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.
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Supplies
List for screening engine room vents: |
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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.
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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.
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A piece of string longer
than the vent by about double.
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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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© 2014, 2023
Categories: Characters,
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