Boat Smell - Inner Hull

[stackwalker]

I've got a 99 Hunter 410. I've gone through all the Head Mistress posts and I've cleaned the bilge, changed all the old hoses that used run seawater, treated and flushed all holding tanks, scrubbed the interior top to bottom, eliminated all old mattresses, fabrics and started using freshwater in our manual toilet. We have damp-rid everywhere and run a couple of dehumidifiers. It has made some improvement, but there's a remaining pervasive smell of rotten seawater in my boat. It's not as strong as it used to be but it still is a little jarring when you first get on the boat and I don't really like having people aboard due to the embarrassment.

I just changed the water pump under the main salon cushions and I can smell it down in the bowels of the hull. I live far from my boat and travel once every two months to spend 10 days aboard. Next visit I plan to take everything out of all the storage areas and get buckets of white vinegar and water and just scrub every accessible area of the inner hull and hopefully run this mixture down to the bilge.

Any other suggestions for getting rid of smells that seem to be emanating from the inerds of the boat?

 

[JoeWhite]

Yes, air circulation would help. Flush the head with fresh water and pour about tablespoon of olive oil in it before you closeup the boat. The oil floats on the water and prevents any unwanted odor.
To circulate fresh air, I mounted 4 12vdc 4" computer fans on 1/4" starboard and mounted on a smaller hatch near the companionway that is cracked open and so is cracked open the hatches at v-birth and head.
Also before your guests arrive, spray cologne on head toilet tissue paper and towel and around v-birth. Then go sailing with smile.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Olive oil in the toilet will lubricate the pump, but it will only block odor from escaping till after the head has been flushed couple of times.

You can never eliminate any odor unless you first eliminate the source. The most common sources of odor on a boat are permeated sanitation hoses (replacement is the only cure) and/or a wet dirty bilge, which is a primordial soup that can make the whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer. Just pouring in some bilge cleaner, adding water and turning on the bilge pump will not give you a clean bilge, any more than just adding Dawn to sink full of dirty dish water, swishing it around and pulling the plug will give you a clean kitchen sink. CLEANING a bilge requires some manual labor which can be made easier with a power washer (retail power washers aren't expensive and have multiple uses...I used mine to clean my dock finger, which kept my cockpit a lot cleaner) that can get into places you can't reach by hand even with a long handled brush). Sumps in need of cleaning...wet musty foulies in a hanging locker.. are other sources of odor...chain lockers are the most overlooked source. Pull the rode out, lay it on the dock and hose it down...and while it's drying, clean the locker...it can stink as much as a dirty bilge. Let your nose find other sources and get rid of them.

--Peggie

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

And after writing all that...you may have trapped water under the cabin sole, which may require adding a hatch or two to create access to remove it. Dave Condon should be able to help you with that.

--Peggie