Smelly boat

[Guest]

Got our first boat at the end of last season and we love it, but we'd love it even more if it wasn't so darn smelly. It's getting better since the boat's been aired a bit (it had been lying unused for over a year, but we're still getting that nauseous we-must-be-in-a-sewer type of smell.

I've read a few things on the subject and suspect it may be the pipes rather than the holding tank to blame (it's a flexible bag and I've stuck my nose up against it but it doesn't seem to smell of anything but rubber). Anyone got any practical suggestions to offer please?

I've brought all the seats home to get the covers off and through the washing machine, but the foam inserts are stinking the spare room out. Again, any advice for treating these?

 

[Guest]

Leave your socks at home......



My old sailing boat stank like a gorillas armpit. Never got rid of the smell, but washing the interior down with glass cleaner ( got vinegar in it) helped. Berth Cushions seemd to hold mildew, beer, curry and other comestible odours, never got the smell out of them, even when they were re-covered. Replacing them was the only option.

Is it a damp smell or an ahem, toilet smell? A Dehumidifer helps a lot with mildew, folk do say, if you got shore power.

Sue

 

[Guest]

Two things to do.

Identify is it's a Head's smell. This can be tested by flushing the head and seeing (smelling!) if an awfull eggy smell appears. If so, it's just the growth within the water supplies to the Head, indicative of a not too often used Head. Nothing can be done, except ensuring you flush the Head well when first on board (keep the porthole open....) With use, it will soon come sweet for the rest of the trip.

However, other smells are usually taken care of by a dehumidifier, which, by drying the air, leaves your boat smelling of boat and not those blighters in the air, commonly known as microbes, mildew, and so on.

 

[Guest]

The mildew I can just about cope with, have put a dehum on board and hopefully the combination of washing the covers and airing the foam will sort that one out (tried that Febreeze but wasn't impressed). I'd love to change the whole interior but him indoors won't wear it - thought I'd managed to convince him that buying the boat was all his idea, but we've had a lot of unexpected trouble & expense and it seems it's all my fault after all. Ho hum. (4 hours running in 4 months, and £2,000 later.... you get the picture?!)

The main pong is definitely a heads thing and it permeates everything - even the tinned provisions I brought back home make my kitchen cupboard pong. Does it make a difference if the water supplies are fresh or salt? It's a riverboat and I don't think it would have ever been in tidal waters. Should we be adding any chemicals or is it best left alone? And how often would anyone advise a pump-out - should it be a regular thing or just when full?

Apologies for sounding like a right newbie but that's just what we are! Thanks, Aly

 

[Guest]

Sounds to me that your tank isn't venting properly

 

[Guest]

Sounds like you have a holding tank, so if you leave the boat for any length of time, first have the tank emptied and thoroughly rinse the tank and system, then add some 'blue stuff' to the tank to keep it fresh. If the smell is permeating the hoses, either replace or wrap in cling film which is impervious to the smell.

 

[Guest]

One suggestion that I was given (and now use) is when you leave the boat, run the shower (if you have one) into the heads and flush that through. At least it means that the last water through the pipes is fresh water. Whether this helps if you are on a fresh water river I'm not sure, but might be worth a try. Made a lot of difference on my boat.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions Arthur - a bit fiddly wrapping in cling film but worth a go, wouldn't have thought of that.

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for your resonses, I'll take them all on board (sic!) and see if this season will smell a little sweeter. Just didn't want folk to think the pong was emanating from me....!

 

[Guest]

If all else fails, take a look at http://www.amazing.com/cruising/fvf.html Peggie Hall is acknowledged by many as the "Princess of Poop."

 

[Guest]

Jeeze! Peggy Hall, is she still around? I knew her years ago and she even visited me (out of the blue) arriving aboard my boat here in England as if she had just popped over from another pontoon. You gotta admit when it comes to POO she really knows her stuff.

 

[Guest]

Yes, she's still around. I met her by chance a few years back and several times subsequently. We lived in Atlanta at the time and I had been corresponding with Peggie on a Compuserve boating forum, but I had no idea where she was, except that she was somewhere in the US. A few days later I was at a yacht club on Lake Lanier, Atlanta and got talking to this lady who turned out to be Peggie and who is a member of that club. Quite a coincidence! Yep, she certainly knows a lot about poo management as well as a lot of other aspects of boats and boating.

 

[Guest]

COR! small world innit