Wondering how to keep your boat smelling fresh as a spring daisy in a hot and humid enchanted forrest?
My boat stinks!
- Thread starter Tiffany
- Start date
You'll have to get rid of the source of the smell before any improvement will happen. Any idea of the source ?
Umm... This thread and Peggie's book?
Marine Plumbing and Sanitation
The Head Mistress, Peggie Hall pops in to answer your questions about marine sanitation. Check out her updated book, The New Get Rid of Boat Odors
forums.sailboatowners.com
Hi Tiffany
To get rid of any odors, it's first necessary to identify the source(s) so we can get rid of it/them...'cuz as long as the source(s) exist, it/they will continue to generate new odor. So let's start by identifying the type(s) of odors: sewer? musty/moldy, swampy? sour? diesel? smoke? dead fish? .....these are just a few.
--Peggie
To get rid of any odors, it's first necessary to identify the source(s) so we can get rid of it/them...'cuz as long as the source(s) exist, it/they will continue to generate new odor. So let's start by identifying the type(s) of odors: sewer? musty/moldy, swampy? sour? diesel? smoke? dead fish? .....these are just a few.
--Peggie
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the amount of ozone required to have any effect on smells would have a harmful effect to humans and many objects in the vicinity. It's used for accelerated age testing of products. I used to use one in the bedroom until I woke up in the middle of the night unable to breath until I got away from it.
Basic steps to get rid of odors
1. Identify
2. Clean
3. Use PureAyre
4. Repeat 2-3 times if needed
5. Still can't get rid of it? Seek Peggy's book
6. Prevent it from coming back may be a whole nother story
Basic steps to get rid of odors
1. Identify
2. Clean
3. Use PureAyre
4. Repeat 2-3 times if needed
5. Still can't get rid of it? Seek Peggy's book
6. Prevent it from coming back may be a whole nother story
Retail ozone generators aren't allowed to deliver enough ozone to destroy the sources of any odors. If they did deliver enough ozone to destroy the sources of odors, it should only be necessary to run one occasionally when there are new sources. But among all the people you know who've bought ozone generators, have you ever met anyone who has one who's ever been able to turn if off without having odors return? That should be enough to tell you that ozone generators are only very expensive air fresheners, because they don't deliver enough ozone to be anything else. Save your money and get rid of the SOURCES of your odors. Eliminating the source is the only thing that really works.
--Peggie
--Peggie
What are the circumstances? Closed boat in the cold/heat, lived on boat, etc.
I try to pump out before leaving the boat for any length of time, use a probiotic in the black water tank and flush with fresh water before I leave. I open all the hatches when I first arrive to air it out until the Air Conditioner starts to cool things off. (I do not run the A/C while I'm not at the boat.) I wipe down the interior with white vinegar occasionally to remove any mildew on the cabin surfaces. I run the blower after running the engine to remove some of the heat and engine smells.
Most of the time the source of bad smells comes from the hoses used for your sanitation system. If you don’t spend a lot of money on the best hoses, the hoses will sweat and stink badly. Nothing you can do but replace all the hoses on your sanitation system. If you buy cheaper hoses it will work for awhile but the smells will return at some point. I e been through this.
I also think that this is the sad truth of sanitation hose. The white, softened vinyl sanitation hoses that can be found in almost every recreational boat are just barely adequate for what they do - very light recreational use - even when they're new or nearly new. For a real odor-free boating experience, where the heads are in constant use, premium sanitation hose does the job so, so much better.
Permeated sanitation hoses are only one of the common sources of odor on a boat. Bilges in serious need of a real cleaning instead of just dumping some bilge cleaner into 'em,, adding water and sloshing it around can make a whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer. Shower sumps in need of cleaning can make the head stink...dead and decaying micro sea life in toilet plumbing are another source of odor in the head. The chain locker is prob'ly the most overlooked source of odor...the same micro sea life that makes toilet flushing stinky (mostly limited to toilets that use sea water) die, decay and stink if they aren't rinsed off the anchor rode. And then there are the oil or diesel drips and spills that contribute odors of their own. The most UNLIKELY source of odor is the holding tank, unless it's leaking 'cuz odor from inside the tank only has one place to go: out the tank vent.
Each source of odor has its own distinctive odor...bilges and usually smell like a swamp, permeated sanitation hoses usually have a combination sharp chemical/sewer odor, mold and mildew are easily identifiable. The good news is, they can all be easily identified. Curing them almost always requires manual labor.. prevention is easier. I'm gonna do something I rarely do in a forum: suggest that you buy--and READ--my book (see link in my signature below). It not only deals with every source of odor on a boat and how to cure, or better yet PREVENT 'em, it's also a "marine sanitation systems 101" manual that will teach you how maintain your system to prevent problems. 'Cuz you can do preventive maintenance when it's convenient...the need to cure a problem rarely happens when it is. And I'm always glad to answer questions.
