Wooden boat tented to get termites to jump ship

That’s not a floating party tent next to a Linda Isle home — it’s a treatment for that dreaded affliction of homeowners, termites. The munching pests can afflict the owners of wooden boats too, like Randy Beardslee, whose 60-foot boat was fumigated this weekend.

Named the Tesoro, Beardslee’s boat is a Formosa 51 with two masts that stand 55 feet and 75 feet off the water. He learned about the termite problem when he took the boat in for maintenance. He’s had the boat for 28 of its 30 years.

Unlike on a house, where the tent is sealed around the bottom, on a boat the termite tent is weighted to hang below the water line, so the water effectively helps keep the fumes inside the tent.

— Alicia Robinson