Mosquitoes Be Gone!!!!!

[CaptGregg]

A PO had some white Velcro around the front hatch base so I just took off on this project last night and it's done!

Pictures of my mosquito screening. I ran out of Velcro, that stuff is almost $6.00 a 3 foot section! There are sections I'll have to fill in later with pieces of Velcro.

Both sides of the Velcro had tape backing but the ends of the Velcro, I stapled to the plastic screening. I would say I got about $35.00 in this project, all materials came from Wal-mart.

 

[CaptGregg]

As you can see in the pics, there is a DC outlet on the bulkhead, my Asus PC1000 has a depleted battery but has a DC power cord that came with it. I have pdf copies of the NOAA charts on it, going to give it a try when I hit the coastal area.

 

[Chris Patterson]

You know, it sounds stupid I guess, but I saw an ad on the tv the other day for a screen door on a house, that had magnets sewn in the middle, so that entering/exiting, it automatically closes. A modified version for the boat of course SOUNDS like a neat idea in theory, I'm just trying to decide whether to devote the energy into trying it.
Side note, I'm full bore on my next project, the Ericson, and broke the axle on my 22' trailer, crap.
Oh yeah Gregg, the screens look groovy. Sorry I got sidetracked whining..

 

[CaptGregg]

Not at all! I have seen that commercial and i saw some on CVS on the "As seen on TV" isle. I thought about that but being as my cabin door is angled and not straight down? I figured velcro was better since gravity would pull the screen straight down.

 

[sinnettc]

Nice job!

I made replacements for the companionway crib boards that have screens in the middle. 2 layers of 1/4" ply with a layer of screen in between. They don't seal the top, though, like yours does; I like that about yours. Instead we put the hatch cover on and use that to cover the opening.

On the plus side, if we need to get out it goes clunk instead of rrrrriiiiiiiiippp!

 

[CaptGregg]

Hey Chris,

Your blog is famous among this site and I've enjoyed reading it! I made some screens similar to what you describe in the past only I used a framing kit also provided at Wal-mart that you cut the framing, there were end corner pieces and the screen fit down in a groove with a tool and a rubber stripping sealed the screen and held the framing together. Like you, I just shut the hatch. One good thing about that design is that if I enter the cockpit from the cabin, you can just reseat the frame design and close the hatch, but the downside is with my current design, storage is much easier, I just roll it up. I am trying to figure out how to close the screening from the outside.

 

[sinnettc]

My blog is famous?! I didn't think anyone else even looked at it.

On closing it from the outside. What if you sewed on a strip of fabric, or several strategically placed tabs so you can pull it closed? If they're black like the screen then they shouldn't be too obvious.

My bunk boards sit on the floor, bungied up against the side of the bunks. I put the acrylic ones over them so nobody kicks the screens. The one I have a hard time storing is the big one that we use to lock the boat up. That usually ends up under the Admiral's bunk cushion which makes getting into that locker tricky.

 

[CaptGregg]

Well, I don't know about being famous, that was a bit of an overstatement I guess due to exuberance on my part. I guess I just liked the layout of your blog and the fact that you update it so thoroughly with great pictures. I am sure you got a counter on it somehow and that you know how many visits you get.

I love the frame you made for that solar panel.

 

[sinnettc]

Maybe I'm infamous then...

I'm pretty happy with the solar panel frame. We'll see how it holds up since I used the lightest aluminum bar Home Despot had.

 

[CaptGregg]

Have you used the solar panel yet? Will it keep you completely off grid?

 

[sinnettc]

Yeah, we've had this 18 watt panel for 3 or 4 years. It works great and keeps our 105ah Group 27 topped off nicely. We've switched everything over to LED so our requirements are pretty minimal. We did 7 days in the San Juan Islands a couple of summers ago and never had to plug in the battery charger. That was running the gps/chartplotter and lights pretty much daily, plus charging 2x cell phones, a portable vhf radio and 2x laptops via a portable inverter at least twice each.