Every few months I have to bring out the dry vac and hose and deal with a big ant infestation on my skiff.. Its stored outside under a portable garage type tent. It’s more covered than my gheenoe that has never had this issue.
What has everyone else that has had to deal with this done to lessen this? Don’t really like the idea of chemicals in the skiff.
PS. the lizards and frogs also join the party as it’s a buffet for them!
They are there for some kind of food. Find the food source, remove it, and they will disappear.
The frogs and lizards see the ants as food.
I get them in my boat after heavy rains. In fact they’ve been in there most of the summer. I just let them be. I notice them some weeks. Other weeks they are gone. I think the hose and shop vac are your best bet.
Fried chicken crumbs in the bilge.
They are heavy in the front hatch, no food or crumbs end up in there…. today’s clean was endless. Leaving them be would turn into a major production on the water if they end up scattering all over the place. It was well into the thousands of ants today.
When we were in Jax FL and boat was stored offsite it was a problem. I had multiple nests from god knows what type of critters.
Once I got it next to the house we bought it was a bit more controlled. There are a number of anti-critter thins you can buy. I use an anti-mouse now here in CO as they seem to think my grill is home. Thinking google is your friend.
Never any problems with ants, but the green tree frogs are a constant stow away. My dad had a snake pop out of a hidden corner of the boat miles offshore! It wasn’t venomous so he let it hang out.
a couple of drops of Terro
Ive never had ant problems but I use a bleach and Dawn mixture when I wash my boat,you can smell the bleach even after I rinse it off maybe that helps ,I also spray inside my console and rear bilge area with a 50/50 mixture of bleach and water to control mold, then leave the hatches open to breath and dry out when its back in the boat house 
im probably usen one cup/8oz of bleach to 2-1/2 gallons of water just enough Dawn to feel soapy…..
Park the trailer with the tires and tongue jack on concrete stepping stones that are treated with pesticide.
This happens in my truck unfortunately. Usually after heavy rains. I get a little water in my cab and the rubber mats trap that moisture. I’m sure they’re attracted to the humidity. I’ve had to shop vac then spray some ant killer under the carpet and it seems to keep them away for a while but every once in a while I have to retreat. I park in a pretty wooded area at work so I’m sure I’m picking them up there. Sucks!
Depends on the type of ants. If they’re carpenter ants then you have wood rot somewhere. They’ll build nests in it. If it were me I’d ditch the vacuum and tarp with a fogger. They’re either after, wood rot, water ( less likely) or food. If it’s constantly repeating then you have rot.
Interesting you posted this…. I never had this happen until this weekend. I keep my V hull outside at my lake place covered - I pull up Friday and the cover is literally covered with fire ants. In the 15 years of keeping it there, I’ve never seen this.
We’ve had a ton of rain here around Austin and I believe the ants are displaced, so I’ll chalk it up to that. No food on the boat at all. They were in my front hatches where there was a bit of water. I believe the moisture from the cover is what attracted them. But there are also seemed to be a big underground tunnel under my boat, so I heavily treated that and will see next time the resutls.
Use your boat more. 
Mine happened over a one week period
Last Fall I left my skiff covered at my brothers farm, and some kind of critter built a nest.
I cleaned out the one at the stern and the sucker built one on the bow.
Ants did build a nest in the drain gutter of my ProLine one time in Florida. They crawled in through the drain pipe at the transom and all the way to the bow hatch gutter.
My skiff is under a covered carport that is open sided. If I leave hatches open I’ll end up with house wren nest. They will nest in anything.
Boric acid and some honey mixed into a paste. Put it in bottle caps. Set the bottle caps as needed. Wait.
