Insect Screen for sliding door ?

Has anyone bought an insect Screen for sliding door to fit a Kingham or other AS Boxer derivative ? 

If not what’s to be done ?

Have you tried the magnetic ones you can buy from Amazon? 

Nora

For our Kingham, we bought a suitable size of no-see-um mesh and a few magnets. Sew the magnets in appropriate places around the edge of the mesh and tidy up the hems with wonda-web.  

All in, I think it cost about £30 and a few hours effort.

It lives in the pocket in the back of the passenger seat when not being used.

Hinderman do one


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But I've read somewhere that a curtain was made with a voile panel attached to the curtain track above the door (don't know if all vans have that but our Sussex does) with the same curtain hooks as originally on it. When not required it can be slid forward and held by the front cab curtain tabs (unless you have concertina blinds).

Weegie wrote:For our Kingham, we bought a suitable size of no-see-um mesh and a few magnets. Sew the magnets in appropriate places around the edge of the mesh and tidy up the hems with wonda-web.  

All in, I think it cost about £30 and a few hours effort.

It lives in the pocket in the back of the passenger seat when not being used.

If it works, I'll give you £29.99 for it, considering it's second hand now 

I'm actually collecting my girlfriend from Glasgow in a couple of weeks, before heading up to Arisaig, so can collect on the way through 

On a more serious note, I like the idea, so does it actually work, is it wind resistant and how much of a faff is it to pull aside to get in and out, without letting the wee beasties in ?

It does work! We're actually really pleased with it.

I think there's something like fifteen penny sized magnets spread around the edge. It's easy enough to detach from the lower B pillar for entry and exit and the magnets own weight generally drags the mesh back in to position and the magnets grip again.

We cut it big enough that it's not tight across the gap so there's a bit of give to cope with any wind gusts. My impression is that, like the windblockers for an awning, it actually stops a fair bit of wind blowing in through the door.

The Dometic FT200 mesh screen featured in this thread from April looked promising, until Auto-Sleeper said it wouldn't fit because of clearance needed behind the furniture in the door opening.

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Weegie wrote:It does work! We're actually really pleased with it.

I think there's something like fifteen penny sized magnets spread around the edge. It's easy enough to detach the magnets on the B pillar for entry and exit then their own weight generally drags the mesh back in to position and the magnets grip again.

We cut it big enough that it's not tight across the gap so there's a bit of give to cope with any wind gusts. My impression is that, like the windblockers for an awning, it actually stops a fair bit of wind blowing in through the door.

Thank you 

I had a conversation earlier this year at the Scottish Show with a guy from Auto-Sleepers about an insect screen, having seen a sliding screen fitted on another manufacturers' PVC. His response was that there was no demand for it (I can only assume no-one but us takes an A/S PVC to the West of Scotland in the summer!) 

He also suggested that customers wouldn't like to lose the inch or so of space they'd need behind the kitchen units in order to fit one.

Weegie wrote:For our Kingham, we bought a suitable size of no-see-um mesh and a few magnets. Sew the magnets in appropriate places around the edge of the mesh and tidy up the hems with wonda-web.  

All in, I think it cost about £30 and a few hours effort.

It lives in the pocket in the back of the passenger seat when not being used.

Could we trouble you for a photo?

Of course.

I'll be at the van tomorrow, so, I'll take some piccies then and post them up.

Thanks

Weegie wrote:I had a conversation earlier this year at the Scottish Show with a guy from Auto-Sleepers about an insect screen, having seen a sliding screen fitted on another manufacturers' PVC. His response was that there was no demand for it (I can only assume no-one but us takes an A/S PVC to the West of Scotland in the summer!) 

He also suggested that customers wouldn't like to lose the inch or so of space they'd need behind the kitchen units in order to fit one.

No demand for it ?  Ha !!   Perhaps that's because they don't ask 

I'd have happily lost an inch of floor space to accommodate a bespoke system, as it is, my 3 trips to the West of Scotland so far this year, including Skye and Arisaig, have seen me burn through inordinate amounts of Citronela candles and incense sticks, as well as plastering myself in Smidge and having to keep the side door closed most evenings.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm back up there in a couple of weeks and have bought a mozzie net to fit over my Tilley hat and I'm thinking of devising a straw set up, so that I can sit out and watch the sunset with a glass of Jura and not get eaten alive 

Apologies folks, I didn't get a chance over the weekend to take the promised photos. As I'm not sure when I'll now be able to take them, I thought I'd post links meantime.

We bought two metres of this (in white).

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And a pack of twenty of these magnets.

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When you've cut the mesh to the desired size, allowing for a hem, offer the mesh up to the doorway and mark where you want place the magnets. Ours are place, more or less, evenly around the four sides. The only exception is the top left corner (looking in from outside). Here we placed two magnets side by side to give a bit more grip when the mesh is being removed from the B-Pillar for access - seems to work well.

Sew in the magnets (make sure they're the right way around!) and wonda-web the hem to tidy it up.

Apologies for the delay in providing photos.

Two photos showing screen in place over the door.





Close up of the magnets in place



The screen folded for storage

Thanks. Will add it to my future jobs to be done list.

Thanks for the pics Weegie.

Great idea and so simple.

We made something similar but with velcro. Your idea of the magnets is genius, why oh why din't I think of that!

One problem we encountered was how to close the door and remove the net for the night. If you remove the net first the swarm enters the van. You can slide the door shut first but you still end up with a mini-swarmtrapped between the door and the net, now on the inside of the van.

I have a net curtain which I hang on a net curtain rod.
There is just enough room between the kitchen unit and the door.
I take the curtain and  rod down and stow it in the over cab space.
You dont tend to get midgies when its windy so havent needed to hold it down but I think I will add some magnets to the side and bottom tho to stop it blowing.

Using the links kindly provided by Weegie, I bought a couple of metres of fine black mesh and a pack of magnets last week. I went for stronger magnets, which was fun, but now they’re in their own pockets, they hold on to the van lovely and still release easily.

My OH did the sewing on her machine and even added a strip of rather bohemian gold & mocha coloured top hem, which matches the gold Kingham with mocha furniture perfectly. 
The top hem wasn’t absolutely necessary, but makes fitting the right way round a bit easier. The side magnets are not equally spaced due to each side having different catches and obstructions, so there is a ‘left’ and a ‘right’.

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Great job, looks ideal 

good  and easy

At the NEC show yesterday and various manufacturers are fitting insect screens as standard on van conversions - notably Adria but also (of course) Hymer. I was told that Globecar screens can be dealer fitted to the Autosleeper Peugeot range. Also, “soft stop” can be fitted to the sliding door to hold the door in the mid-closed position.

Does anybody have experience of either of these? We are considering buying a Symbol Plus.

I looked at the insect screens on sliding door apertures in several van conversions at the Düsseldorf show recently.  Their feasibility depends on whether there is adequate clearance between the rubber door seal and any adjacent cabinets or seating.  For example the Dometic FlyTec FT200 (other solutions are available) requires a gap of 40mm between the inside edge of the door seal and any furniture or other fixtures anywhere within the door aperture.

For the Symbol Plus it will be the position of the rear single seat and/or any cabinetry above the door aperture that will determine the outcome.  You could ask AS if it can be achieved when you come to order your van.

Tim