[pct-l] bug question

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, RuffWork,

I’ve had DEET dissolve/soften some plastics, but not all.  After all, it’s
sold in a plastic bottle.  As far as I can tell, it has never bothered any
of my front-line gear such as nylon sleeping bag fabric, rip-stop nylon,
SilNylon items, poly fleece, etc. nor has it damaged my plastic eyeglass
lenses.  Once I used a pair of hiking poles that had black plastic grips
which continually made my hands black during the DEET season.  I think it
was slowly dissolving that plastic.



The only real nuisance DEET has caused me was years ago when I took field
survey notes with plastic mechanical pencils.  DEET from my fingers ate
about a half-dozen of them during that year’s bug season in Central Oregon,
and wherever I touched my aluminum hard hat it dissolved the paint.
Considering
how really bad the mosquitoes were that year -- up till about mid-July -- a
few Forest Service pencils and a hat paint job was a pretty cheap date.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 1:17 PM, ruffwork <ruffwork at ruffwork.com> wrote:

> My solution is a combination of:
> 1) bug head net (The OR spring ring head net and Coghlans bug gloves)
> 2) I treat all my outer-wear with permethrin (pants and shirts and socks)
> and dry
>    it in the drier to "fix" it into the cloth better
> 3) Lemon Eucalyptus spray on any exposed skin.
>
> The US Army now uses Permethrin treated clothing and DEET but the DEET
> melts
> all my nylon clothing and plastic gear ;-(
>
> ruffwork
> > I don't remember where I read it, may have been a post from someone on
> > this list or a book I read. There was a very scientific study done by
> > the military on what would keep mosquitoes away. They learned that it is
> > not a smell that keeps them away but an altering of the way they find
> > food. So their little blood sucking receptors get scrambled when the
> > come across something like deet. From what I remember they said it is
> > the carbon dioxide that the mossies zero in on to find their "prey",
> > same for ticks apparently. Deet scrambles their finding abilities so
> > they don't really "know" that anything is there and if one gets you with
> > a product like deet it is supposedly by sheer luck not because they
> > could "find" you. The article I read claimed that garlic and citronella
> > and all that other stuff and "home remedies" really didn't do anything
> > to detract mosquitoes.
> >
> > I personally think there might be something in a person's natural
> > chemistry to keep mossies away. When I am by myself and unprotected I
> > will have mosquitoes come after me, but if I'm with other people the
> > mossies always go after them first and I might get 2 bites to another
> > person's 20 bites. Guess my blood is just too sweet for 'em. :p
> > Kathi
>
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