Keeping bugs out of 4Runner at camp

[benhalleniii]

Hey guys. I camp a lot with the family in the 4Runner. We’re old school and actually pitch a tent on the ground still. When I’m cooking at camp I usually have the rear hatch open to get access to the fridge and kitchen gear. By the end of the night the 4Runner is full of flies and mosquitos who then lie in wait for us in the morning.

Any creative solutions to this problem? I thought about getting fly paper to hang up when cooking but that’s kind of gnarly. Or a bug zapper but thought I’d post here to see if anyone’s run into this problem and has an interesting solution.

Cheers.

Ben Allen
Atlanta


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lulajean]

Dynatrap

If you can figure out a way to power it up, Dynatraps really work. I got mine at Costco and I bow to the simplicity of the vacuum system. No chemicals or mess. Check them out at DynaTrap 3-Way Insect Control | DynaTrap Mosquito & Insect Trap. Happy camping!

 

[Dinosaur Overland]

Try running a fan in the vehicle and make sure there are no lights on inside it.

 

[flyrv9]

Since you have power back there for your fridge - try one of those bug zapper lights. They use a UV light to attract the bugs and then zap em! I got one for grilling and it works ok except some of the bugs are too big to go through the holes in the sides and bounce off. But for mosquitoes and such it should work great.

 

[bcbud]

We have used a Tail Veil for two summers, works well.

 

[4Runner&Airstream]

What about some screen. We used to have a pop up tent trailer and the screens got holes in them so we purchased a roll of screen to replace the old ones. You could cut a piece to fit and just hang it off the top of the hatch and lift the bottom periodically for access. It’s not perfect but would help considerably. You could even do a Velcro job to hold certain points in place.

 

[Mudhorn]

Keeping the lights off helps. I also place some half empty water bottles during the day by the door (similar to hanging up plastic bags w/water in them) to keep the flies out. ArcLight LED red lights at night if you need to turn on a light.
Always worked for us, minimal bugs inside. Then just drive out with the windows down a couple miles to get the ones that snuck in out.

 

[bring_it_on]

We’re old school and actually pitch a tent on the ground still.

Unless you are camping in bad weather most of the time or putting in an insane number of nights in a year a ground-tent is usually easier to dial down both in terms of a budget and comfort. We have a toddler and made the decision to not go for a RTT for quite a while. I have an Exped and it is way better than any RTT mattress (to a point that many RTT owners are swapping the matress that came with the $4K tent for it). Had we not done this, I would have been here on the forum complaining how I blew a couple of grand (or more) on an RTT with a 2 or 2.5 inch matress

Regarding your bug issue, I'd suggest finding some other way to set up your kitchen or alternatively find a way to get all them out fast in the morning instead of trying to keeping them from coming in (which is going to be hard unless you go easy on lighting). We don't yet have a fridge, but when we do get one, we'd probably still continue to cook a little bit away from the rear area using our alps mountaineering table just to keep things closed up. Perhaps try using compressed air or something like that in the morning to get them out faster.