Use these socks on your portlight screens
Issue 47 : Mar/Apr 2006
I dream of there mass extermination but, alas, it remains a dream — no-see-ums (midges, punkies, sand flies, and sand fleas) are a fact of sailing life on the southeast Atlantic coast and points south. They will find their way through any small opening, including the holes in regular mosquito-gauge screen. Portlights usually come with push-in screens. These are great, but we needed something to keep out the horrid little micro-buggers.
No-see-um-gauge screens are so fine, though, that they restrict airflow considerably. You don’t want to use them unless you have to. So they should be easily removable.
The easiest solution turned out to be socks that fit around the existing screens. We just pull out the metal screens, pop the socks around them, and push them back in. The socks are pieces of mesh cut larger than the portlights, with the edges sewn around a piece of elastic.
You can get no-see-um-gauge mesh at outdoor supply places that cater to backpackers, climbers, campers, and kayakers, but if you can’t find it, go to the fabric store and get some organza — the fine lacy mesh used to trim prom and wedding dresses. It’s dirt-cheap. You can apply the same concept to screen deck ventilators with cylindrical baffles, such as Nicro mushroom and solar vents.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
