Sidney, BC, Canada, March, 2007. Having heard there were places in the world where biting insects invaded boats, I decided to make some bug screens for the Fox’s two deck hatches and companionway while we were in insect-free BC, Canada.
Details: the deck hatches’ bases are 22-1/2" wide x 25-1/4" long, with a rolled aluminum rim 1/4" deep – perfectly suited to grab and hold a 1/4" elastic band. My limited skills allowed me to make only the most basic of bug screens: shower cap-style covers. Difficulty: the generous size of the Fox’s hatches was wider than the width of the bolt on which the bug screen fabric was sold; and the two aft hinges were exterior to the rolled aluminum rim and thus created 2 other gaps. Solution: open the hatches only 3/4 of maximum to allow the elastic to contract well and avoid all gaps in the bug screen. No significant reduction in ventilation, as the fine mesh of the bug screen cut off most air flow anyway. Heh.
I sewed a 68" x 56-3/4" rectangle of fabric to a 62-1/2" circle of 1/4" shock cord using a 1/2" hem. Did it again with another rectangle and produced two bug screens for the deck hatches. The finished hatch screens store flat in a Zip-Loc bag. Bonus: they are so big, instead of deploying them on the hatches one can wear them over one’s head and upper torso when one goes to bed, when the bugs are really biting. Used ’em that way for a mosquito hatch in Canada, and for the black flies feeding off the pelican guano on the breakwater in Half Moon Bay, California. It’s almost comfy.
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