Mold

[Cerebus]

Hello,
My old (75-year-old) wooden boat has a strong mouldy smell in the saloon (4 x 6 x 2 m). Can I remove the mould and the smell with an ozone generator? Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks for your tips. L

Ozone generators have a lot of risk associated with them; they will perish a lot of hoses to start with…

 

[Cerebus]

JUST NOTED THIS IS A 2024 post ! ! !

In that case post 2 will work. A bowl with a rag in it to stop it leaving the bowl.

Hopefully it will kill the bacteria that mould requires.

Mould likes dark, damp, bacteria.

Sometimes even constant flushing of clean (reasonably dry air) is not enough.

But bleach should do it. Some bleach is rated at 24 hours, so be aware of bleach that is rated at less; it does go off / lose its potency.

 

[ducked]

In that case post 2 will work. A bowl with a rag in it to stop it leaving the bowl.

Hopefully it will kill the bacteria that mould requires.

Mould likes dark, damp, bacteria.

Sometimes even constant flushing of clean (reasonably dry air) is not enough.

But bleach should do it. Some bleach is rated at 24 hours, so be aware of bleach that is rated at less; it does go off / lose its potency.

Mold in general does not "require bacteria". It requires damp and a carbon source, (but seems to be able to get by on remarkably little carbon) and doesnt like UV.

 

[ducked]

When last at the boat I painted antifreeze (ethylene glycol, plus some of them contain borates) on the wood as a (hopefully) antifungal treatment, so I might also try it on surface mold in the future.

Its toxic, but not, I think, highly toxic, and I dont think it generates much vapour at ambient Scottish temperatures.

 

[thinwater]

When last at the boat I painted antifreeze (ethylene glycol, plus some of them contain borates) on the wood as a (hopefully) antifungal treatment, so I might also try it on surface mold in the future.

Its toxic, but not, I think, highly toxic, and I dont think it generates much vapour at ambient Scottish temperatures.

Boracol?

 

[ducked]

Boracol?

If its got borax in it, as the name suggests, will only be available to Professional Polluters in the UK.

I would expect this to happen with antifreeze eventually, indeed some of the suppliers webpages already say so, though the restriction doesn't yet seem to be generally enforced.

 

[thinwater]

If its got borax in it, as the name suggests, will only be available to Professional Polluters in the UK.

I would expect this to happen with antifreeze eventually, indeed some of the suppliers webpages already say so, though the restriction doesn't yet seem to be generally enforced.

There seem to be many UK sources.

Boracol

 

[ducked]

I've used this in the past with some success.

View attachment 173728

Clit BANG?

Once upon a time,
that would have been a good name
for a band

 

[john_morris_uk]

I appreciate this is an old thread but for anybody reading it now we’ve found that vinegar is the answer. We lay our boat up in the tropics for months at a time and wipe every internal surface down with vinegar. We always know if we’ve missed a bit as that is where there will be mould growing when we come back to the boat. This is on the advice of some friends who were doing a similar thing and leaving their boat for long periods of time in the hot humid conditions of the tropics.

It’s no coincidence that vinegar for cleaning is available in all the local shops.

 

[ducked]

There seem to be many UK sources.

Boracol

For example

Borax 99.9% - Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate

"Borax is available for purchase on our website for traders, registered businesses, professional users, and other legally authorised buyers. By adding borax to your basket and completing checkout, you confirm that you have the legal right to purchase and use this substance in accordance with current regulations."

So apparently not legally available to non-pro polluters, but maybe non/self policing at this time, at least for some online sources. Might get some online while the going is good, though I could presumably get very unlucky and be made an example of if they decide to start enforcing.

This seems to mean that you cant generally buy it across the counter/anonymously, or at least I couldn't find it when I had a search last time I was in the UK.

I could probably buy it in Taiwan if I could find it (non-trivial) but then I'd have to carry it. Through customs.

There is "borax substitute" available in the UK, which of course isn't borax

This does not (yet) generally apply to antifreeze, which need not contain any borates (It would be a bonus in this context, but only some formulations do and they probably wont be obvious about it) but is an antifungal due to the main ethylene glycol ingredient.

 

[lustyd]

Ozone generators have a lot of risk associated with them; they will perish a lot of hoses to start with…

Almost certainly more spam. Ozone generators are being pushed hard at the moment and we’ve had a LOT of new accounts on the forum mentioning them.

 

[Ray Purchase]

White vinegar 9.5° unscented - Starwax - Produits d'entretien pour la maison