Boat Smells

[Sail123]

In purchasing older sailboats from the 70's and 80's, we have always noticed a musty smell when you first get the boat.

My wife calls it grandmas basement smell.

In cleaning things up, after several times on the boat, you notice things start to smell better.

Is that because:

1: you have cleaned it up?

2: you are getting used to it?

My wife and I both noticed today, the boat in our slip seems to be smelling better.

Are we becoming one of them? One of you? Lol

Or is it the ozone generator? Lol

I can imagine removing unwanteds, letting the hatches be open a couple times a week is helping.

I can also see how one could become slowly immune to it.

 

[Indysailor]

I replaced the bulkheads in my boat and treated some other woodwork that had been soaked/mildewed with CPES. The boat has lost the musty smell completely. Smells like varnish now.

 

[Dave602]

We pulled all the cushions this winter and cleaned some and replaced some. We treated the foam with Knock Out and that helped a ton. We found and fixed some leaks and dried out some areas and ours smells 100% better. We also had a hull liner that had molded behind in the foam and ripped that out and replaced it. Getting some of the standing water out of there really helps.

 

[Dantodd]

It is the sign of a well cleaned and maintained boat. Go visit another older boat that is not as well maintained and you will immediately realize you aren't just "accustomed" to the smell.

 

[Ross]

If there is existing mold it must be remedied. then ventilation is the key to keeping the boat smelling sweet.

 

[Gunni]

It is the ozone generator. What you describe is a common side effect from occupying a closed space with with an ozone generator - it damages your sense of smell. Just like grandma, you can't smell the stench any longer!

 

[Squidd]

It is the ozone generator. What you describe is a common side effect from occupying a closed space with with an ozone generator - it damages your sense of smell. Just like grandma, you can't smell the stench any longer!

+ 1...

 

[Benny17441]

After day one on board you get used to it. I's mildew, extensive cleaning and ample ventilation will get rid of the smell just to come back when the boat is locked up and left unattended. A passive ventilation system or a dehumidifier connected to shorepower will significantly help.

 

[mark_swart]

Our boat had a number of leaks (chainplates and forward hatch) when we got it, and had not been maintained inside at all. We scrubbed all wood with borax, then it all got a coat of poly satin varnish. All fiberglass cleaned with bleach. All interior carpet (on the ceiling) also sprayed down with a borax solution, then later shampooed. All cushion covers washed in the washing machine with borax, and the foam washed out on the deck with bleach water. All leaks fixed. Added a solar vent in the forward hatch, I swear by them.
When we got it the boat was so bad you couldn't even stand to be in it... it gagged me. Now it's perfectly fine, neutral smell.
But if you have rotten wood (like my old Cheoy Lee did), you will never get rid of the smell until you replace it.

 

[shipwreck66]

Until you replace the mildewed foam in cushions, it'll never go away. We had some rats get in over the winter and they chewed into "only" the old boat cushions, none containing new foam. That was all I needed to know and am replacing all existing foam pronto. While the cushions were in my workshop at home I noticed the boat smell in my workshop, go figure.

 

[Ross]

What you smell on a boat is the mildew and mold spores. Some of them can be quite toxic. I can get a two day headache from some mold spores. When you get rid of the mold and mildew you get rid of the source of the spores.

 

[longterm]

In purchasing older sailboats from the 70's and 80's, we have always noticed a musty smell when you first get the boat.

My wife calls it grandmas basement smell.

In cleaning things up, after several times on the boat, you notice things start to smell better.

Is that because:

1: you have cleaned it up?

2: you are getting used to it?

My wife and I both noticed today, the boat in our slip seems to be smelling better.

Are we becoming one of them? One of you? Lol

Or is it the ozone generator? Lol

I can imagine removing unwanteds, letting the hatches be open a couple times a week is helping.

I can also see how one could become slowly immune to it.

Here's a trick I learned from the previous owner: dryer sheets. They smell fresh and clean, and you wedge them all over the cabin.

Bob

 

[Warren Milberg]

My old boat smells like old money....damp and green.

 

[Bad Obsession]

My boat developed a smell after water penetrated the cabin through the companionway hatch during the last hurricane that moved through my area.

This spring I removed all of the cushions. I washed the cushion covers and sprayed the foam with frebreeze. I then let the foam dry in the sun and bake for a day in the hot sun.

After that I cleaned all of the woodwork and then put daily's seafin teak oil on all of the wood.

The last thing I did was replace my vent hose to my holding tank. The other hoses had been replaced but that last hose that I replaced was getting sticky and putting out some smell.

 

[Stu Jackson]

www.pureayre.com

now that Peggie's gone.

 

[rgranger]

You should clean, wipe down and/or replace as much of the mildew covered areas as possible. Mold spores can really make you sick and the longer you are exposed to them, the higher your immune response can be. Go get some high quality exterior grade paint from Home Depot and ask them to add the anit-mildew additive, then paint as much of the interior walls as possible to lock in any remaining spores. And a fresh coat of paint over the fiberglass looks good. (I'm assuming you don't have a liner)

And a trick I use.... When I know I'm not going to use the boat for a week or more, I open a jar full of moth balls and leave it in the boat. The active ingredient in moth balls is a compound called Napthelene. In addition to keeping bugs and spiders out of your boat...It kills mold spores

In fact the active ingredient in that old-school green wood preservative that you spray on wood was/is dichloronapthelene. The two chlorine atoms just make the napthelene less volatile. In the case of killing mold spores you actually want the volatility. That way the napthelene can permeate the cracks and crevises of your boat and really do a job on the mold spores.... Your Ozone generator is probably doing the same thing so... maybe you got that covered.

 

[treborniv]

the musty smell is from mold/mildew.. I had my boat steam cleaned in all the nooks and cranies..No smell now. Or Im just used to it.