Help! Mold! Now what?

Removing the hatch does not require any special skills. Take the hatch cover to an open position, then use a phillips screwdrive and remove the screws. If the hatch does not easily come off, then either use a very slim pry bar or a at least a 3/8" wide flat blade screw driver and slowly work the hatch rim off the deck. Clean off any old caulking. Depending on what you find, we can walk you rought the repairs. If you own a boat, best to know now to repair it! (or have a deep wallet and know a good repair person on the payroll).
 
An update on the mold situation:

Leaving a little Tilex residue has worked to keep the mold from coming back, though the boat still smells a little moldy -- and a little like Tilex too, as you can imagine.

To control the moisture, we put four of the large Damprid buckets in the house. This has helped somewhat with the moisture, but not as much as I had hoped. I am surprised that four of these did not do a better job.

We are off tonight to buy a Frigidaire FDB50R1 dehumidifier from Best Buy. Apparently it has a continuous drain option, so my plan is to set it up on the galley and drain it into the sink. Any thoughts on this?

We did four of the the 24 hr. ProActive Chlorine Dioxide Gas things today to supposedly kill any lingering mold or bacteria. Hopefully this will help with the smells and kill the mold on the teak upon which we could not use Tilex.
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mike
 
I read somewhere recently that leaving a residue of any chemical in hopes of preventing further mildew is a waste of time and effort because the moisture in the air dilutes and washes away the chemical.

FWIW.

Warren
 
Doryman":12wtmuyq said:
I read somewhere recently that leaving a residue of any chemical in hopes of preventing further mildew is a waste of time and effort because the moisture in the air dilutes and washes away the chemical.
Click to expand...
That could be the case. Either way, though, the answer is to control the humidity. At least, that's my hope. :)
 
This morning, we pulled out the cushions and the carpet and set up the dehumidifier. Once I removed the wheels, it set atop the sink nicely. This humidifier has a connector for a short piece of hose, which I connected and set in the sink drain. I set the humidifier for 35%, the lowest setting before continuous.

As a side note, the ProActive treatment surely did something. The boat smells so much better now. It's a remarkable difference.
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mike
 
Consider putting an ionizer in the cabin for a few days. I've used it for eliminating odors from a dead raccoon in an attic to mold in a '62 Volvo 1800 rescued from a junk yard. Do some homework first as some sources discourage it.
 
Moisture removal is based on humidity and temperature on common house hold units.
The humidity can be high but if the temperature becomes colder, less moisture will be removed
 
Hi On you question of mold i do mold remediation for a living in fact i thought class on the subject in new orleans in 05 gustav in o8. don't Panic if you have a hepa vacuum vacuum as much has possible with that first get all you can with the vacuum then take a bleach solution 20 to 1 dilution dip a rage in it whip it down on the wood you may wont to test a spot first to see if it changes color if it does you can get a product for mold called QGC at your local supplier janitorial supplier would have it and wipe the areas down.
then get the area in the boat dry your relative humidity is to high a dehumidifier will do the trick get down to 45 % or less if possible
pick up a vapor respirator with an organic filter about 25 dollar at ace hardware easy fix Duff
 
Just an update:

The humidifier has been in the boat for a couple of weeks, and the house is dry. No mold growing and no smell.

Brent, the humidifier operates down to 41 degrees, and it seems to put out some heat when operating. I'll have to check it on our colder days and see how it is doing.

Maybe I should get a small heater to put in the house? Something that comes on around 40 degrees?
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mike
 
I also wanted to mention that even though it seems we have beat the mold problem, we have not yet found a way to get the mold stains off of the teak (without bleaching it, of course). Any suggestions?
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mike
 
wannaboat":1ed3z2tk said:
Just an update:

The humidifier has been in the boat for a couple of weeks, and the house is dry. No mold growing and no smell.

Brent, the humidifier operates down to 41 degrees, and it seems to put out some heat when operating. I'll have to check it on our colder days and see how it is doing.

Maybe I should get a small heater to put in the house? Something that comes on around 40 degrees?
---
mike
Click to expand...

Yes I agree
Typically humidifier operates from 40 - 95 F
A hydrometer is useful to measure the effectiveness.
At lower temps the rh decreases and removing the water from is air is not needed and a fan would be suitable and useful to the keep the air moving.
good luck and nice boat
 
Just wanted to follow up here. The dehumidifier seems to be working great - even in freezing weather. It's operation does seem to be keeping the cabin warm enough for it to keep working.
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mike
 
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