That " boat smell"

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Fred7825

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Sep 28, 2006
45
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I spray the bilge with bleach, rinse with water, follow up with a mildew protector. I am not able to get to all the bilge areas but try. Yet the boat still has that "smell". The boat is a 10 year old 426 which I have taken very good care off in my opinion.
What do yo do to control boat oders?
 
RichH

RichH

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Feb 14, 2005
4,773
Tayana 37 cutter; I20/M20 SCOWS Worton Creek, MD
The probable WORST situation of 'boat smell' is to discharge 'shower water' into the bilge. Human skin cells when they decompose form odiferous compounds (putrenes ... aka: putrid!!). If your boat drains 'shower water' into the bilge, consider a direct overboard pump or a grey water holding tank.
Ditto on the routine CLEANING of the shower sump / pan and the regular cleaning of the boat interior to constantly remove the zillions of skin cells ('dust') that constantly exfoliate from 'bodies'.
 
Allan12210

Allan12210

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Jan 22, 2008
1,670
Hunter 34 Alameda CA
Been there, done that. We had a really stinky boat. Adding to what RichH recommends is to check the head if saltwater is used. Critters from seawater die inside the rim of the toilet and smell bad. Pull the intake hose and pour vinegar into it to rinse. Also, check to make sure that the head hoses themselves have not permeated. Lots of suggestions for how to test and eliminate here on the site.

I always dry the bilge area with a sponge before leaving, so no standing water is left to go septic.

Lastly, ventilation works very well. Just leaving a couple of hatches cracked open and getting air to flow freely caused the smells to go away. Leave lockers open when away. I have a couple of solar power computer fans in the dorades that move air. Also resulted in tremendous improvement.
 
richk

richk

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Jan 24, 2007
495
Marlow-Hunter 37 Deep Creek off the Magothy River off ChesBay
Tea tree oil?
 
Dave602

Dave602

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Jan 22, 2008
320
Hunter 29.5 Gloucester, VA
we found charcoal deodorizers at Walmart. You can find them back in the section with closet items. we have found it greatly reduces the "boat smell" we keep a couple open inside all the time along with cleaning out the bilge etc we have had little or no smell.
 
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