Mold - I've given up

[dwna1a]

Jay, as humid as it was the last two weeks I'm surprised I don't have mold. Remember I am under cover.

I leave the head window cracked just a bit and have a small fan running in that space. I take a wet/dry vac and clean out the shower sump about every week or so and I use a little bit of anti funglie in the sump. We just started using a natural cleaner called Thieves, it smells nice and safe when I pump the water out. I also have a fan running in the cabin just to keep the air moving around. I wish you luck with this, it's supposed to get back into the 70% range later this week

I don't have any days off for the week two weeks but I can drive up to help if you need it

 

[dan313]

On my boat i had the same thing happen to me. It turned out to be the port running light was leaking. I found it by having someone spray water around the boat until i found the leak. I pulled the light and resealed it. No more leaks.
Hope this helped.

 

[mquiet]

I had a running light on my portside leak on our 340. Ran down the side of the hill behind my liners and into the mid sump/locker in the floor. To remove mold Tra Tree oil, Obex, and run someone hung to keep the air moving.

 

[yobub]

I have heard advertisements for a product called Fog-U mold. It is an aerosol that you release into the space and it is supposed to kill all of the mold, but is supposed to be ecologically safe. I've never used it, but it might be a consideration for killing what you have. YMMV.

We keep our AC running in the dehumid. mode when we aren't on the boat, and so far so good for us. If my wife sensed any mold or mildew it would either be weeks of cleaning or selling the boat.

 

[bbwhitejr]

Here in the south, humidty coupled with hot temps can breed mold and mildew especially when we hit the late afternoon thundershowers. This is our first summer with our 44DB and am keeping the bridge enclosure installed. I noticed a few weeks ago, the very faint onset of minor mold/mildew on the vinyl. Cleaned it all really good and put a small fan up there to move the air a little and problem solved. I also keep one running in the bildge during the summer.

On our 260DA, I kept 3-4 small tubs of Damp Rid in the cabin. The first summer no fan running and maybe I dumped out 1-2-cups of water/week. The following summer, same Damp Rid containers and a small 12 inch fan running on low speed and more than doubled the amount of water that was removed. Never a mold or mildew issue. Moving air definitely helps!

Bennett

 

[play dough]

I know this is an old thread but it occurred to me that nobody ever addressed how to attack the mold, only how to attack the source of the water leak. You really need to address both. One of the best pieces of advice that we ever got was to make sure to always run a dehumidifier on the boat, regardless of the time of year. We did that on our previous boat and never had issues with mold for over 15 years.

On our 450 DA we still have the same practice of running the dehumidifier in the salon and cockpit but we also use Kanberra Gel. It smells great and has eliminated the mold problem we had on our slant-back canvas even when running the dehumidifier.

http://kanberragel.com/

• "Air movement takes Tea Tree Oil (TTO) airborne to attack and degrade mold spores, bacteria, etc. and remove odors"

We used Kanberra. It worked very well to combat mildew.

 

[paul hsu]

I've owned my '99 310DA for about 5 years now, and when I got this boat, it was immaculate. Came from Florida, great condition, well-kept out of the water on a lift. Over the past couple of years, the mold and mildew on my boat has grown expediently. What I mean.. is it's the worst I've ever seen it. I'm savvy enough to know that it's caused by moisture, lack of ventilation, and other variables. It's so bad, that even after a week, I have it on my ceiling, bed, mirrors.. literally everywhere.

After doing some tedious time on the boat, I found some leaks around my port holes (most of them). I pulled them out, cleaned, and re-sealed them. Well, they don't leak anymore, because my ceiling is dry now, and not wrinkled up, and I can tell a noticeable difference (yay).. but guess what? still have mold. Mold so bad, it's on the carpet.. and in the corners that are impossible to get to.

I noticed that water is collecting, consistently in the storage compartment under the main walkway through the cabin (not sure what this is called). It houses a box that stores the water drained from the shower/head and the overflow drainage from the AC. They empty into this box, and the pump, when filled up to a certain level, pumps it out. It never overflows, and is covered with a clear top, and 4 screws. That works great, and seems to empty without issue. However, there is still water in this compartment. I have NO idea where it's coming from. I've even poured water into the AC drain pipe, and watch it flow, without leaks into the drain box.. same with the shower/head. I've checked the galley sink, and no leaks there. The only thing I can think of.. would be *somehow*, there is water draining from the rain straight down into that compartment in some weird crack that is impossible to discover.

Let's pretend that the compartment is full of water.. and yet the wood piece (carpeted) is covering it like it normally should. Essentially, should that be causing all my mold issues? Since it's covered, and covered well.. how can that be the cause of all of my cabin mold? It's just not in a couple spots - it's the whole cabin. There's no other water anywhere in the boat. I now run the dehumidifier constantly.

With all this mold, I'm sure you can imagine how bad it smells. After not coming for even a week or two, it smells horrible when I walk in the cabin. I have to immediately open all the windows, leave the door open and light a candle.

I'm hoping that someone has experienced some freak, common leak that I can check that wouldn't be immediately obvious. I've even considered putting a tarp over the front part of the boat to test and see if there's a leak that I'm missing.

A few things to add in case there are immediate questions:

- My water tank is empty. I only use water from the dock via hose. If I go out, I fill the water tank, but drain when I return.
- I have not hit anything in the water recently, and if I had, I feel as if I would have a lot more water in the boat.
- I sometimes go weeks without visiting the boat, or opening the door/portholes.
- I don't usually run the AC/heat/dehumidifier constantly.
- I don't leave open drinks, cups, water bottles in the cabin.

when I bought my boat earlier this year, I had similar problems. I caulked the portholes, bow railings at the bases and the screw holes, removed and replaced the nav lights , areas around the windshield, the windshield wiper motor base, around the dash, and pretty much every where else I could find that might leak. The water will enter from above, and run down to the sumps. Because of the heat, the upper areas will dry up somewhat, hiding the source of the leak. I was able to stop all the leaks. I then removed all the carpeting and then any vinyl that was damaged. The upholstery also can have mold, which contributes to the odor. I removed the fabric, and recovered with leather/vinyl. I no longer have any mold, or foul odors , but it was necessary to open up and examine most of the cabin and bathroom for signs of water damage. removing and replacing the vinyl was actually quite easy, but I had to cut through the old vinyl to find and remove the screws. If you need any info or pictures, let me know.

 

[BlueYonder]

Pull the cushions out, take the covers off and smell the foam. If it smells like mildew, your only option is to replace the foam.

You might consider a high powered ozone generator for a few hours. Make sure you don’t spend time in the cabin while it is running.

I run a HEPA filter on my boat while I’m away. It will capture airborne mold spores and help prevent it spreading.

 

[JimT]

We run the AC/Heat 365 24/7. When we are away from the boat in the summer the AC is set on 76. In the winter the heat is set on 55.

 

[douglee25]

Pull the cushions out, take the covers off and smell the foam. If it smells like mildew, your only option is to replace the foam.

You might consider a high powered ozone generator for a few hours. Make sure you don’t spend time in the cabin while it is running.

I run a HEPA filter on my boat while I’m away. It will capture airborne mold spores and help prevent it spreading.

Exactly!