SMELL is killing me! What to do?

[a64pilot]

Seems link is broken, try this one
https://www.concrobium.com/products/mold-control-spray/

You can buy it at Lowes’ Home Depot or of course Amazon.
Foggers can be rented at rental places, In your case since it’s so bad, I think I would fog the boat getting the Concorbian everywhere, it doesn’t hurt any surfaces that I have found, we Wintered in our boat once, and fought mold until we found this stuff.

[Island Time O25]

Years ago a plumber cautoned me against using mice and rat poison in the house. He was saying that they choose the funkiest and most inaccesible nooks do die at, especially behind the walls. Leaving the place to smell for a long time.

Could there be yet undiscovered such rodent or two somewhere in the most inaccessible and dark nook?

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Seems link is broken, try this one
https://www.concrobium.com/products/mold-control-spray/

Thanks, seems like a good product to have on hand.

I got a kick out of all the little icons showing what it can be used for. Still scratching my head over this one though:



My best guess: Person "under the table" drunk and vomiting?

[a64pilot]

Maybe confined spaces?

This stuff isn’t an odor control, it has no odor at all that I can smell.
All it will do is get rid of the mold, it won’t bleach out the mold, if there are mold stains they stay, but it and the spores will be dead.

[George DuBose]

I rely on good ol' Lysol. Either the spray can or the concentrate.

I use the concentrate mixed with water and spray all unreachable spaces with a pressure washer every spring.

When I see mildew growing on specific electric cables, my Raymarine radar cable for one, I spray with the Lysol in the spray can. This spray seems to have no effect on electrical connections AS LONG AS THE CIRCUIT IS OFF.

[petro0819]

Originally Posted by flee27

I have had great luck with ozone generators to get rid of smells if they are organic in nature. We have a small unit that gets used lots.

Foster

THIS!! Like everyone says, you need to try and figure out the source or it'll just come back. But once done, ozone generators are the way to go. If you don't want to buy a small unit like Foster did, you can rent them. A lot of places that do smoke/water damage repair will rent them out. You can also buy "ozone bombs" and let one off in the boat, some car detailers do this.

We bought a house a few years ago where the old owner smoked like a chimney. The inside smelled disgusting. My son couldn't last more than 15 min when we did a walkthrough without getting a headache. We bought the house, washed down all the walls, windows, etc. with vinegar solution to get the nicotine off, then called in an ozone machine. Guy ran it in the house (about 2800 sq ft) for almost 12 hours, but when he was done, you'd swear no one had ever smoked a single cigarette in there ever, place smelled awesome.

[NSboatman]

...so- what was it?!!

[mcon12000]

Some words of encouragement this is solvable. I'm in the middle of eliminating the many odors in my forty year old boat and making progress. I did all the obvious first steps involving wiping everything down and cleaning up the bilge. After this super clean she looked great but still smelt terrible. On to the sanitation hoses and you will be amazed by the boat filling stench emitting from just one foot of 1.5" sanitation hose under a sink.

I'm making progress on replacing every hose in the boat I highly recommend you do the same. Decided on the white plastic shields hose since the hose itself didn't have an odor where as the black shields hose had a smell that reminded me of what I was trying to eliminate. In my case the sanitation hose replacement cost is under $500 and worth every penny. Next all the fuel lines and raw water hose's all are very inexpensive and worth the effort from a safety perspective regardless of the odor issue.

[gulfislandfred]

If the cushions still stink in the garage, take the cushions off, air the boat out, and see if that helps. The plastic on the cushions can get an old plastic smell (rain gear, float coats, and life jackets get it, too)


Where I live, there's a generic version of Febreeze that's quite inexpensive. I don't like the perfume in Febreeze, but it's approved for pet beds, so maybe not too toxic. I have truly killed dog and mold smell in cars and boats (I buy 'em and flip 'em) with Febreeze for years. spray heavily, close it up for a day or two, then air it out.

[nesscapade]

We had a similar problem. The source was the old head hoses and a bilge diesel spill long in the past. Both were dealt with but we could never get the smell out of the cushions or any other cloth material on the boat. Until we changed the cushions, the mattresses, mattress covers, linens, towels etc. the boat still smelled. Once we fixed the sources we also had to replace all the cushions and mattresses etc. she smells brand new.

[Jimmyhenry]

To get rid of the smell try Earthcare odour removal Bags. It won’t find the source but get rid of the smell. We keep one on our Lectrasan toilet treatment. Has been great. No smell.

[barnakiel]

Socks maybe?


b.

[FWS]

Although I am not sure if it would account for making things smell that bad, but a battery going bad and gassing will give you a headache and make you feel ill. I never heard of it happening to anyone else and never researched it but from what I remember it was a metallic smell that got worse over time until I discovered what it was.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by FWS

Although I am not sure if it would account for making things smell that bad, but a battery going bad and gassing will give you a headache and make you feel ill. I never heard of it happening to anyone else and never researched it but from what I remember it was a metallic smell that got worse over time until I discovered what it was.

You must not have had a co detector onboard. When my starboard battery bank went bad it kept sounding the monoxide alarm. It apparently did not discriminate between hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules.

[KatrinaCampbell]

We bought a boat recently and had a terribly foul smell on board. Eventually realised it was the batteries boiling!