's infused with the active ingredient in hot peppers (capuschin sp?) and is designed to keep rodents from chewing through wires. You wrap the wires, doesn't look like a mechanic is required, it comes in a roll like duct tape. Hmm...might be worth exploring? But I wonder if the chemical degrades after a season+ of road grime, moisture, etc?

Another thought: I thought of buying a roll of this tape, but I have pretty heavy duty skid plates (aftermarket BudBuilt ss plates) and they are very close to the undercarriage. Maybe a couple of inches max from the engine, although there is space on the side for the A-arms to come out. I suppose a marmot could come in from the side, but man, a lot of work to get into a super snug area, there aren't any visible wires that I can see from that angle. No way they could come in from the ground, my plates are totally smooth with not even a drain hole. Has anyone who had marmot problems also had full skid plates (radiator to past the transaxle? Just curious, I wonder if I'm still at risk.

-Tom
User avatar
Boggy B
Posts: 781
Joined: 10/14/2009
14ers: 58  7 
13ers: 777 76
Trip Reports (40)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by Boggy B »

RyGuy wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:43 pm This is part of the cause. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/ ... 578398002/
A lot of cars now use plant-based wire insulation.
Well that makes sense. I've had my '08 FJ since 2011 and have never done anything preventative, and I've had exactly one chewed wire after I parked near 12k for 4 days, which didn't affect driveability, and my shop fixed it for free (10-min solder job on a wheel speed sensor wire). The belly of my truck is usually coated with several years' worth of dirt and mud, and my thought has been that this makes it hard for the varmints to sniff out tasty cables. It does appear that mice (probably?) have made off with most of my engine heat shield over the years.
Chicken wire seems like a great idea to keep out the larger critters and I'll probably pick some up. Getting marmoted in certain places, like Beartown, would be a bummer.
pcsongei
Posts: 35
Joined: 10/8/2017
14ers: 15 
13ers: 16
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by pcsongei »

I have only done this one time, on a backpacking trip in Mineral King, CA. We had heard about marmots chewing through wires so we bought an enormous tarp and laid it out flat on the ground in front of the car, drove onto it, and then tied it up on top. Looked kind of ridiculous but we weren't the only ones at the TH who did that. When we got back the next day, there was a truck with its hood popped and lots of confused hikers trying to figure out what happened to their vehicle. The road up to Mineral King is basically 15 miles of tight curves and big drop offs, not the place you want to be stranded.

Haven't come across this problem yet in CO but I will definitely be on the lookout in the future.
User avatar
RWinters
Posts: 191
Joined: 12/29/2014
14ers: 58 
13ers: 353 1
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by RWinters »

I’ll admit. I was a skeptic at first. Having read about some others having encounters with critters I have McGyvered a big blue tarp with parachord and bungees. I plan to use it next weekend and have no idea if it will be an effective deterrent. For all I know the marmots May just laugh at it and then post a video on YouTube. It does look ridiculous!
"It's just right there"
User avatar
S_Devlin
Posts: 13
Joined: 6/25/2020
14ers: 30 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by S_Devlin »

I'm going to spend about 5 weeks hitting 14ers in late summer/early fall and I definitely can't afford to have my truck' innards devoured by rodents! I'm curious about the physical barriers, does one just wrap chicken wire around the base of the vehicle? That tarp method sounds promising but I have a pretty big pickup truck so I'm not sure I could get a tarp big enough.

Cheers!
-Scott
User avatar
Bale
Posts: 266
Joined: 6/9/2020
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by Bale »

cottonmountaineering wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:45 pm only issue ive had was with a porcupine, but i just shooed it away

This is what i've seen as far as prevention is concerned

https://www.google.com/search?q=bugaboo ... 20&bih=969
I’ve been to that trailhead in the Bugaboos. My friend heard about it beforehand and we half thought it was a joke. We reluctantly bought a roll of chicken wire on the drive to Canada. When we got to the TH every single vehicle was protected, so “when in Rome...”. Apparently the porcupines love radiator hoses or the coolant within.
I haven’t had a problem in the Mountain West, though my wife came face to face with a marmot under our rig in the wee hours on Sneffels. I might try the soap-in-a-sock thing.
The earth, like the sun, like the air, belongs to everyone - and to no one. - Edward Abbey
User avatar
mtnmaneric
Posts: 152
Joined: 2/22/2010
14ers: 58  7  20 
13ers: 373
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Do you marmot proof your car?

Post by mtnmaneric »

I've had one encounter with an animal, a porcupine at the Yankee Boy Basin porta-potty trailhead. I had sprayed coyote urine around my truck and it didn't matter. A few weekends ago, my buddy had 2 marmots destroy wiring in his truck while at the Grizzly Gulch trailhead in the San Juans.

After reading this thread, I was interested in what options Lowe's had for animal defense. Found this product to use last weekend in the Sangres: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Bonide-32-fl-o ... 1000379471

Last weekend I didn't have any encounters with animals, but after one use, I don't know if it was the repellent was the saving grace or there were not animals around.

I do know two things about this product:
1. The packaging has images of marmots and porcupines on the label - so it has to work
2. It smells so bad, I don't know why any animal would want to go near it!
Last edited by mtnmaneric on Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply