   | In my book one of the essentials for happy cruising is no bugs when we are at anchor. With our previous boat about the only way to hide from from a major bug onslaught was to go below into the cuddy. Cruising this time we were determined to have a way to stay on deck when the inevitable bugs descended. Last summer after months of looking at the boat and trying to figure out how to make bug screens..... Attach to canvas,? Use zippers? Velcro? Snaps? How to attach the darn things to the boat? Suddenly the solution hit us, I ordered 20 yards of black noseeum fabric and 30 feet of 1/4 inch black bungee cord. When the materials arrived I was able to sew the curtains in an hour. We have 3 panels each on its own bungee cord. We tie the bungee cords to small eye straps and let the curtains drape to the deck. There is ample curtain to allow us to overlap the corners and pinch them together with plastic clothes pins. We selected black netting because it doesn't reflect the light, making it easy to see through, and the black hides and dirt or mildew. The bug curtains fit in a 1 foot stuff sack and can be deployed in minutes. I am happy to report that when the mosquitoes swarmed on a very cool 50 degree evening on the Tombigbee River in Alabama the curtains kept them at bay. On the Florida panhandle in St Marks, Steinhatchie and the Suwannee River the noseeums, or as the are locally called the sand gnats, were lively at sunset, again the curtains went up in minutes and allowed us to stay on deck enjoying the sunset and evening. |
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