Challenge: The Black Death.

[easterly]

You return to your boat after an extended stay on, dare I say "dry land", upon your return you find mold and mildew throughout your boat. How do you combat it? What will kill it? What will keep it from coming back? I'm only asking because I can't find the threads after a search

[David M]

The air needs to be kept above its dew point so that you do not have condensation. A small heater like Golden Rods works for me.

[Caribsailors]

or dehumidifier

[Ex-Calif]

Here is a search result for the forum with a few threads on mold and mildew.

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0145517...&q=mildew+mold

Good luck!

[easterly]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Here is a search result for the forum with a few threads on mold and mildew.

mildew mold - Google Search

Good luck!

Thanks the thread I was looking for was the 4th or 5th one down on the Google seach link. Mold killer. I had typed in mold mildew, mold mildew cleaner, and a bunch of others, but I didn't type mold killer. The searches all gave me 12+ pages to look through and it wasn't on the first 3 pages of any of them.

To kill it, a spray bottle with bleach is the answer. Do not wipe the bleach dry, but rather let it sit on wet. This will kill the mold. Cleanup after the fact can be done with more bleach. For cushions, and other cloth items can sometimes be cleaned with a color safe bleach diluted with water. test a small area that will not be visible if bleached.
Making sure the air circulates is a must to prevent mold. The golden rod heaters are a very good solution if you have AC to stay plugged into.

[Therapy]

Dehumidifier and ozone generator after initial clean up if I remember correctly.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tors-4635.html

Sullivan had some sort of Borax cocktail he says works.


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ller-6446.html

There may be more............

[Roy M]

Mildew needs moisture to grow. If it doesn't get it, it will either die or protect itself in a tough coating as a spore. Air holds moisture in the ideal form for mildew. The spores are in the air, in your clothing, on the cabin wall, everywhere. The chemical solutions proposed so far merely make the mildew unhappy with its location, or kill them outright (in places, leaving some spores to reinfect later). To keep mildew from blossoming into mature little living thingies, you have to shut off their water supply. The calcium chloride kits only pull some of it out of the humid air (and store it as a pool of water in their cute little cups). You have to get rid of the moisture.

Fresh air, lots and lots of it, flowing freely and quickly through the boat, under the mattresses, inside the drawers, under the sole in the bilge, tends to dry out whatever it runs into (unless it is horizontal rain). Actively pump in air on the windward side of the boat using solar fans, dorades with fans, wind scoops, whatever. Open those linen cabinet doors (or better, replace them with caned fronts or lots of holes), don't pack the hanging locker so full, open the bilge. Don't let stagnant air accumulate. Goldenrods or electric lamps just heat up the air, allowing it to hold more moisture. You've got to vent air in and pump it out to dry out the mildew and get it to return to its spore form. Sure, you can clean with bleach, but you're not going to get all the spores. They are tenacious life forms. Dry out the head, the anchor locker, and especially, the sail locker. Be merciless. Get the air moving all the time, even in winter.

[stevensc]

I had a dehumidifier and ozone generator in my trawler for 4 years and never had a problem with mold here in the high humidity and heat of So. Louisiana.
I have 120V electric power. If I had to chose one or the other I would use the dehumidifier.
Steve

[Bill_E]

We've used a combination of small fans (strategically located) and calcium chloride drying buckets with pretty good success.

From my past experience...an ozone generator should work, if it generates enough ozone. You can't get rid of all mold spores. All you can do is keep them from blooming. Ozone should really help there. And dryness!!

[Morgan Paul]

Sullivan had some sort of Borax cocktail he says works.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...52&postcount=4

Capt. Sully has the cure.

[S/V Antares]

This is a tough one. Boats can be very closed up for long times. I was concerned about mold as I bought a boat that had sunk. Only for a few hours but compleatly none the less and it was several months before I had title. The " Blob" had begun to grow. The real issue was getting all the paper products, packaging, and any crap in the many lockers. If you have a real mould issue you simply must remove everything from the boat. Cushions, curtins, all books, and empty every compartment Clean all items removed. Dry clean the cusions if you can find someone that will. (At least the covers) Then clean everything with an aggressive solution. (I used Lemon Pine Sol with a bit of clorox) and scrub every surface. I had a collection of long handled brushes to get into every crevice. A hose and a sump pump is handy if you are on the hard.

It is a stunnibg amount of work but having a "Sweet" boat is worth the trouble.

[Colorado Dreamer]

We used to have a minor mold problem, but after cleaning it up over and over with bleach, we finally installed two of those solar powered vent fans. Not sure the science behind it, but the mold has not come back.

[perchance]

My wife is the queen of bleach. She can smell mold and mildew better than a drug sniffing dog can smell coke. She refused to go sailing with me until the last trace of mold was found and dispatched with the dreaded javex. She also goes crazy with the bounce sheets. What's wrong with a little nautical odor I say. " The bigger the boat the smaller the waves"

[bruce in oz]

3months ago i repainted my cabin and added an 'antifungus additive no1' 49g/L octhilinone to the paint. 2months ago the dry season finished, the monsoon came down on monday, today i'm cleaning mold off the new paintwork, bleach works, vinegar smells better, but i'm thinking of hiring a cleaner to do it for me, its a bggr of a job and the wet season has 5months to go.....

oh by the way i have 4 fans in the cabin, 2 are always running to keep the air circulating, i have covers over the hatches to keep the rain out but let any breeze in, now it 79%humidity 28C at 2030hrs