Club 80-90 Forums

Hi, first post, so apologies if this has been covered before (couldn't find it anywhere though!). Just got back from a trip to Italy in our Westy Atlantic and had a bad experience with mossies. Got absolutely eaten alive in Pisa. We bought a plug in repellant and some sprays from the supermaket which helped but also tried to stop them entering the van. Eventually bought some mossie net material and stuck it over the side opening window above the cooker and the roof vent and protected the kids with a net across the opening up to the roof bed. This allowed us to have some air in the van (it was RED hot!), but was a bit temporary and the sticky tape is all coming off.

Is there a less 'Heath Robinson' solution? Pull down blind over the side window? Permanent net on the roof light? Just fix a mossie net over each bed? I know mossies probably aren't a problem everywhere, but they were so bad this time that it has focussed my mind to the problem! Any thoughts appreciated.

i got a mozzy net over the kitchen window, and there was a westy option for a rear hatch mozzy net. i`ve also seen a pic of a netting curtain made to protect the sliding door when open.

sorry cant be of more help..........lee.

Hi there,
You can get them for sliding door and rear hatch from Gunzl at http://www.vwbusshop.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When you get to the home page click on Onlineshop and then enter the following in the search box in top left corner
255070412
and
255070410G

If you are going to Vanfest you could phone him before and he will bring them with him.

Cheers,
Dave
( http://www.vwcamperguide.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

We had exactly the same experience in Venice, horrendous. We found that the only sure way to protect yourself at night was to sleep in a mozzie net. Unfortunately, the T25 doesn't lend itself very easily to having one installed so we ended up with a 'heath robinson' affair hanging over the pull out bed but at least it worked. We had to fold it away during the day. Everything else we tried failed miserably and the mozzies just ate us alive.

I find these mozzie coils work well.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gelert-Gelert-Mos ... 286.c0.m14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

one coil will last all night. Never used them in a van but used them lots in beach huts in Thailand and they do the job pretty well. Lots of them on ebay but worth getting the type with a metal container to catch the ash and reduce fire risk.

Cheers Guys. I'll have a look at what Gunzl has and try to find a way of hanging a net. The plug-in we got from an Italian supermarket did seem to work, but only on mains, so was less effective when we were wild camping! Thanks for the advice.

To avoid bites, wash exposed body parts in a Dettol solution - they don't like the taste of that. However, it doesn't stop the little blighters buzzing around - so I reckon a combination of nets and coils gives the best protection.
(Lived in South Africa for 3 years - similar problems encountered).