Hello Boggers, The “Yachties” by force of NECESSITY, developed the answer to this about 20 years ago…. Now I have about 300 topics I would like to cover, and do not want to put on more than one per week or one per dozen Postings, but I do not want people given the wrong advice, so I am putting this extra one on now… A lot of this style of travel, "Land Yachts" comes from 20 years on large Cruising Yachts, ten full time and living aboard, and ten part time. There are places like the Gulf States, Florida, and the Caribbean, where the sand flies are so bad they can kill you....... As well as ruining some idyllic spots on South Pacific island, even places here like Frazer Island in the wrong time of the year you can see them rise up like a hazy cloud. In the Caribbean, on grass early in the morning, I have seen the foggy haze of them rise up to head height in swarms that you have to be careful or you even cough as you occasionally inhale one!!! I have had exposure to them for so many years, that I am actually allergic to them.
THE ULTIMATE HEALTHY ANSWER… All of the normal repellents have chemicals of dubious detrimental health consequences long term. The answer is Avon "Skin So Soft" bath oil. Now if they have not changed the formulae, (I hope not, but try one bottle before you buy a case)…. You will smell a bit like a French Madaam, but you mix it 50-50 with water, shake it up, and put it on like a sun tan oil. All exposed parts of the body, totally wiped down with liberal amounts. With this, you have a skin moisturizing body oil, sun tan oil, and we have literally walked around in a cloud of "Midgees" in a bathing suit with NO ill affects..... It feels good, and is good for your skin. I still have a couple of bottles at home, call your Avon Rep in your area, and I hope they still offer it as it works a treat! In the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s there would hardly be a Cruising Yacht in the Tropics that did not have a stash of it on board. You mix it 50-50 with water, and it separates oil over water, so you shake it before you apply it. It seems like the scent fends them off, and the mineral oil kills them if they do land. Even construction Crews would use it, landscapers, it was the universal standard.
Now a few comments on “Midgee screens… As there are always people KEEN to give advice but from limited experience or limited perspectives.. First of all Midgee screens are not a new idea, the head of Camec in Brisbane, when he built his own van himself, put the Midgee screens on his own van about 8-9 years ago. He did not leave them on, and was the first in our experience to sound the alarm about them cutting down air flow dramatically. He put normal screens back on his van. If they were so great, why would neither Director of
Bushtracker have them on our own vans??? And Tracy LIVES TO FISH… So, if it is such a great idea, why are they not on the Directors vans? Tracy’s comment is: “Every time you open a window, it is because you want air flow”….
Secondly, in traveling around Oz since the 80's, while I have seen them collect around my interior lights, and had to clean them up off the ceiling with a wet paper towel a couple of times per night, in my experience I have not had them biting me on the interior of the van for some reason. I am not certain, but I think they are just not biting at that time, attracted to the lights, and when lights are out they migrate back outside, I am not sure why but I do not get bit up in my own van. They seem to be in the biting time peak, at dawn and dusk.
I am allergic to sandfly bites. While they are a nuisance and it bothers me to see 100 of them collected on the white ceiling around the light, and I have to clean them up a couple of times with the wet paper towel as I said, I do not have Midgee screens on my own van. Neither does the other Director of
Bushtracker... We have not found them to be a problem in my own van and travels worth cutting down the air flow. If I did, I think I would sew on some Velcro, with the soft fuzzy Velcro tape stuck on around the window, and add on the midgee screens as needed. The same for the four seasons hatch, a surround of Velcro tape, and add on the piece as needed. But that is the point, me personally, I have not had occasion to feel it was needed yet. It is too hard to change out the screens on the windows themselves, a real battle, but I would think that the fuzzy black Velcro tape around the window and ceiling of the Four Seasons Hatch; would not be so bad if I found I needed it.
Regards to all from the Ranger,
Semper Fidelis
