diff --git a/src/freedombone b/src/freedombone
index 0f1b785f..bafac4ab 100755
--- a/src/freedombone
+++ b/src/freedombone
@@ -1698,6 +1698,13 @@ function configure_avahi {
   echo '</service-group>' >> /etc/avahi/services/irc.service
 
   systemctl restart avahi-daemon
+
+  # this is a blatant hack, but I couldn't find a better way of mitigating the problem
+  # of avahi-daemon stopping after a few minutes
+  if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then
+      echo '2 * * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab
+  fi
+
   echo 'configure_avahi' >> $COMPLETION_FILE
 }
 
diff --git a/src/freedombone-client b/src/freedombone-client
index 164a53cd..9753d4e3 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-client
+++ b/src/freedombone-client
@@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ function mesh_babel {
   echo '    apt-get -y install avahi-utils avahi-autoipd avahi-daemon avahi-dnsconfd' >> $babel_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|#host-name=.*|host-name=$(hostname)|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $babel_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|host-name=.*|host-name=$(hostname)|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $babel_script
+  echo '    if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then' >> $babel_script
+  echo "        echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab" >> $babel_script
+  echo '    fi' >> $babel_script
   echo '    if [ -f /bin/systemctl ]; then' >> $babel_script
   echo '        systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> $babel_script
   echo '    else' >> $babel_script
@@ -195,6 +198,9 @@ function mesh_batman {
   echo '    sed -i "s|use-ipv4=.*|use-ipv4=yes|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $batman_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|use-ipv6=.*|use-ipv6=no|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $batman_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|hosts:.*|hosts:          files mdns4_minimal dns mdns4 mdns|g" /etc/nsswitch.conf' >> $batman_script
+  echo '    if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then' >> $batman_script
+  echo "        echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab" >> $batman_script
+  echo '    fi' >> $batman_script
   echo 'fi' >> $batman_script
   echo '' >> $batman_script
   echo '# Mesh definition' >> $batman_script