DIY Frame for Mosquito Netting

The Background

So, my son is scheduled to go to Pipsico Scout Reservation next week. As part of his first ever Scout adventure, he’ll be staying in two person pre-pitched tents. Given that it’s summer in Virginia, I have only one word – bugs. Bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Naturally, he needs some sort of protection while he’s sleeping, but I’ve been told there aren’t any tie-downs for a mosquito net in the tent. So I decided to build up a quick PVC pipe from for his netting.

Supplies

You’ll need .5″ PVC pipe, three way joints, and couplers. I shopped at Home Depot. Below are the items:

I bought a bulk pack of the couplers, but if you buy individually, you’ll need at least:

  • 8 side outlet elbows
  • 16 couplers
  • 8 14″ pieces of PVC
  • 20 24″ pieces of PVC

With the 8 14″ pieces of PVC, you’ll need to arrange them like so:

Of the 8, 4 will have side outlets only, and 4 will have side outlets and couplers. You’ll need to arrange your 20 24″ pieces like so:

Of the 20 24″ pieces, 12 will have couplers and 8 will have nothing.

To set up the frame, start from the bottom. You’ll need 4 of your 14″ pieces and 6 of your 24″ pieces, like so:

This will form the base of your frame. Once you have this base pieced together, build the uprights with 4 of your 24″ pieces:

Finally, repeat your base, except on top:

From here, you can simply lay your mosquito netting over the frame. This is built for a Coghlan’s single wide mosquito netting, which you can get on Amazon for around $15. It should fit a standard military fold out cot inside it. If you were to have a normal cot with straight legs, you could simply lash the uprights to the cot legs, top them off with a cap to minimize wear on your net (like the ones below), and use it that way.

Conclusion

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