Sailboat smells

[Irene Olds]

Love my old Tayana 37.....but, the smell.The "scent" is a cross between water and mold.
Any suggestions??


Blue skies....Irene

[Sam Plan B]

That is why God invented port holes.

[karenmccraw]

Just something easy to check out:

Our boat had a smell....not exactly sewage...just a smell that wasn't particularly pleasant. The solution turned out to be replacing the hold head discharge lines. Not a fun job but did the trick! A test would be to rub a wet rag vigorously around some of the exposed sanitation hose. If you take the wet rag away and it smells...time to replace.

[Ocean Girl]

Scrub and paint bilge and compartments. Seek out any pooled water or even saturated/damp wood somewhere.. A dehumidifier works miracles! We have a stainless steel one that is the size of a 5gallon cooler and was 375.00 new. But technology has come a long way, you an find a compact dehumidifier for 50-80 dollars now.

[DRS]

Try flushing the bilges with white vinegar and washing down as many other surfaces as you can. The vinegar will wipe out most smells and can be dumped overboard. The only draw back is a craving for french fries for a day.

[zeehag]

after the vinegar cleansing, a good way to treat the wood is orange oil. smells awesome.

[MarkJ]

I bleach the stuffing out of the boat. Bleach kills mould and bacteria, fungus and damn well everything... and if there has been head seepage or any other sort of organic seepage the bleach will kill the E. Coli too

[Mike Vogdes]

So what does water smell like?

Most times boat skank is head related or dirty bilge. If its out of control it will permeate all the fabric, carpet and upholstery. Sometimes the fix is to completely empty the boat and wash down everything, and thoroughly clean the bilge, I spray vinegar in the hard to reach places inside the hull that can't be wiped down. Steam clean the upholstery with a carpet cleaner and wash or replace curtains. Can be a big job

[pbiJim]

I've had very good luck with these little gizmos - Ozone Generators

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by pbiJim

I've had very good luck with these little gizmos - Ozone Generators

We lived onboard for 16 yearsand my wife suffers from sever allergies. We had an ozone generator that we ran whenever we were not onboard. No mold, no smells ever..... well there was that night the dog got into the chili.

[sartorst]

I,am with Mark J, bleach/water mix in a pump up sprayer cant reach places you can see or touch rinse well and be careful where it goes!

[GeneSizemore]

Thats one of those things where I would start at the bow, and work my way to thestern. I would open every compartment and empty out each hold. Clean, paint, restain, just do a full refit from bow to stern.

I recently had to do this on my boat when she sank in the slip. My vigilance has paid off. She smells brand new below, and has for about 4 months now even baking in the heat. It does not sound fun, but so worth it in the end.

Good luck to you!
Gene

[bcboomer]

I had the "funky" smell from a poorly designed and never maintained holding tank system.
Spraying with a 20% bleach solution and rinsing with white vinegar completely cured it. Now I'm waiting for some PureAyre, as advised by Peggy Hall, to get rid of residual odors in the upholstery.

Neil

[Steve Bean]

Good advice above. Also, I like to keep the head door open except when it's in use. Provides the best ventilation. If there's a source of odor in the head , get rid of it; don't lock it in there.

[daryndalton]

I agree with all the above but would start at checking sanitation hoses that may have lost their ability to be non permeable. Then I would do the bow to stern cleaning and sanitizing followed by a regular sloshing of a mild solution of "fabuloso" in the bildges, moping it around and wet vac it out.