Mosquito Netting

[Rob Stevens]

   From past experience I've found that DEET will take the varnish off a hammer handle. I'm always afraid of getting it on the netting on my tent. (Didn't want to test it out on my tent.) While researching this on the internet I came across an interesting article by Cliff Jacobson.  He doesn't like how the tighter woven no-see-um netting cuts down on ventilation. He sprays his mosquito netting with bug spray or Permethrin. Though to spray the tent I use in the Everglades would be one hell of a lot of bug spray.

    If you are not familiar with Cliff Jacobson's writings I highly recommend them. For years he has been canoeing northern Canada. Cliff Jacobson and Bill Mason are my gurus.

[SteveS]

No way. I have nice tents that I want to last for a long time. I'm not spraying DEET anywhere near them. I do not use bug spray at all. I wear long sleeves in camp. Bugs are part of the deal when you venture out there. I've been in some buggy places but if you are going in the winter time it is almost always manageable by my standards. If it gets bad, I just go inside the tent.

I will take a thermacell and fire it up. It is effective enough that I do not have to spray myself with DEET.

Bug spray works, I just do not like using it on me or anything around me.

[vivian]

I use permethrin before a big trip. Take my camp clothes, buffs, socks and hats and spray them then put them in a garbage bag. After an hour hang them to dry. Pretty effective with a head net in extreme conditions. Did the entire nightmare without one while everyone was in full bug suits. The thermacell works IF there is no wind and it does not work against no see ums. My friend Toby (who camps in the summer down in the glades) sprays the tent corners and roof with permethrin . He sees the bugs die while he is lying down on his mattress,

I love cliff and read all his books but consider this story. My friend bought a really cheap tent at Walmart. He brought it to an overnight fishing trip out on the islands. I saw the netting and told him it would let the no see ums in. He said it was mosquito proof. At night when he went to bed all those no see ums were waiting for him. He was desperate, got in his powerboat and sped off to get rid or them. He learned his lesson, do not come down here with a tent that does not have no see um netting.

[SteveS]

If I had concerns about malaria or dengue fever, I would use Permethrin. I don't, so I don't.

[Kim Gass]

Cliff thinks no one has no seeums and they are a myth.

We got him good at the Maine Canoe Symposium when he advocated buying tents with mosquito mesh and not no seeum mesh..

That is during his presentation he felt on fire.. the no seeums had gotten into the old barn he was speaking in at dusk and went to work on him. Also the audience was rolling in the aisle with laughter. You see, he had never canoed in Maine,. In the midwest and arctic, no seeums are not a problem.

Cliff has some good ideas. This is not one of them.  In person he is quite amenable to learning new things. He acknowledges he is not an expert, just has considerable experiences.

[SteveS]

Can not ever remember a time I sat in my tent and thought, man if that netting was only a millimeter larger, I'm suffocating in here.

I have sat in my tent trying to sleep while the anxiety from having too many glasses of wine introduced paranoid thoughts of being drained off all my blood while I slept. In those times I thought "they really should make tighter no seeum netting. I'm not so sure this mesh is small enough."

Has he seen most tent designs today? Pretty soon they are going to start making the floors and rain fly from netting.

[Kim Gass]

We can meld the two discussions together. Use a tarp and drop the sides so its almost enclosed . ie four corners down low.

You ought to have something that is semi enclosed.

Use the thermacell.. Voila..hot all gone. I get hot from wine. I am learning it is not my friend.