My Ski Locker is a black abyss?

[SantaCruzin]

Going through things on my punch list for my 1989 180BR and one of them is to sort out what is going on with my Ski Locker. As you can see from the attached photo, it is a black abyss of nastiness.

Would I be correct in assuming this was SUPPOSED to be carpeted? I think I see faint hints of the burgundy carpeting.

Any ideas what could have caused this? The boat is VERY dry, we just spent 3 days at the lake with the boat in the water 24/7 and there wasn't a drop of water to be found. It almost feels oily, but I don't know how that could have happened. I just don't want to replace the carpeting only to have something happen which causes it to get bad again.

 

[Third Edition]

Clean it out good and see if it stays clean?

 

[SantaCruzin]

Unfortunately I couldn't really find anything that would clean it out. I tried upholstery cleaner in a section and it just spread around the gunk. I tried a shop vac but it was way to caked on to do anything. I really think the carpeting (if that's what it is) is beyond saving.

 

[Third Edition]

I doubt there was carpeting in there. Very prone to moisture and not much way to dry it out, IMO. Did you try simple green? That is a great way to remove oily gunk. Is there a drain in that area? If there is, perhaps close off the drain somehow, fill the area with water & simple green and take the boat out for a ride. Perhaps the sloshing will help. Works in dirty bilges. There are other things to use besides simple green, but that works really well and is pretty non harmful.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Yup, it's carpet. And, yup, that was the way it was made back then. And you can figure out why they don't do it, anymore! What you've got is some cross between mold and dirty, oily bilge water that has backfilled into the ski locker through the drain. At some point, some owner allowed the bilge to get dirty and grimy and also had a lot of water in there.

You're boat might be dry now, but it obviously wasn't always the case. After all, it's over 30 years old! Looks like mold on the bottom side of the teak locker cover, too? Getting wet is not just by water leaking in somwhere - it's the water we bring in after swimming... rain water... etc... and closing the boat up when it's wet is the worst thing.

Solution... cut the carpet out - the sides and the floor of the locker. Sand away any remaining glue - just get the majority of it - the loose stuff. Then paint it and it will look brand new and be easy to clean.

 

[blaster]

I would put a soaking spray of straight Clorox on the whole ski locker. After an hour I would do it again. Then scrape out everything with an Ice scraper or putty knife. After that wash it out with detergent.

quite the job cleaning all that out.

then you can sand and scrape the stuff you didn’t get the first time.

If it’s soft glue gunk that won’t come out use some acetone to soften it then scrape it out.

once the area is prepped by the acetone finish the surface with ANYTHING BUT CARPET!

these carpeted ski lockers develop an exquisite bouquet of rotten sea life and a lovely patina of black mold and oily goo. Most especially nice when used in saltwater.

 

[SantaCruzin]

Thanks all!

On the underside of the teak cover you're seeing some of the oily greasy grossness from the carpet. The previous owner had some ropes in there (which are now mostly toast) and I think just got some of the grime on the cover taking them in and out.

I think the most obvious next step then is to remove the carpeting. The stuff on the sides is falling off a bit anyway. After deep cleaning and probably repainting, any suggestions on a new material to replace it with? I'd like to have something somewhat padded as I will likely have skis in there at some point, or I'd at least like to keep some stuff in there.

 

[blaster]

You could paint it and add a plastic mat. You could maybe lay down something like Seadeck. What’s your budget for materials?

 

[BillK2632]

My ski locker is the fiberglass liner, but it had a nasty piece of carpet snapped on the bottom. I got rid of that and put Dri Deck tiles in the bottom of the ski locker and other storage areas where you want wet things to drain.

 

[SantaCruzin]

You could paint it and add a plastic mat. You could maybe lay down something like Seadeck. What’s your budget for materials?

Oh man, I really don't even have a frame of reference for that as I have no idea what stuff like that costs. I can't see wanting to spend more than a couple hundred dollars to refurbish a ski locker.

 

[blaster]

Sounds like paint and a mat is the way to go.

 

[SantaCruzin]

As an update to this:

I ended up pulling out the carpet (the adhesive was non-existent, so it wasn't hard) and tried to clean it with some simple green, without much luck. I snagged some Zep Spill Absorber from my garage and spread it throughout the ski locker. After sweeping it up a lot of the muck came with it. I then took a scraper and likely scraped up some of the stickier gunk (I think it was adhesive saturated in oil) and have the locker mostly cleaned out.

Based on the photo, do you think I need to keep cleaning or shou
ld it be good to repaint? I am worried about scraping off too much of "good stuff" and exposing the fiberglass.

For the paint, I am guessing I should just use some bilge paint?

 

[blaster]

It would adhere best to clean bare fiberglass. The oil will make the paint peel off.

 

[blaster]

Try plugging and filling the ski locker with a good amount of dawn and water to soak then scrub some more.

don’t mix dawn with bleach though. If you try that use laundry soap.

if you give up on the prep then paint a sample patch and see how it dries.

 

[SantaCruzin]

alright, thanks all! I don't mind leaving it to soak a bit, but will that damage the fiberglass at all? I just don't want to cause more harm.

 

[BillK2632]

Not going to hurt the fiberglass - I would do some sanding and get all that gunk off and to a smooth clean surface, then prime and paint.

 

[El Capitan]

First kill the black mold.