Zapping mossies?

Captain_Cava

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There have been lots of views on deet, citronella and other repellants recently on this forum, but has anyone tried using electronic UV fly zappers? Presumably they use a lot of power and it might be difficult to sleep with a bright light on in the boat, but do they/would they work?
 

jerryat

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No personal experience, but friends of ours in the Med. threw theirs out as being almost useless. Apparently the things did well with flies/moths etc, but the mozzies ignored them virtually completely.

They concluded that mozzies were 'driven' by scent/pheromones(sp?) or summink, and didn't give a damn about the UV light!
 

davidbains

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We feel that they are attracted by sweat.
This could explain any beneficial effect of sleeping under a fan.
I also feel you suffer less at anchor than in port.
At least at anchor the boat swings into the wind creating some
natural air flow in the cabin.
I have placed mozzie coils in both the cockpit and on the foredeck
in front of the hatch. We now have one of those expensive shaped nets that
drops down over the forehatch. There's no doubt they prefer the prettier
crew members!!
 

giolconda

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We have sky screens over all the hatches but nothing for the companionway. It is the only place they can get in now. I think I'll need to make a cover for there.

We should be aboard full time within a year, so this is a problem
I really need to get to grips with......Will I gain any natural immunity eventually?

/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
G

Guest

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Yes, after the Australian customs confiscated our electric fly swatter (its a fire arm!) We went for a fixed type.

They are very good but can only be used when the boat is sealed up with nets. They also must be placed in a position that the light will not be seen outside. Otherwise you are just asking for all your neighbours mozzies.

Very good on the first night away from shore to remove all the stowaways!

They have one problem in that after a lot of mozzies have died on the wires they provide a path for leakage current and they stop being effective. But very few have a means to clean the wires as the whole design is to stop humans getting to the wires!

Still use candles and drops of citronella oil for daytime and evening. Mozzies are choosy, you only have to taste/smell slightly worse than your neighbour to avoid them!
 

Grehan

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We had a 12v one - fairly useless.
The 240v ones work much better, for when you're connected to shore power. Quite cheap too, in the supermarkets and bricolajes here in Spain.
However, I think (female . . ) mozzies are actually blind - one's breath (and smell?) does the attracting - so the UV light zapper doesn't work against them. . Good for other flying beasties, though.
Nets over the hatches and openings are the best method, IMHO.
 

Genie

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I agree Grehan
The mosquito follows a co2 'scent' (which we exhale) to track it's target - citronella does work but you need a reasonable amount of it to work.
You're right, the 12v zappers are hardly worth using /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, but the mains operated ones do work pretty well - we've caught plenty with ours over the years, and we always use a plug in chemical killer (the sort with the reservoir of fluid that is underneath the unit and it is wicked up to a hotplate where it evaporates from.
This is (in our experience) the best means of defence. We turn it one when we go out so that the room is pretty much 'dosed' by the time we get back, and so anything that was in there is dead, and anything that might come in with us will be entering an environment which will kill them quick too.
We then turn it off for the rest of the night if the windows are closed.
Another benefit of the UV light zapper is that it kills other nasties such as sandflies, whose bite is usually worse than a mozzies! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 

whipper_snapper

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Insecticide impregnated bednets are extremely effective in a house. I have never used one on a boat, but I would expect them to work. Effectively you are the bait in a trap and any mozzy that goes for you hits the net and dies.
 

ccscott49

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We use in the meddy, those plug in leccy ones, mains I´m afraid, but we do have an inverter, they draw nowt and keep all flying insects away, even "noseems" right little gits, which you "no see em"!! Mozzies have no chance!
 

Becky

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I read somewhere mossies track in from afar on the CO2 from our breath. Then when they get close they are able to home in using infra red. So, therefore, the UV fly killers will not work and we need a heat source to attract them into the high voltage wires. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif and then we can sleep soundly /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
A

Anonymous

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Even our mains UV one is pretty useless against Med mozzies. At anchor we use a smoke coil, on a metal base, just aft of our cabin windows; as we are at anchor, the smoke and human breath pong mix and go downwind together, confusing the mozzies and leaving us so mozzie-free that we need neither repellents nor Fenergan antihistamine cream (not!). It does seem to help a bit but I haven't found a source of the coils yet this year /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 

mobeydick

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they are environmentally VERY unfrendly as they kill many good insects - those that are pollinators, bird food etc etc - and leave the 'bad' ones (the human biters) almost untouched, as the latter dont use UV for food hunting. Mossies in particular use other methods to find where /who to bite (CO2 as mentioned elsewhere).

Also mentioned by someone else - they attract from outside.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_zapper

The zaps you hear and see are the earths biodiversity being reduced.....
 

JonJon

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Right so what we need is something that emits C02 at a steady slow rate has a hot spot and then zaps em with a million volts - doesnt sound beyond the wit of man.

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 

whipper_snapper

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As I say, such a system exists. Except that rather than a zillion volts they are zapped with insecticide bound to netting. The very clever device that radiates heat and emits CO2 and other smells to attract mozzies is called a human.
 

JonJon

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Right so a few sweet smelling humans around the place - sometimes known as girls - could protect us sounds like a plan.

God I'm fed up with the rain already looking forward to getting back to the mozzies. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

clouty

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Many years ago, we had a wheelhouse that contained a paraffin gimbled lamp. We left the companionway open, guarded by the lit lamp. We didn't have trouble with mossies, unless the lamp was not lit or ran out (it unsed to last the night and a bit on a fill)

Not so good for global warming, but we didn't worry about that then.
Ah, happy daze!
 
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