Mold?

[Herschel]

I've not found that products like "damp rid" are not effective where I live. The last time I tried it I just ended up with lots of little buckets of slimy liquid in a very short time.

We don't have as much humidity as Florida, but I have the same problem here in the Pacific Northwest. I bought this dehumidifier https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086Y ... UTF8&psc=1. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the catch tray and keep it in the sink. Even when my boat had 4 inches of water in the cabin, the walls were dry and the cushions didn't get moist.

Jeff

I am intrigued with your dehumidifier adaptation. Might give that a try. I like the size and placement of it in the sink. Even though I leave my boat in a slip year-round and plugged in to shore power, I have been hesitant to leave any fan or lights on as storms can rock the boat around, and who knows what mischief might happen. But this might be a good exception to consider.

[dlandersson]

Ditto

I am intrigued with your dehumidifier adaptation. Might give that a try. I like the size and placement of it in the sink.

[Starscream]

A good choice for surfaces that are somewhat hidden, like the entire bilge and hidden side of the liner is a product called Concrobium. It's sprayed on, and it leaves a white powdery residue that prevents the re-formation of mold.

Concrobium is based on baking soda, washing soda, and trisodium phosphate; all easy and cheap to maintain, and easy to mix your self if you don't feel like paying hardware-store prices for Concrobium.

Here's the recipe for home-made Concrobium:

1 quart hot water
1 tablespoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
2 tablespoons washing soda (sodium carbonate)
2 tablespoons TSP (trisodium phosphate)

You can order the ingredients on Amazon or get them at a hardware store, to make as much as you want The only thing is that it tends to clog sprayers over time (especially if you didn't use hot water when making it), so use cheap Amazon spray bottles and replace them when the nozzles block up.

I've used this everywhere, and it's really good. It's not a cleanup tool, it's a supression tool. Clean up visible mold with whatever product you choose, then douse the area with this solution.

[Tsatzsue]

I try to prevent mold growth when on the trailer with this device. Works great. It keeps a small amount of air moving and increases the dew point slightly to keep condensation from forming. Thus eliminating mold growth. Uses about 70watts I think. I put it on a timer so it only ran for about 12 hrs broken up.

Caframo Limited SEEKR by Caframo, Stor-Dry, Warm Air Circulator for Boats and RVs, Combats the Effects of Moisture in Small Spaces, Low Power Draw, 120V AC, 70 Watts, Corrosion-Proof Metal

[NiceAft]

Starscream,

If the bilge areas are used for storage, how resilient is this compound to abrasion, or do you only apply during off season storage

[Be Free]

I'm with the EPA on not using chlorine bleach on mold. That's nasty stuff and it will eat your skin if you don't wear gloves. Straight bleach is 7.5% sodium hypochlorite.

Agreed. Straight bleach is a bad idea. Diluted bleach (like 1 part bleach 9 parts water) is far less dangerous. Wear gloves and eye protection and have good ventilation, of course.

9:1 is about what I clean the topsides with to get the oak leaf stains off. That's strong enough to damage clothes and take off (a little) skin if I'm walking barefoot on the cabin.

The surface cleaner formula (per the CDC) is 48:1. That's plenty for cleaning mold in the cabin. I've been known to use disposable wipes (the ones with bleach) on the inside of the cabin liner if there is not too much buildup.

[Starscream]

Starscream,

If the bilge areas are used for storage, how resilient is this compound to abrasion, or do you only apply during off season storage

It can be wiped off fairly easily, but if the space isn't used much it'll stay there for quite some time, like over a year. When I spring-clean I remove all signs of mold that I can find and douse pretty much everywhere with this stuff, except for obvious visible places.

There's another formula that replaces the washing soda with borax (same quantities) and it apparently also does a very good job against mold and mildew.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

We’ve adopted a three step interior cabin area approach that has worked very well for us.

First for only the hard surfaces we choose to use a 10% or less bleach solution for interior beginning of season cleaning.
Preferably using a premix off the shelf commercial product like those offered by Clorox:

It’s easier, simpler and it’s not expensive.
One to two bottles has been sufficient.

