Boat and equipment fail

[InfantryMP]

My name is Josh, and I am an idiot.

 

I recently moved down south to the Savannah area, and brought the boat with me of course. I ordered a metal building for my boat because my two car garage was not quite long enough for the power poles etc. Fast forward about 3.5 months of me being here and my building finally gets installed. It is an 18'W x 31'L covered awning essentially. Enough to keep the weather and sun off the boat. 

 

In the meantime while I had the building on order and waiting for install, we had hurricane Ian, (hardly anything here), and a few other storms. I had the boat covered the entire time with a really nice cover from national covers I think. Anyway...I went to go mess with some tackle the other day and realized that since I had the boat outside it collected a ton of water under the cover that I did not see for a while. 

 

Long story short...Everything, and I mean everything I had in the rod lockers were moldy, all 30 of my rods and reels along with the socks. My waterproof tackle trays did their job, but I mean everything was wet and had grime all over it. 

 

I spent the day today since it was 75* cleaning it all up. The boat got detailed as well, but I did lose some pieces of equipment.

 

1. 2 scales, 1 brand new never used

2. About 5 spools of FC that had mold all over it

3. 2 sets of pliers rusted beyond use

4. assortment of hooks not in my water proof terminal box

 

I was really mad at myself for allowing that to happen, coming from the military I keep everything immaculate all the time. 

 

Anyway...does anyone have suggestions on what to place in the rod lockers and compartments to eliminate the smell? I know I can do baking power or soda (my wife will know which one), but has this happened to anyone and were able to fix it quickly? Trying to take advantage of this warmer weather get out on the lake this weekend perhaps.

[casts_by_fly]

you've got a long road ahead of you.  Mold is hard to kill and keep gone, especially since you're going to have humid summers.  The smell will be all through everything for a while.  Bleach is a good solution except you know what it will do to your carpet and anything plastic/hydrocarbon underneath it so avoid.  Your best bet will be to get an industrial mold killer concentrate and make a couple passes through everything.  Spray it down good, follow the instructions on the pack, and repeat a few times.  Then get it dry.  You're going to want constant airflow through it.  A fan at a minimum, a dehumidifier would be ideal.  Mold needs moisture to survive so the sooner you get it dry the better.  After you've cleaned and dried it, do that again a couple times.  Anything that is removable, pull it out so you can clean under it.

 

And next time, pull the drain plug and tilt the front end up.

[gim]

That's unfortunate.  I can't help you with the smell, but if you are able to open all the hatches and lids, and get some air circulating, that will help continue to dry it out.

[InfantryMP]

22 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

you've got a long road ahead of you.  Mold is hard to kill and keep gone, especially since you're going to have humid summers.  The smell will be all through everything for a while.  Bleach is a good solution except you know what it will do to your carpet and anything plastic/hydrocarbon underneath it so avoid.  Your best bet will be to get an industrial mold killer concentrate and make a couple passes through everything.  Spray it down good, follow the instructions on the pack, and repeat a few times.  Then get it dry.  You're going to want constant airflow through it.  A fan at a minimum, a dehumidifier would be ideal.  Mold needs moisture to survive so the sooner you get it dry the better.  After you've cleaned and dried it, do that again a couple times.  Anything that is removable, pull it out so you can clean under it.

 

And next time, pull the drain plug and tilt the front end up.

 

My wife mentioned a carpet cleaner wand thingy for couches, and then park in the sun while it is warm here. Rinse repeat for a few days to help clean. I would use that spray you mentioned afterwards to help kill mold as we go. That is probably my best option.

 

The drain plug was out, I probably could have tilted up a bit more, but the damp carpet coupled with the darkness made it spread quickly. 

25 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That's unfortunate.  I can't help you with the smell, but if you are able to open all the hatches and lids, and get some air circulating, that will help continue to dry it out.

 

Yea I have that going, and will continue that for a while.

[casts_by_fly]

14 minutes ago, InfantryMP said:

 

My wife mentioned a carpet cleaner wand thingy for couches, and then park in the sun while it is warm here. Rinse repeat for a few days to help clean. I would use that spray you mentioned afterwards to help kill mold as we go. That is probably my best option.

 

The drain plug was out, I probably could have tilted up a bit more, but the damp carpet coupled with the darkness made it spread quickly. 

 

Yea I have that going, and will continue that for a while.

 

 

If you have a shop vac I'd do that too if you haven't already.  I'm always amazed how much liquid my shop vac will pull up that you didn't realize was there.  Renting a carpet cleaner is another option.

[J Francho]

All bleach does is bleach out the mold.  To kill it you need to use a peroxide based mold treatment.

[Dogface]

If there is a good car detail shop near you ask them. 

