Bugs and tarp shelter?

First off, please forgive me if this has been covered, I did a search on this board and came up empty!

I live in Louisiana and only average a few days per year of mosquito free weather. If you have never overnighted in this part of the country, the bugs around here can be tough, even when covered in bug juice!
I have been toying with the idea of sewing one half of a plastic/nylon zipper around the peremimeter of a silnylon tarp and the other half to a bug net. I almost always set my tarp in an "A-frame" style setup and would cut the net so that it would be long enough to lay my floor tarp on top of it after setting up the roof. The netting and zipper would only add about 8 or 9 ounces to my pack!

Does this sound like an idea that would work, or am I just wizzing into the wind?

Something like A Nightwing shelter comes to mind...
You can download instructions, or adapt the idea to your own tarp.

Henry Shires got there a long time ago. His whole business is designing tarps with netting sewn onto them. He gives away the pattern for his original homemade tarptent on his site.

http://www.tarptent.com/projects/tarpdesign.html

Also, on this very website:
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/jones-tent/index.html

Also, on Quest Outfitters, one of many good sources of fabric and netting:
http://www.questoutfitters.com/patterns-tent,sleeping%20bag-cart.htm#Tent/Sleeping%20Bag%20Patterns

Seattle Fabrics has a bilgy pattern:

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/bilgy.html

some premade options from backcountrygear.com at left in sidebar:
http://www.backcountrygear.com/tent/Bug_Netting.cfm

some light examples of net tents designed to go with the SMD tarptents but could be used with a tarp:
http://sixmoondesigns.com/nettents.html

Lots to study and possibly replicate. Quest, OWFINC or Seattle Fabrics all have noseeum netting to keep out the buggies smaller than skeeters.

Wow, thanks!! I thought it might be a somewhat original idea, guess I was wrong again

You caught me after I completed some ambitious googling to answer a similar question of mine... I ended up getting two yards of nanoseeum and making a half-net-tent with a drawcord to close around my quilt, enclosing my head/shoulders/torso adequately so I can roll/move without my head bumping the mesh. For those tarp-only overnights when I *might* need netting.

Go to www.questoutfitters.com They have some othe tarp tent ideas and supplies as well. Also I beleive www.thruhiker.com Has very reasonable Tarptent kits?

Thanks for all your advice! I think I have enough to get me going now!

You can also look at Ray Jardine's site. You can buy his kits, or just look at his pictures and design your own. I think I like Henry's designs better, but Ray gives another perspective.

I have heard a lot about Ray Jardine's website. Looks great and have only heard great things. I have plans of purchasing their quilt kit and tarp kit soon, but being a broke college student prevents me from that atm lol. Someday.

Whats great about that site is they give you all the fabric and you, or someone you know with confident sewing skills, sews it together which = huge savings for you.

I've used a shaped tarp (Jardine style) with perimeter bug net for several years - 210 to 240 total trail days. Works fine and you really don't need a pattern or kit. Just look at some pix and do it.

--- that's really useful~ thanks~