JB RTT Bug Screen issue

concretejungle

Adventurer
I've been extremely pleased with my James Baroud tent. I've slept in it a lot and have always stayed dry and comfortable.

Last weekend i experienced my first failure of my tent and it is directly related to the bug screens. I was camped out on the outer banks of NC over the labor day weekend in a beautiful setting. Started off with some bad weather, wind, rain, more rain... the RTT excelled.

Then, the weather cleared and it got dead calm out there. No breeze at all. When that happens on many of the outer banks islands, the bugs come out. Well, they did and they came out in mass. If it wasn't the green-head flies biting the crap out of you, it was the regular flies. If not them, the mosquitos were drawing blood like crazy. And then the "no-see-um's" came out. Some people call them sand fleas. Regardless of what you call them, they bite you relentlessly. If the wind is blowing, they are not an issue.

As night time came and it was time to climb up into the tent i came to a relization that the bug screens in the JB are too large! Tiny mosquitos and masses of biting no-see-ums tore me up all night long. It was probably the worst night of sleep i've had in the tent. My fiancé' said this is too much and i'm never coming out here again. I was miserable as well.

So, that's a HUGE problem JB! Please update the bug screens to smaller ones that keep the bugs out.
 

aearles

Observer
Maybe you could buy some fine mesh screen by the roll and stitch a strip of velcro to the top like the isothermic kit? Not ideal, but simple enough to make at least. I guess attaching outside would be better...
 

spagthorpe

Observer
That's actually good to know. While it's rare for me to have an issue with bugs here in Southern CA, I do have a problem with blowing sand. Even on some fairly small mesh tents, I've had a lot of super fine stuff blow through screens. It's sounding like I could get actual sand through these.
 

concretejungle

Adventurer
I have thought about a way to attach some finer mesh bug screen to the tent. However, for the price of what these tents sell for, i just think it's their responsibility to see this as a big issue and fix it. I don't expect them to take mine back and retrofit screens for me, but i do expect the newer ones to have improved bug screens especially considering the $$$ .
 

Lemsteraak

Adventurer
Those little vampires are nasty and pack a punch

Stay out of the Mangroves

Otherwise, what I do is spray Avon's Skin So Soft on the mosquito nets. NoSeeUms can't fly right through a standard Mosquito net but have to land and wiggle through. They hate Skin So Soft so they don't land so you get a good night's sleep. You can do the same thing with a repellant but this is less toxic and smells so much nicer.

We don't have a clue why it Skin So Soft works but it does. One ex Marine in Florida told me the Marines bought the formula but couldn't make it work and not smell nice so they never used it. Can't have sweet smelling Marines with soft skin :)
 

brentbba

Explorer
That's actually good to know. While it's rare for me to have an issue with bugs here in Southern CA, I do have a problem with blowing sand. Even on some fairly small mesh tents, I've had a lot of super fine stuff blow through screens. It's sounding like I could get actual sand through these.

This exactly - Still needing to get out for my maiden voyage - October can't come too soon! Pismo Beach will be a nightmare in a sandstorm if this is the case.
 

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