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help, my boat has a "musty" odor to it.


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This past weekend we spent on a houseboat trip with a bunch of friends (had a great time).

The only problem was, it rained each day while we were there. Between all the people getting in and out of the boat, fat sack filling & draining, wet life vests, and rain, the boat never dried out. The boat was pretty WET the entire weekend. Each night, and every time it rained, I would turn up the seats and open the compartments before I would cover the boat (if we were tied up at the Hboats). So by the end of the long weekend we started getting a "funk" to the boat it was described as "wet dog" or "musty".

Cry.gif

This has happened once before (under the same circumstances) and I scrubbed the floor and compartments and the smell went away. I normally try to let the boat air out as much as possible, but on trips like this there is no way to vacuum out the water each day and I would rather not leave the cover off over night.

Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone found a solution to this?

I did notice this same funk on other ski boats, but not as bad as I did on mine. I might be more critical of my own boat, but I also think that I typically had more water on the floor and in the compartments(more people).

Someone mentioned using TSP mixed with water to scrub the carpet with, just in case any mold or mildew has started to grow.

I was thinking I would buy a "home de-humidifier" and plug it in before covering and run a extension cord to the house boat.

"I like my music so funky you can smell it coming", but not my boat!

Please help me get the odor out of my boat, and so it does not return!\

Thanks

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TSP is a good cleaner but it won't do much for the smell. TSP is also hard to find since many states have banned its sale to consumers. The best way to kill the bacteria and mold spores (source of funky smell) is to let your boat sit in the sun. The sun is a great disinfectant. Deep cleaning with an carpet extractor and a good detergent mixed with hot water can also help. Good luck.

Dave

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That's pretty bad for an 06. The problem couldn't be that bad.

If you can get it somewhere hot and dry, the smell should go away without breaking a sweat. It just needs to dry out good and it should go away. Take it from me and my 1990.

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Thinking the same thing. . . Between running over it with a carpet shampoo machine, drying it out in the sun or garage and Frebreeze treatment you'd have to be good as new in no time.

Surprising that it could get so bad, so fast. . . Good luck

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I'd personally hit the carpet with a spray gun from a self-service car wash - a quick once over with the soap and then rinse it out. Most importantly, then vacuum it out and let it sit out in the sun for a full day.

I'd be surprised if that didn't do the trick.

Mike

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This won't help you after-the-fact, but we use sta-dri or its equivalent under the cover anytime we put the cover on. Its amazing how those little pellets suck the moisture out of air, carpet, etc.

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I'd personally hit the carpet with a spray gun from a self-service car wash - a quick once over with the soap and then rinse it out. Most importantly, then vacuum it out and let it sit out in the sun for a full day.

that exactly what I did last time.

power washer, then scrubbed with soap, then power washed again, vacuumed, then let sit in the sun for a day and worked great. (I was also hoping that it would help de-matte the carpet)

I had used fabreeze over the weekend and that worked. but I was hoping to avoid the problem all together.

When I wrote that this had happen twice this summer, it was several weeks apart and there was no musty-ness in between the times that it happened. I try to take pretty good care of my boat, but I don't want to spend hours vacuuming, in the dark, while on vacation.

One thing that I thought of was, after riding we would drain the lifevest then put them in a rear storage compartment. At the end of each day I would take everything out of each compartment and hang dry for the evening. Just thinking the warm compartment next to the motor + lakewater helped to create this problem. maybe try opening the motor compartment and letting it cool completely before covering (if its not raining when we tie up)?

Edited by mikea
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This won't help you after-the-fact, but we use sta-dri or its equivalent under the cover anytime we put the cover on. Its amazing how those little pellets suck the moisture out of air, carpet, etc.

Thats is kind of the info I was hoping to get.

If you put one in each stern compartment, one in the observer compartment, and one on the floor would it completely dry out a wet boat?

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What kind of cover do you have for your boat? What material is it made of?

Dampness is a real problem here in the NW. During the summer when it is sunny and dry, I just leave the boat moored with a Sunbrella cover (current one a very nice one from Covercrafts). During the wet season(s) when the boat is kept at home, I put a Dry Wave under the cover and it has worked great. Before I got the Dry Wave I had an I/O that would get mildew in the vinyl over the winter and I would have to scrub it all out in the spring. After I have winterized the boat, I also add the Sta-Dri pellets.

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obski

I have a rankin cover.

We have had a very wet and hummid second half of the summer.

My last boat had a Rankin which is made of Sunbrella and works very well to breathe. It would be worth your while to invest in a dehumidifier like the Dry Wave that I use, or to get the pellets to absorb the moisture.

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If none of the above works for ya you probably better start looking in all the obvious hiding places for a dead mouse or a can of sardines your buddy might have put in there.

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same thing happened to me over labor day weekend, on our way home from tennesse it rained the entier way and we had the cover off so our boat was soaked when we got back.

what we have been doin (sense its not sunny or hot enough to just let it dry out) is we put the cover on the boat with all the seats flipped up and everything, and put a big industrial fan in it to help dry things out. then yesterday when i got home i flipped the front of the cover up so all the moisture and the funky smell would get out(it was a pretty bad smell) and then today when i got home i stuck my head in to see if it was smellin bad and it smells just fine now.

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