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Date: 18 July 2014. Mosquitoes (engine room vent screening)

© janice142
 

Recently I was bemoaning the arrival of the first hungry mosquitoes of the season with a friend. He is slightly sane. Of course anyone who owns two boats that are live-aboard capable must has some issues, but we will not go there today.  Anyway, Michael suggested one reason some mosquitoes could be getting inside Seaweed, and he had a low-cost solution to my dilemma.
 

There are vents on both port and starboard of the boat. These are for my blowers and keep the engine room cool.  However, where the air can flow, so too can those wings-with-teeth fly!
 

The solution according the Michael is to screen the vents. Of course I am sure the retailers have some fancy screens for these vents available. Still, aboard Seaweed I did have a piece of screen gifted me by Robin a while back, and used it with a bit of ingenuity to solve the problem for free. That is my favorite price. You met Robin in the Going Batty article.
 

 

Supplies List for screening engine room vents:

 

  1. Screen, a piece much larger than required.  Specifically, the exterior dimensions of my vent are 16"x3". The screen piece I used was 24x12 inches.
     

  2. A piece of metal that bends. Aboard Seaweed I have a scrap of thin stainless welding rod that bends but is stiff. I use it occasionally and would suggest you keep your eyes open for something similar. This is not a Retail Purchase item. It is a find-it/keep-it item for your tool chest.
     

  3. A piece of string longer than the vent by about double.

 


First I tied the string to one end of the metal. Then I fed my gizmo through the vent from one edge to the other.  By poking my finger through I was able to retrieve the end and yank the cord through.  Finally I wrapped the string around one corner of the screen:
 


The next step was to ease through the screen so it stuck out the same amount on both sides. 
 

This view is from above:

Photo taken at Dockside while I was on the hard last week.
 

From there it was a simple matter to tuck in the two ends and voila: no mosquitoes will fly in through my vents. This will also keep out wasps, bugs of all sorts, and even bats.  Been there/done that regarding bats. For that article, please read Going Batty.
 

I'm thoroughly tired of being eaten alive by critters and spraying poison everywhere is tiresome. Plus I do not like it.  So far, admittedly only a week, I have not been plagued by mosquitoes so I believe this is working for me.
 

Do your engine room vents have screens?
Are the screens at the entrance (like mine) or down by the exhaust fan?
 

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