Stubborn Boat Odor-HELP!

[Comodave]

On a previous boat it had a hollow keel that has 30+year old water in it. Cut it open and cleaned it out several times and no more smell. It was a horrible almost rotten onion smell.

 

[Dwk]

As a course of normal operation we always have a plastic tupperware pan of white vinegar in each bilge space. It kills mold and eats odors. After you take care of the source you may want to do this on your boat especially since you found sitting water in your bilges. [emoji41]

Great tip, never knew vinegar kills mold without apply to surface.

 

[ABfish]

You might want to check your refrigerator. Most have a drip pan under the doors, which catches liquid from the defrost cycle. It also catches liquid drainage from the freezer in an extended power outage.

If the meltwater is from meat or seafood, the odors can be eye-watering. (I experienced this after a hurricane-induced power outage, where the house was unoccupied for three days.)

 

[Capstan]

Plan B is an ozone generator.

It will remove cigar stench and most everything else including mold..

Marine ones are made , or you can borrow one from a friendly used car salesman who uses a unit far larger than the boat units. .

Odor Removal from Boats - Ozone Machine for Odor Removal

www.odorfreemachines.com/boat-odor-removal/


Boat odor removal with the OdorFree is easy and our ozone generator will keep boats smelling fresh and clean for years to come. Moisture inside marine ...

A word of caution using Ozoners. If contemplating using read up on proper use. When I was contemplating using for the Bad Monkey the
Island engineer said if ran too long they can have a detrimental effect on different types of hosing.
I didn't use and found our smell was from build up under the false bilge.
The above Ozone machine may help and sounds like designed with boats in mind but I would much rather find the cause of the problem first!

 

[bayview]

Vinegar, ozone etc are a waste to time until you find and eliminate the cause.

 

[HopCar]

I tried an ozone generator on my boat to prevent mildew. It did that but I had to ventilate the cabin before I could go in and I think it damaged the foam behind the head liner. Ozone will also damage hoses if they are exposed to it long term.

 

[HeadMistress]

Ozone in any concentration strong enough to do any good is not only a health hazard, it's also HIGHLY corrosive and destructive to rubber, neoprene and flexible PVC-in other words, every seal, valve and hose on a boat.

According to the EPA, "Available scientific evidence shows that, at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is generally ineffective in controlling indoor air pollution. The concentration of ozone would have to greatly exceed health standards to be effective in removing most indoor air contaminants. In the process of reacting with chemicals indoors, ozone can produce other chemicals that can be irritating and corrosive."

As for how well the portable ozone generators work when it comes to getting rid of odors… yes, people who've bought them rave do about how well they work. And, yes, the manufacturers do assure you that the ozone concentration is well below that which can present any health hazard (but they don't tell you that's because it's required to be) But if that's true, they can't deliver enough ozone to destroy the sources of any odors. If they did deliver enough ozone to destroy the sources of odors, it should only be necessary to run one occasionally. But among all the people you know who've bought ozone generators, have you ever met anyone who has one who's ever been able to turn if off without having odors return?

That should be enough to tell you that ozone generators are only very expensive air fresheners, because they don't deliver enough ozone to be anything else. Save your money and get rid of the SOURCES of your odors. Eliminating the source is the only thing that really works.

 

[Steve91T]

OP, I'm glad you posted this. We have a couple of things going on with out new to us 1996 31' Mainship. When we bought the boat, no bad smells. The first time we topped off the fuel tanks, the starbord tank's fuel sender leaked. Obviously dangerous. I changed the gasket and the leak stopped, but the damage was done, there is a faint smell of gas only when the AC is on. We have cleaned and fabreezed the filters with no luck.

On top of that, the last time we left the boat, apparently I turned off the breaker to the fridge. The once frozen chicken in a 90 degree fridge 4 days later was disgusting. The fridge still has that smell even though we have cleaned everything.

Apparently odors are really tough to get rid of in boats.

 

[HeadMistress]

Apparently odors are really tough to get rid of in boats.

Not really if you know what works and--most importantly--how to use it. And since you, along with several others are fairly new around here, I prob'ly need to say again that I'm not in any way associated with any product or equipment manufacturer, nor do I receive any compensation whatever for recommending any product or manufacturer. My opinions are my own and my recommendations are based on my own experience and that of boat owners over several decades. And I've included most of it in my books (see link in my signature).

Now that we have that out of the way.....

There's a product called PureAyre PureAyre that will get rid of every trace of the residual odor in your fridge(fwiw, the same thing happened a couple of times on my own boat) ...it even eliminates diesel and smoke odors...and it's rated for use around food, so it's safe to use in your fridge. Amazon has it...so do pet stores...Walmart may have it. If you only have to treat the filters and the fridge, you prob'ly only need the spray bottle size, although it can't hurt to have a gallon hand 'cuz you'll never know when you'll need it again. It's the best thing I've ever found to get rid of any residual odor. The "household" version is the least expensive and works just fine on boats.

Assuming that you've already thoroughly cleaned every surface, nook and cranny in it, take everything out of it and spray PureAyre onto every surface, nook and cranny in the freezer and door too...don't just aim it at the inside of the fridge, carefully coat every milimeter of it with a fine mist that coats everything..Then prop the door open so air can circulate and let it dry overnight. Wipe it all down with a clean damp rag and stick your nose in...if you can smell anything, you missed a spot.

I don't know whether your HVAC filters can be saved or not...but you have nothing to lose by spraying those with PureAyre too. Again, cover every square milimeter from both sides, then put 'em outside in the fresh air to dry. If that doesn't work, you'll have to replace the filters.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

 

[Mambo42]

It is very difficult to give any advice if we don't know what the smell is like. Are we talking rotting wood ? Are we talking mold ? Are we talking dead animals ? Are we talking fuel leaks ? Are we talking black water smells ? Are we talking hoses that are now without water and therefore pass all the smell ?

When we bought our boat it had a moldy smell in it. So we bought two dehumidifiers and had them run all winter long, brought down the humidity to 35 % and then the smell was gone. Since that time we have our dehumidifiers run as soon as we close up the boat for the winter and we have had no more mold in the boat.
Just to make things clear, we have air conditioning, but hardly use it and when we use it during the night we open up all the hatches, doors etc during daytime. Normally the boat is always open, also at night, so a breeze can always pass through. Only when rain is expected we close the top hatch, but the doors remain open, rain cannot get in anyway. I.o.w. we always have good ventilation in the boat. Using airco and letting warm/ moist air inside will cause a humid environment and ultimately you will get smells (wood, carpet, fabric etc).

As for other smells.
If you have dead animals (rats, mice, iguanas etc) you can get smell removers at your local pest control has stuff for that.
If you have rotting food then simply rasp a lemon (or more), then cut the lemons in half, put everything on a plastic plate or in a cup and place it all around. The lemon zest and lemon itself will absorb all the smells. We use it standard in all our fridges and freezers.
If the smell comes from hoses and outlets, it might be a good decision to change all those hoses.

If it comes out of the black water tank you may want to opt for changing all the hoses, cleaning everything, checking all the seals and making sure all is sealed up well.

These are just a few remedies, but it you can pinpoint the type of smell a bit better it may be easier to advise you what to do. And no, these remedies don't come from me, my admiral knows all these tricks, they have been passed on by her mother and grandmother and they still work.

 

[dhays]

My guess is that since the initial post was 7 years ago, either the smell, or the boat are long gone by now.