There’s nothing worse than opening a food storage locker to find it infested with bugs, particularly cockroaches. Ugh! Bugs aboard can be a real problem, whether you're cruising in the tropics or weekending in the temperate latitudes. Here are some simple precautions you can take to prevent the little critters from getting aboard in the first place.
Screens are the first line of defense and will keep mosquitoes, flies, wasps and other common flying bugs out of the boat’s interior. Oceanair makes the best retro-fittable screens (www.oceanair-marine.com) or you can make simple frame screens that will fit hatch and porthole openings. Lewmar and other companies have screens that can be adapted to their products (www.lewmar.com). In the tropics, burn mosquito coils on deck to keep the flying menaces (that carry Malaria and Dengue Fever) away.
Crawling bugs are more of a problem. They live and lay their eggs in corrugated cardboard cartons, so avoid carrying groceries aboard in containers other than those you bring to the store yourself. Even cardboard beer and soft drink cartons should be left left on the dock as the cans and bottles are stored aboard.
Finally, be careful of fruit and produce bought at famer’s markets or the open air markets in third world countries. Cabbages, lettuce and other leafy items are often home to larvae that can and will hatch at some point, so make sure you inspect and wash the produce before storing it aboard. Bananas and other fruit, particularly if bought on the stalk, can deliver to your boat such fruit gourmets as scorpions and tarantulas hidden deep within the bunches.
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