Safety Caveats
This is mainly for convenience though and there have been occasions we’ve mixed up the solution ourselves to refill the bottle when in the middle of a job or after store hours.
It’s Not rocket science but this is one case where more isn’t necessarily better.
Just use actual measurements and do it slowly and carefully using cold water.

Too strong and yes you can have problems.
There is no cleaning situation where using an undiluted bleach solution is ever appropriate.

As with any strong cleaner solution it is required to use skin and eye protection and only use in an actively well ventilated areas.
Not doing basic personal protection is just dumb as there is the real risk of some level of transient and/or lasting skin, eye and respiratory damage and injury.

Bleach works very well as an anti fungal and anti bacterial agent.
For those interested, per NIH National Library of Medicine - National Center for Biotechnology Information
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK4 ... %20useless.

Bleaching action occurs through oxidation or reduction. Chlorine bleaches work through oxidation; they break the chemical bond …..

They are frequently used for cleaning and disinfection; bleaches kill or control most types of viruses, bacteria, molds, mildews, and algae. Other, less documented, uses include weed killing and preservation of cut flowers. As such, bleaches are ubiquitous.

An additional interesting and useful property of bleaches relates to their antimicrobial (disinfecting) properties. Winter et al. observed that bleaches disinfect by denaturing (unfolding) bacterial proteins, causing them to clump and become useless. This is the same reaction as cooking an egg; in the same fashion, an egg cannot be uncooked.

Bleach, as subsequently used here, refers to common household bleach. Bleach contains 3% to 8 % sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl); sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is added to slow decomposition. There are industrial and concentrated forms of bleach that are used to clean equipment and treat water supplies, which are not covered here.

A light misting of diluted 10% or less bleach solution can have a persistent residual surface effectiveness for a period of time depending upon how the area is ventilated and/or exposed to sunlight. We have found that this to be particularly effective in the bilge areas after we first purchased our vessel and did a through cleaning of everywhere we could reach. The bleach vapors migrate into the bilge where we can’t reach taking care of those areas as well. Again, a light misting is all that is required.




We have continued this practice at the beginning of each subsequent season with good results.

Second we choose to use Lysol disinfectant aerosol spray on all our soft and fabric materials. This does an excellent job of penetrating fabrics and killing any mold spores without any harm to the actual fabric or other materials. Again, use active ventilation along with skin and eye protection. Do not allow vapors to accumulate. Be sure to extinguish, deactivate and remove any sources of ignition prior to and while using this or similar type products.

Third after we installed our A/C system in our vessel we choose to utilize the dehumidifier function while in the slip or during off season storage. The power draw is relatively low, it works very well and it circulates the air in the cabin. This has considerably and measurably reduced our beginning of season cleaning judging by the discoloration (dirt) of the paper towel waste.

After our beginning of season cleaning we open up the interior on a warm dry sunny day to air out. There is no residual ordors that we can detect, only fresh & clean! (Not the mankyness or dankness that we’ve smelled when visiting other boats. )
Yes, our approach is a little bit more work but we don’t mind and we really like the results, especially when we are spending extended time traveling and multiple nights aboard during our extended trips. It works for us.

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[dlandersson]

Thx

[dustoff]

I had a similar experience a few years ago. For every winter season since I got my Mac here in Maryland, I had been religious about taking every cushion, every line, and anything squishy item out of the boat and storing them in my garage. Absolutely no problems without Damp-rid or something similar. One season about 5 years ago I got a bit lazy thinking I could make my life a bit easier next spring and left them in and put two big damp-rid buckets in there. Total disaster. Mold everywhere. I had the most difficult commisioning process of my Mac ownership experience. It was on the hard surfaces, wiring, tubing, cushions and hull carpeting. I tried all of the solutions already listed. The Clorox spray bottles worked well on the hard surfaces and okay on the vinyl fabric, but not on the carpeting. I had to use a combination of abrasive soft scrub w/bleach using a circular scrubbing attachment for my shop-vac and then a rented steam cleaner to get all of the mold and detergent out.