Smelly galley sink

[dmksails]

There's a nasty smell coming from my galley sink drains. I've flush a lot of hot water, plus water/soap - still smells. Right now I'm leaving the sinks with an inch of water in them to stop the smell.

Any suggestions?

[Cheechako]

I think food debris and oil from washing pots and pans etc floats at sea level in the hose/fittings and doesnt go out of the thru hull. Yeah, it can be a bit smelly. You could install a diaphragm bilge pump and pump out the sink. Not sure how good that would work, but have heard of it being done. I wonder if a toilet plunger now and then would push it all out followed by a bit of pine sol?

[hobopacket]

Could you put in a water stop halfway down between the sink drain in the through hull? Much like they do in kitchen sinks at home?

[rwidman]

I think you have to look and see where the drains go. Into a sump? Directly overboard? Is there a loop or "trap". Report back and we will have a better idea of what to suggest.

You probably don't have a garbage disposal so you have to watch what goes down the drain.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by rwidman

I think you have to look and see where the drains go. Into a sump? Directly overboard? Is there a loop or "trap". Report back and we will have a better idea of what to suggest.

Why don't they tell you about this stuff at the boat show when you get your cheque book out

[markwesti]

It is a easy fix , first make access in the sink . ie: cut out the fixed strainer , now get a neoprene (soft plastic) tube that is a little longer than the sink hose , make a hole in the side of the tube at the end that will be going down first , tie on a piece of rag . Kind of like a bottle washer , now scrub away with a little water and soap . This works well if the drain tube doesn't make sharp turns , if it does you could insert the bottle washer in from the outside .

[sailorboy1]

I just shut the valve, add some bleach to the sink, fill with water and let it soak awhile, open the valve after a while drain a little to flush and shut the valve again, and repeat as needed.

[hellosailor]

dm-
The short answer is "something died in there" and you need to snake out the drains. You can eyeball them and look for something (like a dead sea critter that crawled up into the pipe) or you can run a snake down the drain, depending on how straight the run is, but this is just Plumbing 101, put your hands in the ****.
Or you can sell the boat and start over with a clean one, of course.

I used to leave my scuba gear hanging in the bathroom to dry out between dives. And one day, I noticed it was really whiff and only getting worse the next. Turned out somehow a 3" long fish had gotten into a pocket, unseen by me. Yeah, three day old dead fish, that gets nasty fast. His cousin is in your sink drain.

[Tetepare]

DrainO or similar product.

[Lepke]

All plumbing will grow things without something like bleach added occasionally. Especially salt water. I recently had to chlorinate my washing machine plumbing. Clothes came out stinking.

[angelfish2]

Once upon a time, we had the same problem. We pulled out the sink drain hose and put in Raritan's odorless hose. No more smell....at least for now.

[barnakiel]

Close the bottom valve, remove all elements, connectors, hoses.

CLEAN everything.

If the hose is very old and dirty, replace it.

The smell should be gone.

If it is not, the water overboard stinks.

Cheers,
b.

[John_Trusty]

I swear by Raritan CP as an (relatively) safe and effective odor killer. The down side - it costs a fortune, but you only use a small bit per application. I feel better about washing that down the through-hull into my swimming hole than bleach or drano! Thanks Peggy Hall!

[peghall]

Keeping drains, sumps, and sump pumps—and strainers too--clean is actually one of the easiest jobs on a boat, one of the few that doesn’t require any manual labor: Just put a few ounces of Raritan “C.P. Cleans Potties” into them once a week when it can stand at least overnight. “C.P. Cleans Potties” is an amazing product, part of the product line my own company developed and sold to Raritan in 1999. Although the name implies that it’s only a toilet bowl cleaner, it’s a bio-enzymatic cleaner that not only kills odor on contact, but the enzymes in it also “eat” hair, soap scum, grease, and oils. It does need time to work, though, which is why you need to use it when it can stand at least overnight..
To clean sumps: Make sure the sump is about 1/4-1/3 full of water...put 2-3 ounces of C.P. down the shower drain. That's it. When you come back, run plenty of clean water through the sump to rinse it out.

Sink drains: close the seacocks...put an ounce or two of C.P. down the drain...fill the drain with water. That's it. When you come back, open the seacock and flush out the drain with clean water.

Although C.P. ceases to accomplish anything after about 24 hours, it can sit in drains and sumps indefinitely without any problem, so no rush to get back and flush it out. Use it once a week, or just before the boat will sit each time and your drains and sumps will stay clean and sweet smelling and screens and sump pumps will remain clog free. And oh, by the way, C.P. is also an outstanding toilet bowl cleaner that’s compatible with any tank treatment and safe to use in any Type I or II MSD

I no longer have any connection to this or any other product. I do not sell nor do I receive any other compensation for recommending this or any other product.

[mikedefieslife]

Sticking liquids down your drain isn't going to help you if the offending smell is actually on the other side of the valve.

The OP never got back, so I wonder if they still have the smell.

It could be that a small sea creature has died and it is sitting in the through hull before the valve. The only way to get at it would be take off any pipework and bends, and stick a bottle brush or similar down there. That or attack it from the outside of the boat.