gritty fine black mold

S

Susan E

New member
if you live in the northwest, and in the trees, then i am curious how you remove the fine gritty black mold that coats the inside of our boats ( and now our camper) .

yes we do have a heater on in the boat in the winter which helps. otherwise I could not see the walls for the black mold. but every spring i take soap and 10% bleach and wipe down every surface. i pull out ever drawer and scrub teh walls behind, and even the ceiling has this mold.

anyone know of a spray on wipe down product that kills it. some time i worry i am just spreading and reseeding the mold for next year.

thanks
susan elliott
 
inside the cabin we use Tilex w/ bleach. its seems to kill it pretty good with very little if any return.

on the outside of the boat we are always fighting it..
 
3m makes a mildew preventive spray that works well, I use it in the hard to access areas and it has worked well for years-available at Defender or West Marine.
Roger
 
Any product you use requires a certain amount of contact time that is the time the item being treated remains wet with the disinfectant to be effective. This should be on the product insert or instructions for use.

Covered storage is probably the best solution along with improving air circulation using a fan and/or dehumidifier, repair any leaks and store as many items as possible inside your home after cleaning and keep cabinets and drawers open.

You need to be careful using bleach. It can damage fabrics and dont mix bleach with ammonia.

The above information is basic remediation tips
 
Hi Susan. Like Brent says , air is the key. Much more ventilation and believe it or not, less heat. Heat helps the mold get going Open the doors, hatches etc crack all the windows and turn the heat off or down to frost setting. Kerri On was stored in BC the first winter in wet conditions with just a full tarp over and windows open a tad. No heat and No mold. We have no mold even now after being aboard 6 1/2 months. We do heat but ventilate also. We wipe all surfaces with diluted vinegar once in a while. I believe vinegar to be a great anti microb product. So vinegar clean , more air and less heat. George. See you soon
 
Agree on the moving air being good. However, when I have had to scrub mildew, I use a boric acid/water mix. If I remember correctly it's a slight base (ph) and so discourages future development as well (again, IIRC, acid is not quite as good at this). I usually use one mixture/bucket to clean with, then mix up a clean batch to wipe on and leave to dry in place (for the discouragement effect). It's relatively non-toxic to work with.

There are numerous Googlable links to find out more (and decide whether to use boric acid or to choose one of the other methods instead).

Sunbeam
 
I salvaged 4 of those little 12 volt dc brushless fans from old computers & attached alligator clips & leave them hooked to my big crab pot puller battery in the v-berth storage compartment. Each draw only .12 amps & also have a 3 bank on board charger maintaining batteries during carport covered storage. I get very little mold & I live in a redwood rain forest.used to use Clorox cleaner spray to occasionally wipe down the interior prior to fishing season but use vinegar now due to all the bleached out spots on the sleeves of my jackets! Oops! Vern/C-Dog
 
Get a real mask and gloves to protect you from spores while you clean. These things are highly toxic and you actually get more and more sensitive to them the more you are around them. We have been using bleach to kill mold and clean it off then go back later and clean again with vinegar which kills the mold spores because of the acid content in it.
 
Good topic, and of concern to us since we're now preparing to haul the boat back to Florida - probably long term. Florida's heat and humidity has Got to make it a mold/mildew mecca. (Previously, we storing the boat under cover in Arizona where folks don't even think about such issues.)

Naturally we will give Katmai a thorough cleaning and drying once we're back in FL. Beyond that we will use the full, but breathable, storage cover, but the boat will still be exposed to the elements. During previous storage periods in FL (5-6 months, but during the drier winter, not summer) we kept the boat covered and closed-up, but used a sizable container of desiccant (moisture absorbent), changed weekly, inside to reduce the humidity; that seemed to work. We would certainly be 'up for any other ideas for longer-term storage in the FL environment. To address mold issues during the summer maybe we'll just have to make a point of being-onboard and cruising! :-)

Is anyone aware of a bug-bomb type aerosol spray that could be used to get into all the tiny nooks and crannies that we can't access during cleaning (but that probably contain mildew/mold spores)?

Best,
Casey&Mary
...in Prince Rupert, about to haul/trailer Katmai (to FL)
 
Remove as many items as possible, open all doors, drawers, etc, install electric fan for constant air circulation. A timer will help reduce electric bill
 
I'm with Brent. Air circulation is key. Also, as he mentions, remove anything fabric if you can (i.e. store cushions, curtains somewhere off the boat). If you can't remove them, at least prop them up and open any lockers you can (making sure doors or panels aren't encouraged to warp by being open). Empty lockers of any gear you can - especially potentially salty things such as lines and anchor rode (or, stop at Powell on the way back for a couple of weeks to rinse them out :lol: -- oh but wait, you have the springs areas at home! I can't wait to check those out with my C-Dory).

