Mosquito netting eye opener.

The ground work:
I have always found using a bug net, either in a tent, over my head or over my hammock Hot & Stuffy. It seemed that the more I needed one, the less likely I was to use it, as the hotter it gets the more the bugs are active, but the hotter it is inside a bug net.

What brought this back to mind:
I was watching Les Stroud (Survivor man) the other night, The episode where he is in the Amazon. He used his head netting as a fishing net. Les & small pool of water about 7 – 8 feet from the camera. Les dips his bug netting fishing net into the water, then turns to the camera & walks about 5’ to the camera & says something like “Oh look, I caught some fresh water shrimp” Then the scene cuts to him eating said shrimp. From the time Les pulled the netting out of the water till he cut away was roughly 15+ seconds. At the start, there was about 8” of water in the netting.

The epiphany:
At the end of the 15 seconds, there was still over 6” of water in his head netting. This is not no-see-em (I have the same head netting thingy). Admittedly, the “water” was rather muddy, and water is thicker than air. But only 2” of water draining out in 15 seconds? And, the netting was being stretched by the weight of the water, causing the holes to be larger. No wonder I suffocate in bug netting.

What does it all mean?
I have no idea. I have never actually used the head netting & I took the bug netting off of my hammock over a year ago & likely will not be replacing it anytime soon. So I guess this is just a FYI. :D

yep, I've found that it's warmer inside my hammock with the netting all zipped up around me. BUT there have been times when I was setting up my hammock and the skeeters were eatting on me so bad that I looked like a puppet on a string, legs, arms, head, every part of me was twiching and jerking trying to swat those skeeters. I was soooo glad to get that hammock up and crawl inside. After I got inside, the skeeters covered the outside of my netting, just waiting for me!! I went to sleep with that zzzzz sound all around me. I'd rather deal with less air movement (I've now got a little fan inside my hammock) and warmer temps than get ate up by skeeters all night long. (plus I don't like sleeping with spiders either) But that's just me.

I think it means that noseeums are just a little bigger than drops of water, muddy water is thick, Les is and will always be the man, anything you catch in the wild and eat is amazing, the sky is blue, and you should meet me for a beer at Haps when I am in Cincy on the August 28.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TinaLouise

yep, I've found that it's warmer inside my hammock with the netting all zipped up around me. BUT there have been times when I was setting up my hammock and the skeeters were eatting on me so bad that I looked like a puppet on a string, legs, arms, head, every part of me was twiching and jerking trying to swat those skeeters. I was soooo glad to get that hammock up and crawl inside. After I got inside, the skeeters covered the outside of my netting, just waiting for me!! I went to sleep with that zzzzz sound all around me. I'd rather deal with less air movement (I've now got a little fan inside my hammock) and warmer temps than get ate up by skeeters all night long. (plus I don't like sleeping with spiders either) But that's just me.

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So far I have not been in an area with that big of a bug problem. Partly because I do not camp where others have camped, so suspect that MAY lessen the bug population. Plus, I prefer cooler temps to hike in, with winter being my favorite time of year to hit the trail/woods. My question about no-se-ems: How can a bug the size of this period . have teeth this big \//\\/ ? Personally, I think the netting dosn't keep the noseeums out, it's that the ginormous teeth get caught. :laugh: I met my first ones last week at the RRG & thought "Hey, something that small can't possibly hurt" I was so WRONG!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Coffee

I think it means that noseeums are just a little bigger than drops of water, muddy water is thick, Les is and will always be the man, anything you catch in the wild and eat is amazing, the sky is blue, and you should meet me for a beer at Haps when I am in Cincy on the August 28.

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ON PAY DAY!

&

BEER will be avalable!!!

I am so there!!!

UM, where is Haps?

That where we had your going away party?

Heh...LOL at Doctari!! Come to Minnesota! We'll show you some mosquitoes!!:laugh: On the other hand, we typically have cooler evening temperatures so the breeze-blocking effect of netting isn't so big a negative.

Mosquitoes don't need people and survive on little-traveled trails presumably on deer, bear, moose, birds, squirrels. Hikers are like a special treat!:scared:

What IS relevant to the mosquito population is the amount of standing water that provides breeding spots. A dry year = fewer mosquitoes and vice-versa.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doctari

ON PAY DAY!

&

BEER will be avalable!!!

I am so there!!!

UM, where is Haps?

That where we had your going away party?

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It's on Erie down from Mt Lookout. Not where the going away was. But they use N2 instead of CO2 and have the best strongbow on tap I ever hap.

Blocking water flow vs. blocking air flow are two totally different things...

Water has a property known as "surface tension" that causes clinging or "tension" of the water molecules which tends to slow down movement. That's why you can overfill a glass a little before it spills over.

Air molecules aren't as prone to this (well not enough for us to notice)...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kankujoe

Air molecules aren't as prone to this ...

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Right. Air has no surface, therefore no surface tension. What it does have is pressure. If the breeze is not enough pressure to push the air through your bugnet, then you rely on diffusion, which is sometimes slower than the heat accumulation.

When I got my 2Q/ZQ #2 Bugnet zipper mod I thought I would stow the net for the winter and use it in the summer. I ended up doing exactly the opposite. In the winter, the bugnet served to keep me warmer inside the hammock, by blocking the cold breeze that blew around and under the tarp. In the summer, the bugs are out until about an hour after sundown, then they are gone! After the bugs go down, I unzip and enjoy the cool evening.

I'm not willing to do without a bugnet completely, though.

- MacEntyre