Challenge: The Black Death.

[Boomp]

Originally Posted by wlearl

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

Is calcium chloride the same crystal product they use in Fla. when leaving a home unoccupied for a length of time? It fills the inside atmosphere with unbreathable air...I ask because if it is, you'd have to be pretty quick about getting it out of the boat and letting fresh air in.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Boomp

Is calcium chloride the same crystal product they use in Fla. when leaving a home unoccupied for a length of time? It fills the inside atmosphere with unbreathable air...

Anhydrous Calcium Chloride is the prime active ingredient in “DampRid”, “Damp Gone”, ”No Damp Dehumidifier” and a host of other desiccants.
I'm not aware that it it gives off toxic fumes, under normal circumstances.

Can you expand upon your caution?

Potential Health Effects

Inhalation:
Granular material does not pose a significant inhalation hazard, but inhalation of dust may cause irritation to the respiratory tract, with symptoms of coughing and shortness of breath.
At high temperatures, or when moistened under fire conditions, calcium chloride may produce toxic or irritating fumes.

Ingestion:
Low toxicity material but ingestion may cause serious irritation of the mucous membrane due to heat of hydrolysis. Large amounts can cause gastrointestinal upset, vomiting, abdominal pain.

Skin Contact:
Solid may cause mild irritation on dry skin; strong solutions or solid in contact with moist skin may cause severe irritation, even burns.

Eye Contact:
Hazard may be either mechanical abrasion or, more serious, burns from heat of hydrolysis and chloride irritation.

[Bill_E]

Gord has it! We have used DampRid. It will only work in a closed space so we have all hatches tightly closed and small fans running to circulate the air. Calcium chloride is a non-volatile salt that picks up a lot of water to the point where it becomes a liquid (solution). It has worked for us over several months in Ft. Pierce, Fl. A dehumidifier would be a better solution but you would have to rig up a way to drain the water from it unless you buy one of those big, expensive, energy eating dehumidifiers that are used for basements, etc. They have a pump to pump the water out.

By the way, Calcium chloride was a major component of the salt spread on roads. The disadvantage is that the resulting aqueous CaCl2 solution is slightly acidic and hard on cars so I think they've pretty much taken it out of road salt. With the DampRid containers the acidity is not a problem. And when I say slightly acidic I really mean slightly. I just did a quick check for some chemical parameters of calcium ions and didn't find what I was looking for, but it is going to be less acidic than regular white vinegar.

[nautical62]

I returned to a boat with mold and mildew everywhere after 9 months of storage in the Florida heat. It cleaned up pretty well with a bleach solution. Taking steps to keep water out and installing a solar vent to move some air through the boat all but eliminated the problem in future years.

[Pblais]

We have used damp rid but it has one problem. If you maintain good air circulation you can avoid condensation. If you have good circulation Damp Rid will be a waste of money since you can't dry out the quadrant of the world you live in.

The Magic Disks seem to work well in lockers but for the most part I rely on two solar powered fans to keep the air moving throughout the boat. When you have damp warm air contacting a cooler hull you can easily generate condensation and thus capture spores and other particles from the air to grow into the lovely black death mold. Venting the moisture out seems to me to work better than closing the boat tight to keep air out and any accumulated moisture inside. Solar fans run 24 x 7 and do a complete air change over several times per day.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Winter equals empty boat as much as possible to let air circulate.....especially soft furnishings and bedding and clothing that has been in contact with humans.

Wipe down / clean the boat inside and on surfaces you think might get moldy use bleach. Good ventilation. a Visit to the boat every now and again does no harm and open the hatches up to get some air through......I also like to maintain a full ashtray on board - I reckon it soaks up moisture

[perchance]

It is tough to get into the boat when there is a ton of the white stuff sitting on the tarp

[Jentine]

For ten years we kept a boat in Florida on a rack. It had a cabin capable of sleeping three comfortably, a head and a galley. We left all our "Florida stuff" on the boat and never had any problems with mold, mildew or other pests. Before storing the boat we would go to Home Depot and get fumigation strips capable of ridding a 100 sq. ft. room of all manner of creature and we put two in the cabin and two below decks. It worked well for periods as long as six months.

[seagypsywoman]

I too have had mold on my boat after a winter in a boat yard and expect the same thing this spring. Thank you for the hints on killing it and clean up. I have two questions: will bleach and borax hurt my teak? and what about mould hiding in the overhead lining? How can I kill it - will spraying with bleach be enough?