(end of shameless self-promotion)
--Peggie
Each source of odor has its own distinctive odor...bilges and usually smell like a swamp, permeated sanitation hoses usually have a combination sharp chemical/sewer odor, mold and mildew are easily identifiable. The good news is, they can all be easily identified. Curing them almost always requires manual labor.. prevention is easier. I'm gonna do something I rarely do in a forum: suggest that you buy--and READ--my book (see link in my signature below). It not only deals with every source of odor on a boat and how to cure, or better yet PREVENT 'em, it's also a "marine sanitation systems 101" manual that will teach you how maintain your system to prevent problems. 'Cuz you can do preventive maintenance when it's convenient...the need to cure a problem rarely happens when it is. And I'm always glad to answer questions.
(end of shameless self-promotion)
--Peggie
These products came up in the past from others looking for help with odors.
Odor Exterminator®
Auto Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator Quick Release
www.biocidesystems.com
Odor Exterminator®
Auto Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator Quick Release
Liquid Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator
Biocide Systems makes it easy to get rid of unwanted odors from hard surfaces with our Liquid Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator. Order today.
www.biocidesystems.com
Peggy hit the nail on the head (pun not intended). There’s usually more than one source of odor.
I chased funky boat smells for two seasons until I bit the bullet and changed the sanitation hoses. I may have gone a bit overboard (pun intended) and replaced the toilet, vent and water lines and flushed out the holding tank. It really wasn’t all that bad, although I did the work in colder weather. Cleaning, sanitizing and painting the bilges made a difference as well.
The biggest headache was getting the smell out of the cushions. That required repeated washing of the covers AND the foam padding with an de-odorizing detergent. After that, I stored them wrapped in plastic along with copious scented dryer sheets for the winter. In the spring: no smells even after being closed up.
If I know we will not be sailing for a week or so, I make a trip to the pump out station if we’ve used the head and empty, flush the system as best I can and add a half cup of “ZAAL” directly to the tank.
Even my wife (who can smell a fart in a hurricane) had to admit the smells are gone.
Tom G
I chased funky boat smells for two seasons until I bit the bullet and changed the sanitation hoses. I may have gone a bit overboard (pun intended) and replaced the toilet, vent and water lines and flushed out the holding tank. It really wasn’t all that bad, although I did the work in colder weather. Cleaning, sanitizing and painting the bilges made a difference as well.
The biggest headache was getting the smell out of the cushions. That required repeated washing of the covers AND the foam padding with an de-odorizing detergent. After that, I stored them wrapped in plastic along with copious scented dryer sheets for the winter. In the spring: no smells even after being closed up.
If I know we will not be sailing for a week or so, I make a trip to the pump out station if we’ve used the head and empty, flush the system as best I can and add a half cup of “ZAAL” directly to the tank.
Even my wife (who can smell a fart in a hurricane) had to admit the smells are gone.
Tom G
This sound intriguing. @Peggie Hall HeadMistress what are your thoughts on this? It says it can kill bacteria and micro organisms in water. Maybe it can even be used as an extreme shock treatment for a head?These products came up in the past from others looking for help with odors.
Odor Exterminator®
Auto Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator Quick Release
Liquid Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator
Biocide Systems makes it easy to get rid of unwanted odors from hard surfaces with our Liquid Shocker™ ClO2 Odor Eliminator. Order today.
Y'all are graspng at any product that promises to relieve you of the need to do any manual labor. Besides, those products say that they're only for use on hard surfaces...Undiluted Clorox bleach will do the same thing for a lot less $$$. And btw, NEVER mix bleach or any other chlorine cleaner with vinegar...that creates chlorine gas, which is lethal.
What would an "extreme shock treatment" to any part of the sanitation system accomplish except to poison it? It's ok to use bleach on a rag to clean the bowl, but that's about all.
As for cushions and other soft goods, sunshine is a wonderful deodorizer, so instead of sealing them up in plastic with dryer sheets in the fall, put them out on deck on a sunny fall day and put them away in containers that can breathe for the winter and put them out on deck again in the spring sunshine. The same aerobic/anaerobic principles that prevent holding tanks from generating odor apply to everything else: you get the best results by working WITH nature instead of against it.
--Peggie
What would an "extreme shock treatment" to any part of the sanitation system accomplish except to poison it? It's ok to use bleach on a rag to clean the bowl, but that's about all.
As for cushions and other soft goods, sunshine is a wonderful deodorizer, so instead of sealing them up in plastic with dryer sheets in the fall, put them out on deck on a sunny fall day and put them away in containers that can breathe for the winter and put them out on deck again in the spring sunshine. The same aerobic/anaerobic principles that prevent holding tanks from generating odor apply to everything else: you get the best results by working WITH nature instead of against it.
--Peggie
I believe that many of these products are a mixture of sulphuric acid and nuclear waste material
.
I may be wrong (yes, it does happen but not very often), but I don't think it's possible to kill anaerobic ("bad") bacteria without killing the aerobic ("good") bacteria too. 'Cuz the type of bacteria depend on conditions in the tank--oxygenated, or not. So I'm pretty sure you can't poison just one kind, you can only create conditions in which only one kind can thrive.
--Peggie