Skeeters biting through hammocks!

I've been a hammocker for 15+ year and have never had this happen before. My wife and I were camping near Caddo Lake (big natural cypress swamp) last week. During the day and evening, the skeeters weren't particularly active....but...
Upon waking, we were both covered with no-see-um and skeeter bites from head to toe...the little suckers were biting through the bottom of our Hennesseys!
The second night, we slathered on DEET gravy and the bites stopped, all but a few.

My question to other hammockers in skeeter land is, how do you deal with bite-throughs? Here in hot Texas, we don't use back pads in the hammocks in summer and T-shirts are the sleepwear.
I'm wondering if there is a bug treatment for nylon (the hammock itself) that won't cause it to rot or weaken. I don't like sleeping in bug repellent unless absolutely necessary, since it goes on all day to ward off ticks and chiggers.

Are the skeeters, like everything else (or so I've been told), just bigger in Texas?

I would treat the hammock underside with permethrine. Sawyer says it is just as effective on a hammock as on clothing.

You'll have to reapply it each season more than likely (it wears off over time and the process accelerates with sunlight). But it should give you plenty of relief in the meantime.

I too would use permethrin. DEET will damage synthetic fabrics. One permethrin spray will probably last a season.

Which reminds me that I need to set up my tent and spray the netting before next week's trip!

Note, however, that permethrin is ineffective against biting flies. For that matter, so is DEET. Maybe a suit of armor?

Thanks everyone. I've never used permethrin and always though it would be an "after getting bit" chemical. I didn't know it was a repellant as well.
Once dry, does the hammock smell like grandma's closet?

Another option is a bug net that covers the bottom, like an ENO or something similar.

I'm sorry dryer - I'm definately a hammocker in skeeter land - but the thought of sleeping anywhere where there's so little under your butt that they bite through it is just mystifying to me... It's really that warm in places? ;-)

(yeah yeah, now let me rig up my dogsled to go back to my igloo..)

Uh, yes, it's that hot. In fact, eliminating the hammock cloth and tying suspension lines around wrists and ankles would allow for a less sweaty nights sleep.

+1 for the ENO bug net or jump over on HF.N (hammockforum.net)and do a search in their DYI section. I recall seeing something over there that looked pretty good and easy. I think they used two of those Coghlan bug nets that fit over a cot - big rectangular box shape thing.
We had the same problem when we went there. My son got eaten up but I did okay in my double layer Claytor.

Now, for camping in East Texas during the summer.....silly man.

115F heat index today. Our temp last night at 10pm was 94F. Heat index at 6am this morning was around 80F. So yes, forgoing the fabric is not a bad idea. I won't be going out til late September.

You guys up in the PWN, go take a hike for us - in the cool temps.

Tango61

This time of year in the southeast, unless I sleep in a creek valley where a little cold air can collect, I usually sleep with no undedrinsulation on my hammock. However, my Warbonnet is a double layer hammock, so no skeeters have manged to bite through it... yet.

Yeah, last summer I decided to go visit my parents in Everett WA. The summer was getting hot here in Utah, and we didn't have AC at the time. The welcome relief of cooler weather in Washington was something we were looking forward to. Unfortunately, the one week we were there, they had a record heat wave with over 100F days. No one has AC. Go figure it had to be the week I went there. The very next week the temps were back in the 70's.

Ah, yes, I remember that hot spell last summer! I ended up going to my son's place on the Washington Coast to cool off. Most hot spells here break after 2-3 days, but this one kept going and going. After 3 nights my house didn't cool down enough at night to make it bearable during the day!

I was preparing for a big trip and took the stuff to the coast with me. I got about 10 times as much done at the coast as at home in the hot house!