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Old 09-15-2012, 06:53 PM   #1
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Us against the bugs!

This topic is for the new RV owners who may be unaware.

Down here in the southern US, the wasps and mud daubers will find a way to nest in your trailer vents. Unless you travel every few days, they will find you and cause problems! To the point that your furnace, hot water heater, and refrigerator will no longer work. Today I put a halt to this on my new 5.0 with stainless steel screen material. You can purchase RV trailer products to help you with this issue or take the time as I did with screen to do this preventive mod.

See you out there some place /sometime.
David
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Old 09-17-2012, 08:28 AM   #2
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Re: Us against the bugs!

Good point Dave and applicable to those of us in the Midwest too. The furnace is especially susceptible to wasps that make mud nests. If they plug up the exhaust the furnace will detect the blockage and refuse to work. When our 17 is going to be stored for any time I cover the entire inlet/outlet of the furnace with painters tape that peels off easily and leaves no residue. Another problem, at least here in agricultural Wisconsin are Asian Lady Beetles and Box Elder bugs that swarm in and look for wintering shelter. They can come in huge numbers and LOVE light colored items like Escapes. We use http://www.buggslayer.com every year to keep them out of our house and the shed we keep Blue in or we would have a trailer full of them. It is stainless and can be used on trailers too.
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Old 09-17-2012, 08:49 AM   #3
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Re: Us against the bugs!

I agree whole-heartedly. This part of Tennessee is loaded with mud-daubers, etc. On both our old Casita and our 5.0, I've applied SS screen wire to the backs of all the vents, and used a SS cover for the furnace vent. I went so far on the Casita as to hang pieces of that yellow anti-fly-guy plastic-y stuff (obviously, I don't remember the technical term for it) inside the water-heater area.

I frequently find both paper-wasp and mud-dauber nests inside the frame holding the king-pin.

Dave
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Old 06-29-2016, 05:00 PM   #4
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Watch out for these!

Another spot to be aware of is the roof mounted air conditioner. "Luckily," I decided to wash the roof before heading out on Friday. The trailer is stored off site and I brought it home to clean & wax and take care of any other maintenance needed. The first picture is the air conditioner after taking off the cover. The second picture is of another RV that is stored at the same place as mine.
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Old 06-29-2016, 05:57 PM   #5
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Wow, some big bees nests there....
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Old 06-29-2016, 06:15 PM   #6
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Yellow Jackets. Hate em.


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Old 06-29-2016, 06:30 PM   #7
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I'm sure they perform some good service somehow.
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Old 06-29-2016, 06:42 PM   #8
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Us against the bugs!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
I'm sure they perform some good service somehow.

Yeah, except I don't know what, other than they're fun to kill. Now bees on the other hand are amazing. I'd never destroy a beehive - unless it's the "Africanized" variety sometimes seen in these parts. We had a huge beehive on the side of a vacant house once. We called a beekeeper and he came and relocated the hive - free of charge.


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Old 06-29-2016, 06:51 PM   #9
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That would be enough to make me fall off the ladder.
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Old 06-29-2016, 06:59 PM   #10
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The food demands of growing yellow jacket colonies are so great that it has been estimated that more than 2 pounds of insects may be removed from a 2,000-square-foot garden by yellow jackets.

Not sure how many of those are mosquitoes.
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Old 06-29-2016, 07:00 PM   #11
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Yes, they are known as a beneficial pest.....
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Old 06-29-2016, 08:49 PM   #12
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Looks like a bald faced hornet nest to me. Those guys are unionized with 100% enrollment. Mess with one and you got them all. I had a nest collection at one time and still shoot one out of a tree in the late fall once in a while. I cut the branch off with the .22 rifle. Yes I am that good. Nature centers love to get them less the hornets. The old Coleman white gas lanterns were famous for moth webs up inside the generator cover tube. Bought a lot of them at
garage sales that " just quit working"'
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