Part of my emergency evac. plans it to use my vehicle as a shelter if necessary. I have plans for keeping warm in cold weather in my vehicle, but warm weather would require leaving the windows down at night so air can get in.

But then comes the bugs.....

Today I was thinking about it,and I want to bounce an idea off you folks I had.

Since we all have that roll of duct tape in our cars anyway, I thought about adding to my trunk kit, just enough fine mesh screen material to cover all the windows and then duct tape in place to keep bugs out.

Crazy or worth it?

PS, in theory, the screen material could be used for fish catching, or straining large debris out of water also.

Check out truck outfitter places which sell truck tents. The same folks that make the truck tents usually make bug mesh screens that are magnetic around the outer seam and can be applied to a car or truck on the outside of an open window.

I haven't looked into them in quite some time or I'd remember the brand name...shouldn't be hard to find via Google.

buy some of the roll magnets like they put around a fridge door without the rubber. cut the screen material a little bigger than the window and glue the magnets to the screen around the edges. This way you can take the screen on and off alot without damage to your paint, using your duct tape up or leaving the sticky stuff on your car.

You could do it that way.

When I was van camping across the U.S., I made custom window-shaped forms out of wall paneling (1/8"), then cut out the interior with a sabre saw, leaving a 2" (or so) wide solid rim.

I found strips of U-shaped metal stuff (think metal molding --I don't know what it was for) at the hardware store, and hot-glued it in place, roughly an inch up from the bottom edge, for the window glass to catch on.

Then I hot-glued screening in place.

All I had to do was raise the glass a bit, set the thing in place so it would go up into the groove that the glass normally went into, then roll the glass up snugly to hold it in place.

They also discouraged people from reaching into the van to pet my dog. My girls have always considered my vehicles to be THEIR vehicles, and all strangers had best stay away.

And they lasted for years. Alas, I had to make a new set for each vehicle, as no two vehicle windows are alike.

Sue

Better ideas than mine, I will look into the roll magnets

Great idea. Bugs can make you miserable. Here's something similar to what you're looking for. It looks like the screen is in a pocket shape and just slides over the whole window frame. You could probably sew up something like that with some mosquito netting.

http://ajprindle.com/products/product.aspx?sku=12717

Hi B.C.C.L,

Two years ago I took the family on a roadtrip and one of the activities was going to a traditional drive-in movie, the same kind I used to go to as a kid 40 years ago. I saw people in other cars taping mesh screening over their side window openings and thought it odd?

All went well in our mini-van and we sat with the windows down until dusk, then the mosquitos came out in hoards so we quickly rolled-up the windows, but with 5 of us in the van this caused the windshield to fog-up! The theatre had a rule against idling of vehicles so I had a problem with 3 upset children (and DW but we will not talk about that).

So I dug into the car/camping kit and found some PIC coils to burn. They cannot be good for you and it smelled up the van but we did finally get to see the movie.

So I agree with you, I think some mesh screen in a car kit is a great idea.

Mike

That's what I'm taking about!

I hate the little buggers.

Here is So. Illinois, you can't do squat in the summer after dark within 10 miles of water. A dear friend of mines 14 year old son was diagnosed last week with West Nile Virus, but he's young and in great health (football player) so they think he's gonna be OK.

If it works, it isn't crazy.

Or, in other words, "If it's crazy, it will work."