Anything with a texture can retain salt or moisture and/or seems to attract spores easier. When in the tropics, wood that was varnished satin was much more of an issue than glossy, for example.

A couple of years ago I was dealing with a mold/mildew situation in a camper. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I read very good things about boric acid (Borax). It it slightly base, which from what I read is a good thing, and also relatively non-toxic and non-damaging. It sounded to me like a better bet than bleach or vinegar. Also you don't have to rinse the final application and the residue (not that you can see or feel it) supposedly repels mold/mildew. Last of all it is basic and inexpensive (in the old fashioned baking-soda type of way).

So, if it were me, I would remove as much gear as possible, clean what's left to within an inch of its life, wipe down with a clean batch of boric acid/water (you can find the ratios online), prop everything possible open, and ensure as much air circulation as possible.

Sunbeam
 
I keep a dehumidifier running at the driest setting when the boat is not in use. It only costs a few dollars a month, which is cheaper then even one mold cleanup.
 
What are the active ingredients ?
Is it safe, corrosive , flammable ?
A proven treatment ?

As a point of discussion some federal buildings were decontaminated with vaporized hydrogen peroxide to kill bacterial spores and it worked well with lots of testing after treatment

Dehumidifier and fan seems to me to be very effective
 
Low heat from an oil heater.
Air flow via a fan made to leave in boats I got at West Marine.
Open all cabinets, drawers etc and stand pillows up (air flow).
Store bedding in vacuum "Space" bags.

So far; so good.
 
A lot depends on the area of the country and environment. We like to use the marine dehumidifier (Mighty Dry)) and pipe the water overboard. Circulation with fans. We also air condition in the summer/hot time--expensive, but better for RV and boat.

I believe that a very good cleaning at the end of the season is also very important. Bleach. I have used the 3 M anti fungal material--not sure what it is.
 
What Mark says (although we used a little electric heater on a thermostat in the winter months)

Plus a small peltier type dehumidifier running whenever you are not using the boat 24/7. We used the petite model on our 25 and would actually leave wet gear in the boat to dry out and we never had any mold trouble at all. I have a mini now for the Lund with cover and our friends use a mini on a 40 foot sailboat which they claim is the best modification they have made to the boat among many. They are very quiet and use little power and can be wired directly to 12v if you like.

LINK

I did have some mold in the bilge but it was manageble with just simple green.
 
Greg,
The Eva-Dry looks very interesting. The advert shows that it runs on 22w/120v but you mentioned that it can be configured to 12v. Is there a voltage choice (?) or do you have to do some requiring?
Thanks.
Best,
Casey&Mary
 
There is a converter as part of the supplied AC power cord and that converts the AC to DC 12v.

Any time you have a heavy, mysterious box in the middle of your AC power supply, there is a good chance the device is actually using DC at some voltage and 12v components are really common out in the wild. A simple check with your multimeter can give you the specific voltage.

My friend simply cut the wire between converter and Evadry, added his own connector, and wired his own lead to a 12v supply on his sailboat.

That way he just lets in run all the time. They have a sophisticated weather station in the boat and he said the humidity level is drastically reduced with that mini in use. We ran ours 24/7 for over two years and it was still humming along when we sold the boat.

We did well with the petite model in our 25 and the mini is the same design but about twice the size. I think the petite was adequate for a cdory and fit nicely behind the sink. These units are also pretty easy to modify for constant drainage through an output hose to the sink. The little water catchment container can fill up in two to five days for us in the northwest.

Ours is visible in this pic:


Greg
 
From Wikipedia: "The main advantages of a Peltier cooler (compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator) are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, and its small size and flexible shape (form factor). Its main disadvantage is high cost and poor power efficiency."

I am sure that the peltier cooler used to condense air and thus precipitate moisture will run fine on 12 volts. I had a 12 volt unit on the boats we were building in the late 1970's and there is little increase in effeciency on the current units. It is a simple principle--but uses a lot of power. Yes it works. The Mighty Dry, which is a true marine de-humidifier uses a compressor and cooling coils costs about $500 when you can find them--vs $100 for the EVA unit. However the compressor type will remove far more moisture and have a humidistat on the control--I have gotten the humidity in our RV down to l0% in an environment where the native humidity is in the 80 to 90% range.

Also in the PNW the issues with mold are far different than in Florida, where it is warm to hot year around. We kept our Cal 46 in the water in Sequim for 4 winters, with zero mold problems, only using several of the 'rod" type of heaters and couple of light bulbs, plus good circulation. In Florida you need to get the humidity down to a low level. The C Dory has a lot of "ventillation" under the gunnels, the anchor rode opening etc.
 
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