Mosquito/Mayfly Season - Any Tips?

[rockinthesuburbs]

So we've had a fairly cool spring/early summer here and the mosquitos and mayflies are finally out in full-force. Curious to hear any tips or tricks at keeping them away from the boat and passengers. We've been doing a fair bit of wakeboarding so lots of start-n-stop actions. It seems any time we stop for more than a minute the bugs come over to the boat in full force. Repellant seems to be keeping them off the skin but they are still attracted to the boat for some reason. Any words of advice?

 

[tdonoughue]

Oddly, when I am on the lake I have few bug issues... But at the house, I have found that the Thermacell work pretty well.

 

[drewkaree]

Thermacell works great, not sure how to "boatify" them unless you get multiples of the personal units and put them in various spots.

Bifenthrin also works, but there's no way to keep it on the boat, unless you apply before going out, then washed the boat after every outing. I'm also not sure what it would do to the gelcoat or vinyl

 

[zipper]

20' coverage? Thermacell Rechargeable Mosquito Repeller in Haze 20 ft. Coverage and Deet Free 100544451 - The Home Depot

 

[rockinthesuburbs]

Thank you! I'll look into the thermacell options. I had not heard of those before so I appreciate the suggestions!

 

[Dixemon]

Thermacell's are awesome if there is little to no breeze, they may work well when you stop to eat or take a break. They probably wont be worth firing up if your just stopping to reset a skier. They take 5 mins or so to start producing the repellant. A lot of those insects target movement during daylight hours, then hone in on your carbon dioxide and thermal signature, ect.. to further refine their targets. Keep moving, use a thermacell when stopped for a moderate period of time, or cover your body with clothing and bring a head net. Those are probably your best options. other than adding black flag mosquito fogging liquid to your gas tank, but I'm pretty sure your wakeboarder's wouldn't appreciate that.

 

[drewkaree]

20' coverage? Thermacell Rechargeable Mosquito Repeller in Haze 20 ft. Coverage and Deet Free 100544451 - The Home Depot

My experience is that the coverage is likely half-ish of what they state, and like @Dixemon noted, it takes a bit for the repellent to disperse adequately.

The personal units seem like they would be better suited for boat use, but more will be needed, I'm picturing 3-4 for 20-ish feet. This, to me, isn't practical cost-wise, but I don't have the issues the OP has to deal with. Dusk is the only time it's a huge amount in my area.

There's a few vids on YouTube for DIY repellent refills (IIRC it's just permethrin), but I know that was for older models, may not be for the newer dispensers like @zipper posted.

 

[Dixemon]

Imagine tapping into your boats exhaust system like this guy did to his riding lawn mower.

 

[buckbuck]

I remember as a kid that the city would mount an enormous DDT fogger on the back of a pickup and slowly treat the neighborhoods. That stuff worked great on the mosquitos. When they came through our street we would all jump on our bikes and see how close we could get to the pickup bumper while riding in the fog. Ahh, those were the days.