Mosquito repellant

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Sep 29, 2008
162
Morgan Out Island 33 Pompano Beach
We are off to the Florida Keys next week. Does anyone have a "proven" product to repel mosquitos? Bob
 
Jul 24, 2006
628
Legnos, Starwind, Regal Mystic 30 cutter, 22 trailer sailor, bow rider NEW PORT RICHEY, FL
When I go hunting in the swamps I always use deep woods off-works. Anything with the most amount of DEET will work. Some people have used the Avon skinsosoft but i have had mixed results from it. Hey Bob, thanks for the manual on bleeding my steering! I have it all rebuilt for $5 for parts from local hydraulics shop-just a few o-rings and some backing washers. Gonna clean and paint the area where it mounts this am before remounting it. Have a great time in Margarittaville, mon.
 

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
Be carefull with Deet based products. Although Deet is fairly safe for adult, non pregnant humans, it kills plastics. Especially your dodger windows and fleece.

I have been experimenting with a Cutter product that has no Deet. It seems to work well although may not last as long as Deet. It smells much better though.

The active ingredient is Picaridin.
 
Nov 6, 2006
9,885
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Bob, I have had great luck with "Therma Cell". It is a little butane powered thingie that heats a pad that has some marigold extract stuff .. It emits a vapor, so if there is wind, ya have to put it upwind. I carry two on my boat and have found it to be excellent for keeping the skeeters at bay. The little butane cylinders are about the size of a cigarette lighter and i have found that they are used up faster than the pads. I have found more available, sold by Revlon for a butane powered hair curler.. all available at Walley Woild..
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Skin-so-soft has been good, but use the oil, not the cream lotion.
 
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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Second Tim R's suggestion of using a Picaridin-based bug repellent.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
I get excellent results with snow. Even just a good dusting seems to drive the mosquitos away.
 
Jul 20, 2005
2,422
Whitby 55 Kemah, Tx
I get mixed results with...get this...Bounce. Take a sheet and rub it on you and then put another sheet under your cap hanging out the back end. I can say that it DOESN'T work when I've been sweating all day and the little bugs are very hungry. But many times at the dock at night it kept them off me while everybody else was getting bit.

I've also had very good resutls with skin so soft. My ex used to sell the stuff so it was easy to get. Now...well...I don't buy it much :)
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
On a serious note we use the mosquito coils if there is any sign of bugs in the evening. The smoke drifts down wind and the insects locate us from our scent from down wind.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Ben's 100

If you really don't want mosquitoes Ben's 100 is the time proven and most potent product commercially available. It seems to be the product of choice up here in Maine for real thick mosquito areas.

I've tried a few non-deet products and some seem to actually attract them. :doh::doh:Nothing I have found repels mosquitoes anywhere close to the way Ben's 100 does. A littel bit goes a long way one or two drops in your palm rubbed over your entire eposed body is all you'll need.

I was in Nova Scotia and encountered the absolute thickest mosquitoes in my life. There were literally thousands attacking us. They wer so thick that if you swiped your hand at the air and made a fist in a grabbing motion you'd have at least ten+ in there when you opened it. We applied Ben's 100 and they would come within 5-6" and stop dead but would not land..

It does have deet and as Tim R. Said it eats plastics and can also ruin Gore-Tex and laminated fabrics so be very careful with it and if you have kids at least read the product warnings. Wash your hands after application to so you don't ruin a GPS screen or an ST-60 screen. My wife had a Swatch watch face that got melted by deet..

If it were me I would bring one potent product containing deet and one without so you can compare and chose the the least potent but effective formula and the one you need for the environment.

We have a couple of areas in Maine where the mosquitoes just seem to laugh at deet, or any other product fo that matter, and the only thing that works is screens....:cussing:

Ben's 100 (95% Deet) Photo courtesey Gempler's (LINK)
 
Sep 6, 2007
324
Catalina 320 Gulfport, Fl
Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil

Use the oil. Mix with water 50/50 and apply it can damage plastics, I used to use it years ago when camping in the Everglades. Never had a problem.
 
Oct 14, 2005
2,191
1983 Hunter H34 North East, MD
This is gonna sound nuts...

but some friends have reported success with spraying Listerine around doorways and picnic tables using one of those pump-type bottles like Windex comes in. I haven't tried it yet, but the source of this solution is considered reliable. Off's Deep Woods formulation has worked for me in the past.
 
Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
We are off to the Florida Keys next week. Does anyone have a "proven" product to repel mosquitos? Bob
Vanilla extract...not the imitation stuff. Pricey but effective...makes you hungry all the time though...
 
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Gary_H

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Nov 5, 2007
469
Cal 2-25 Carolina Beach NC
I've used the Skin so soft before with some success against the smaller pest, but for mosquitoes around here you need a deck mounted 20 MM.
 

rfrye1

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Jun 15, 2004
589
Hunter H376 San Diego
I mix my own solution of DEET and Skin-so-Soft. Depends on how bad the bugs are. I use 100% DEET and add it to the S-s-S. And yes be careful of plastic & nylon. I personally hate the smell of DEET, but S-s-S isn't bad. It covers up the DEET smell. Make sure you park you boat in a breezy part of the anchorage.
 
Oct 18, 2007
707
Macgregor 26S Lucama, NC
Gary H- I've camped at Carolina Beach State Park- was only bothered by small mosquitos; the large ones couldn't get between the trees.... -Paul
 

Gary_H

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Nov 5, 2007
469
Cal 2-25 Carolina Beach NC
Lol Paul..yea just don't get caught out in the open without your elephant gun.
 
Dec 9, 2008
426
1980 Hunter 30 "Denali" Seaford, VA
Are any of these products effective for no-see-ums as well?

--Michael
Avon Skin So Soft is hands down magic against no-see-ums. We live on the water and the no-see-ums can be really thick here. I always have a couple cans of the spray around and I've used the lotion and like it a bit. I find the OFF with deet works a bit better with the skeeters, but nothing seems to keep the no-see-ums off me like skin so soft. I have tried another Picardin based product than the Avon product and I did not find it to work as well. Unfortunately they raised the price for skin so soft, but I just can't find anything else that works better. Without it, unless there is a breeze, I wouldn't be able to go outside the house for very long some evenings and forget trying to work on the boat!

I hate to sound like I am endorsing stuff, but this product has worked better than anything else for those annoying no-see-ums.
 
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