Date:         Fri, 3 Aug 2001 21:53:17 -0500
Reply-To:     Roy Olynick <rrh@AUTOBAHN.MB.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roy Olynick <rrh@AUTOBAHN.MB.CA>
Subject:      Homemade Sliding Door Bug Screen
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

I finally got around to a mod which I should have done fourteen years ago....a
sliding door
bug screen. Basing my design on Phaedra's home-made sliding door bug screen, I
purchased a length of No-See-Um netting (55 inches wide) at a local fabric shop.
I then sewed, well, okay, okay, my wife sewed a length of metal pull chain into
a hem
at the bottom for weight since the netting weighs practically nothing. She also
sewed a hem across the top of the netting. Through this hem, I inserted a length
of spline. For those who don't know, a spline is a length of soft, resilient
beading or cord that is most commonly used to keep household screening in
aluminium
screen or sliding patio doors. It is pushed into a channel that runs around the
perimeter of the door opening to keep the screening material taut and firmly
attached to the door. It can also be removed easily and reused if the screen
needs to be replaced. Anyway, I wanted a quick and easy way to attach the
netting without attaching the screen to the stock curtain or using metal dome
fasteners and such which require drilling into
the door pillars, etc. This spline presses easily into the track that is
normally used by the sliding door curtain. It holds the netting quite firmly,
allowing one to enter and exit the van without worry of the netting coming down.
Any gaps on either side of the netting are easily filled by pulling the netting
close to the side of the door frame and utilising three strategically placed
clothes
pins. I oversized the length of the spline to allow for it to be pinned with
clothes pins to the drip rail.

As stated above, the weight of the chain sewn into the bottom hem of the netting
keeps the netting from moving in the breeze. Based upon Phaedra's suggestion for
length, I hung the netting such that it hangs about an inch or two below the
floor of the van but not too low where it might catch a breeze blowing under the
vehicle.  I tested it over the past four days in Black Lake (Nopiming Provincial
Park) here in Manitoba, mosquito capitol of Canada, (maybe the world).  It
passed with flying colours. Nary a mosquito or black fly got in. Having the
sliding door open all day with the netting barrier was such a joy!  Entering the
van for the multitude of little things a vanagonite forgets to bring into the
dining tent was a pleasure and the continuous opening and slamming of the
sliding door was non-existent! Also, the van was cooler, the beer was tastier,
the sunsets more romantic...maybe I'm stretching things a bit, especially with
the last two.  ;>)

Cost: about $12 CND (more or less)

Thanks to Phaedra for passing along her original design, thus providing the
impetus for me to finally get the thing done!

Roy Olynick
'87 Westfalia GL
(till death do us part)
'91 Honda Civic SE
'01 Honda Civic LX