Citronella oil

sarabande

sarabande

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in the cabin lamp ?

I'm due to sail with a friend during the mozzy season on the Dart. He has a fetish for the romantic oil lamps, but in the cockpit up the river where we moor, the mozzies can be bl88dy awful (it's GLOBAL GNAWING :mad:)

Has anyone tried citronella oil in a lamp ? We use it to make an emulsion to spray on horses to keep the bots and horseflies away.
 
sarabande said:
in the cabin lamp ?

I'm due to sail with a friend during the mozzy season on the Dart. He has a fetish for the romantic oil lamps, but in the cockpit up the river where we moor, the mozzies can be bl88dy awful (it's GLOBAL GNAWING :mad:)

Has anyone tried citronella oil in a lamp ? We use it to make an emulsion to spray on horses to keep the bots and horseflies away.
Click to expand...

Yes and it will help, place it upwind though.
 
CCC sheffield

I usually buy some from ccc in sheffield I think it citronella mixed with paraffin seems to work ok but then if mozzies are bad we usually have some big citronella candles aswell err not exactly candle as they are in small buckets about 2 pints insize the candle wicks are about 5 mm dia a couple last us about a year.
The only thing about the lamps it that the glass seems to get sooty quicker
 
sarabande said:
Do you use it neat (it costs a fortune here ) or just a few drops in the paraffin please ?
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The stuff I buy is ready mixed but i suspect it could do a bit more in the paraffin Its a bit lighter in colour than a lemon dishwash liquid . Candles are made of paraffin wax but I notice the candles give of a much stronger smell so I guess they have more citronella mixed in the wax . I guess you will have to experiment unless somebody else comes on to tell you . I couldnt get a supply of the pure oil in sheff to try mixing it when I tried the year before last .
 
The old Turkish trick for the cockpit is to have a nice, bushy basil plant there.
Citronella OK but the smell drives me mad after a while..
The best solution here is a plug-in liquid mozzy killer.
Cheers,
Chris
 
I didn't even realise we had mosquitoes here! Been out of UK since 2006 in Carib and SE Asia. Mosquito coils work well and a weak solution of anything with DEET in it for the body, from Millets etc., don't need to use the stronger DEET stuff, but DEET is not nice...
 
I always use citronella oil both for interior and anchor lamps. Good light, does away with kerosene pong and soot as well as keeping the mozzies at a distance. During the summer season Homebase sell it quite cheaply (presumably for garden lamps).
 
rivonia said:
Mozzies HATE the smell of MARMITE. So eat some on toast or bread n butter daily or more often, the mozzies will go and find someone else.

Good luck

Peter
Click to expand...

True enough - my wife swears by these after using them last year:

http://www.dontbitemepatch.com/

..they're impregnated with Vitamin B1 (amongst other things) so she always smells very lightly of marmite by the end of the holiday... :D
 
I buy the lamp oil sold by Carrefour in Cherbourg. Its smell is pretty unobtrusive and we don't get bothered by mozzies.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
rivonia said:
Mozzies HATE the smell of MARMITE. So eat some on toast or bread n butter daily or more often, the mozzies will go and find someone else.
Click to expand...

Yeast tablets were recommended to me.
I have just googled marmite ingredients which comes up with:
  • Yeast Extract
  • Salt
  • Vegetable Extract
  • Niacin
  • Thiamin
  • Spice Extracts
  • Riboflavin
  • Folic Acid
  • Celery Extract
  • Vitamin B12
So there must be some truth there somewhere, Yeast tabs were palatable but Marmite :eek:
 
We 'discovered' citronella whilst in the Med for a few years and are happy to endorse it, especially if you spill a little on your self while filling the lamp.( just rub it in!)
I was puzzled by the fact that the mozzies seemed to like the taste of other peeps more than me, but now, being a marmite addict, I have a possible explanation -thankyou.
We still use citronella oil here in Scotland, to ward off the dreaded midges.
 
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