 

I had a car that had been in a flood and a detail shop used some kind of commercial liquid to treat the rugs for mold and smell. 

[GaryH]

After you use mold killer and are satisfied you killed it all. Boil pots of water that fit in your lockers, place a hot mat down then put your pot of boiling water in the locker and add bleach to the water.  As the bleach evaporates it will take the odor with it.  Good luck 

[Darth-Baiter]

dang.  that sounds like a nightmare.  best of luck.

 

can you call one of those (house) mold mitgation companies?  i think i've seen them us an aeresol bomb.  and a spray that foams up so you know you got the area covered.  

 

again. good lukc.

[InfantryMP]

Thanks for the comments. 

 

I got all of the rods and reels cleaned up and dried out. They are looking good, and not smelling. I wiped them down with some clorox wipes after a soap bath. I will oil them back up tomorrow.

 

I think I am going to start with the the mold spray, coat the locker, then steam clean it with a carpet cleaner, and repeat the process for the next couple of days, hopefully I can get two sessions of that everyday. 

 

The mold spray says it helps with the smell, but I will also use some baking soda to help absorb some while it is drying every day. My wife said she has carpet powder she will use in there too...we'll see.

 

After that, I will call a professional if need be. 

[immortl]

Don't know if this would work 100% or not but I think it would help a good bit, look into an ozone generator.  If you could tent something over the boat with the access hatches open (tarp or maybe just under the boat cover, run the ozone generator under there for a while.  Perhaps a fan or two to help direct the ozone down into areas. I picked one up from Amazon a year or three ago initially to get the cigarette smoke smell out of our cars periodically and it works awesome for that.  Yes, we're bad and smoke in the vehicles.  Have also used it to remove cooking odors in the house and also use it to freshen up the RV periodically.  It may help some too with killing off the mold as you have to remove anything living prior to treatment (people, pets, plants, etc..) and air the area out before going back in.  Those little O3 molecules neutralize/kill just about everything it seems.

[Motoboss]

This stuff works!

 

HERE is what you need for the odor

 

THIS works as well for killing the mold off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TOXIC]

Welcome to my world.  My boat was left outside by the previous owner for about 3 years with a leaky cover.  When he decided to sell it I was the first one there.  The mold was so bad in the bilge, you couldn’t tell the color of the wires or even the maker of the batteries.  It was covered in black hair mold.  The tan carpet was black and all of the gages were coated.  When we pulled the seats the yellow gas tanks were coal black.  Here’s what I did.  First, I attacked all the mold I could see with simple green.  Second I sprayed all of the carpet including the boxes first with water then with a strong mix of carpet cleaner, white vinegar and water.  I could have used a carpet cleaning machine but I opted to scrub it by hand.  I did small areas at a time and flushed it all afterwards.  I used a shop vac to get as much of the water up as possible. Once fully dry I used a commercial mold killing spray in the boxes and the bilge.  I also dumped a gallon of Purple Power cleaner in the bilge with the plug in and added about 20 gallons of water to it and drove around sloshing it as much as possible.  When I opened the plug the liquid tat came out was black and had the consistency of syrup.  That was 10 years ago and I still deal with mold periodically but I store my boat outside so that is to be somewhat expected.  I use a fan under the cover in the summer.  

[InfantryMP]

I spent the weekend cleaning the rod locker carpet. Looks better than new, and smells great. 

 

I used a non bleach mold killer, and a carpet cleaner. I repeated that processes at least 7 or 8 times. I ensured it was fully dried before closing the lid. I will check it throughout the week to ensure nothing is coming back. 

 

I appreciate all the suggestions!

[Johnbt]

Ozium comes in large spray cans and also as a solid in a jar with a perforated top.

 

www.amazon.com/Ozium-804281-Regular-Eliminator-Original/dp/B008XNZZ7O

[BrianMDTX]

13 hours ago, Johnbt said:

Ozium comes in large spray cans and also as a solid in a jar with a perforated top.

 

www.amazon.com/Ozium-804281-Regular-Eliminator-Original/dp/B008XNZZ7O

Ozium is used in the airline industry for removing offensive odors. It works. 

[A-Jay]

7 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Ozium is used in the airline industry for removing offensive odors. It works. 

Makes sense too

Because most every airlines 'on time' standards STINK !

Perhaps they should spray the entire industry.

But I'm not bitter.

A-Jay

[airshot]

Had a motorhome that developed some mold and smell from sitting to long.  Found an auto detailer that worked for dealerships but took on side jobs. Best $250.00 I ever spent !!!  My MH was a 30 footer so that was why the price was high, but they have acess to all the commercial products needed to do the job correctly.  My MH looked like new when I got it back and the smell never returned in the 3 years after before we sold it.  Pay the experts....you can spend big bucks in products and your labor is worth something !!