The bane of my hiking and camping existence.
Honestly ? This time of year I just stop hiking and camping. I don't have the patience for it, I would much rather camp in the spring, autumn after the first frost, and in the winter, even the dead of winter is better than bug season. I have tried all kinds of remedies, I have tried sleeping under mosquito net, I have tried candles, fires, sprays, you name it, actually I never gave sprays much of a chance because I don't want chemicals all over me, I understand they really do work.
Mosquito nets do work but of course you aren't going to wear those when you are active. I would think on a boat that a bimini would be your best bet, one that has netting to keep the bugs out.
The one good thing about where I live is that it is mostly mosquitoes, I would be very unhappy if I had to deal with black flies and some of the insects that other people have to deal with, at least we don't have scorpions here!
I did forget to mention one thing that does help, if you have a mosquito net hat, that really does help. I don't know about most people but the mosquitoes don't bother me that much so long as they aren't in my face, buzzing directly in my ear, on the back of my neck, and in general just around my head, they really don't bother me as much if they bite me on the legs or something.