# Bug Screens



## H and E (Sep 11, 2011)

Yesterday I was with a friend on his boat and he had a bug screen to cover the companionway opening and the forward hatch. It worked well. It is a fiberglass screen with weighted edges-very simple. The label was marked "SOS misquote, Toronto Canada" I would like to get a set of them but cannot find them on the WEB. Have any of you seen a source for them?


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## captainrizzo (Feb 24, 2008)

I use a rather simple approach. I bought baby carriage mosquito netting which has elastic all the way around. I cut a 1X3 to fit in the slot for the companionway top and use the bottom hatch board at the bottom. I only use it at night when retiring for the night and it works very well for me. All-in cost about $7.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

This is not the product that you are looking for, but it may be a solution for you;

1. Go to the local big-box home store, or local hardware store, in your area. Buy some fiberglass screen.

2. Go to the local fabric store, and buy some hook and loop fastener tape (aka Velcro).

3. Clean a 1" strip that completely circles the area around the companion way with denatured alcohol, and a paper towel. 

4. Using the adhesive backing, stick the loop side on the strip that you cleaned. 

5. Put the hook side onto the loop side. Peel off the adhesive backing from the hook side. 

6. Unroll the fiberglass screen, and press it into the exposed adhesive. 

7. Trim the fiberglass screen around the outside of the tape. 

8. Remove the screen with the hook side of the tape attached. 

9. Stitch the hook fastener onto the fiberglass screen with your choice of thread (I used whipping thread). 

10. Roll up the screen when you don't use it, and keep it with your charts.

11. Enjoy the bug free interior.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

I bought a bugbuster screen for our forward hatch five seasons ago. It wasn't cheap, but is still in great condition- no tears, no split stitches, and it has seen a lot of use and UV exposure. It installed as soon as the boat goes in the water, every season, so it is in place from May to October in all weather.









SOGEMAN BUGBUSTER 12" X 18" INSECT SCREEN -HATCH The Chandlery Online

Knowing what I know how, I would stitch one up myself, using sinkers as ballast to keep the foot snug to cabin top.

Baggy screesn like this have a real advantage over fixed screens covering the hatch from the inside, in that you can poke your head out through the hatch without having to remove the screen.. which is nice when climbing into a low-overhead v-berth.


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## RobGallagher (Aug 22, 2001)

I had the Velcro edition, a friend made his own weighted covers.
The Velcro works well.
The weighted type work as well but are easier to install.
1. You can adjust, open or close hatches without removing the screen.
2. You can easily lift the companionway screen and go out to turn the BBQ.
3. When you are outside you can easily replace the screen from the outside.
4. Velcro strips glued around the inside your companionway and hatches are ugly.
5. It's faster and easier to install the weighted screens.

To make them to a little time. He sewed up some long bean bag type flexible weights sized to his companionway and forward hatch openings. He then sewed the screen material to the been bag "sausages". For the forward hatch he left enough screen to open and close the hatch.

When the bugs come out you simply cover your openings with the screen. The bean bag weights hold the screen down.

My next boat will have the weighted type.


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

I have made bug screens for all openings and no-see-um liners to put in place when the little bastards are out in force. You can get the no-see-um netting from surplus outlets, fiberglass screening pretty much everywhere. For hatches, I sewed a perimeter piece from scraps of sailcloth with Velcro all around. For the companionway, I made wood frames that match the boards that can be stowed pretty easily. Screens are a real necessity. The no-see-um stuff doesn't allow much ventilation but it's better than getting chewed on.


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## WinterRiver (Oct 20, 2006)

As suggested in the Low Bucks Projects thread, I bought a gazebo screen to put over my bimini. Cheap, easy to throw on, and it turns the cockpit into a bug-free screen room. Low bucks project - mosquito net It should be easy to set it up to tie over a boom, if there isn't a bimini.


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

Just to add my one variation from eherlihy's method: I cut the male velcro that goes on the hatch lengthwise, so the piece is thinner. Still more than enough grip and a little easier to get off.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

For the hatches, I used this;
Screen open:








Screen closed:


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## wingNwing (Apr 28, 2008)

bljones said:


> I bought a bugbuster screen for our forward hatch five seasons ago. It wasn't cheap, but is still in great condition- no tears, no split stitches, and it has seen a lot of use and UV exposure. It installed as soon as the boat goes in the water, every season, so it is in place from May to October in all weather.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


These are as great as bljones suggests, and more. We were lucky enough to have been given 2 of these plus the companionway version by a friend who was trading her sailboat for a trawler (we call such people "transvesselites").

Knowing what we know now, we would have bought them if we hadn't gotten them as a gift, and thought it a bargain compared to bug-bit nights. Sometimes I think you just get what you pay for. (The sliding screens are very sleek, but wouldn't work for our application due to spring-type hatch closures)


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