smelly cushions

[pandos]

I bought my boat last year it leaked oil and diesil into the bilges and I would think it has done so for many years. I have sorted out the source of these leaks and have powerwashed and scrubbed the entire inside and now the boat smells ok.

The uppolstory looks brank new but it smells of diesil/oil etc. It spent the winter in a shipping container and now smells worse than ever. I have let them out to air for a week but this has made little difference.

The covers are blue velvet over plain foam 4 inches thick. Some of the foam is thinner but has wadding glued on. The covers are removable but I am worried that if they shrink they will not go back on properly.

Does anybody have a suggestion I want to use the boat for next weekend.

Thanks in advance.

Tony.

 

[nordic_ranger]

Try Febreeze got in most supermarkets it realy does work wonders. Just spray it on as per the instructions.

Jim.

 

[HeadMistress]

Oh good...Febreze is available in the UK too. It is indeed great stuff. I recommend letting your cushions dry in the sun again after you've used it. It may require more than application, but will eventually get rid of the odor entirely if you're patient enough to stick with it.

 

[Ecartar]

Interested parties should be aware that Amazon have a copy of 'Get Rid of Boat Odors' by Peggie Hall ' @ £55.00!

 

[HeadMistress]

You can't be serious!!! Amazon UK's price a month ago was an already outrageous £44...you mean they've raised it ANOTHER £11 from that??? Ye gods!!!

Don't even THINK of paying that for it...it's more than the cost of 3 copies directly from my US publisher (at the link in my signature)! A single copy including air mail postage from them is less than £18.

I just checked the Amazon US price: $16.96 USD converts to £9.30 plus postage. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-9233594-9804055

Unfortunately, neither authors nor publishers have any control over retail booksellers prices...so all I can do is steer people away from Amazon UK.

 

[Steve Clayton]

Hi Peggy,

as the author you can go onto Amazon and tell 'em the price is too high.

And good on you for advising not to buy at their price as I guess it affects your royalties?

 

[Jcorstorphine]

100% cure for smelly cushions

I had the exact same problem with diesel leaking into the bilge’s in my Westerly. Tried all sort of things from leaving the /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif out in the sun, heat lamps and various chemicals but the smell still came back. Eventually I found the cure which was 100% successful, however the equipment is not readily available unless you happen to work in a relatively obscure section of industry and that is Vacuum Engineering (and that is nothing to do with vacuum cleaners)

I place the offending berth cushions in a large vacuum chamber and reduced the pressure to about 1 mbar (that is 1/1000th of an atmosphere) for a couple of hours.

When I removed the cushions the smell had gone with the smelly diesel having been evaporated by the low pressure.

Now it is not everyone who can get their hands on a vacuum chamber about 1 meter in diameter by about 2 meters long. However, there may be a way and that is to fit the cushion into a large industrial polythene bag and try and beg borrow or steel a vacuum pump of about 10 m3 per hour. Connect up a suitable hose to the polythene bag sealing the tube with electrical tape and pump out the air. The Polythene bag will collapse almost flat but this is just the atmosphere exerting about 1 ton per square foot. Leave for about four hours and see if the vacuum has had the desired effect.

Often thought there was a market for some entrepreneur to tour the marinas of Great Britain with this type of equipment spreading sweetness and fragrance wherever he went.

 

[snoozydude]

Gidday

I have been through the exact same procedure and am just finishing the repaint throughout.

I spent ages washing each smelly cushion then drying in the sun for days and they smell just as bad.

I am going to bite the bullet and replace the foam - its breaking down anyway.

You might like to do the works on one cushion first and see what results you get before investing a whole lot of time on what may be a futile task.

If you can source a supplier of the foam its pretty cheap and you can cut it well with an electric carving knife.

The cleaner will probably cost about 20 clams plus 2 days scrubbing and drying, in my case to replace all the cushions including the sleeping mattersses (25 ft sloop sleeps 3) is 70 clams. If the foam is old it will break down. Cushions are a great comfort and there is nothing worse than lying on an oil smelly old sponge.

Consider cutting your losses and washing he covers and replacing the inners.

 

[Gunfleet]

the blues

<<there is nothing worse than lying on an oil smelly old sponge>>
how about 'lying on an oil smelly old sponge after your baby done left you?'

 

[HeadMistress]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Peggy,

as the author you can go onto Amazon and tell 'em the price is too high.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm considering doing exactly that...'cuz even I don't think it's what they're charging for it! I can't believe they're selling any at price. But I'd have to get my publisher's approval, 'cuz Amazon and Amazon UK are HIS customers.

What's really needed are more UK sources for it. Boatbooks Australia distributes it in AU and NZ, but as far as I know, Amazon UK is the only source in the UK. Customers have a LOT more clout that vendors...so if enough of you ask for it in enough UK chandleries, at least one of 'em might be willing to stock a few copies for a reasonable price. Meanwhile, send your friends to Amazon in the US or to my publisher...DON'T buy it from Amazon UK!!!

[ QUOTE ]
And good on you for advising not to buy at their price as I guess it affects your royalties?

[/ QUOTE ]

I WISH I could leave you believing that I'm that altruistic /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ...but I'm not. My royalty is a percentage of the publisher's list price for each copy sold, unaffected by whether retailers mark it up or down. So I do have an ulterior motive in referring to you reasonably priced sources: the more reasonable the price, the more copies sold...and the more copies sold, the bigger my royalty checks! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

And now that we've settle that, back to the subject at hand: smelly cushions.

 

[AOWYN]

Amazon vs ABEBOOKS

Try ABEBOOKS.com or .co.uk

Excellent service and it seems to exist for the benefit of booksellers and buyers.

PS Peggie's book is very good, I bought my copy in the states via ABE