45 californian

Our boat is almost ready. It has new bottom paint and all deferred engine and generator maintenance has been done. We had a whiff of black water and knew the waste hoses were permeated. The temp went down and I assume the outlet on the tank contracted and now looking at a tank repair. We are prepared to replace carpet and linens and all cloth items. Also going to paint the bilge and the floor. I am concerned now ( since the smell has worsened) that all the head liners ect must come out. Has anyone been thru this before? I would love some advice. OB

Look into Ibex cleaning products. They may take the smell out of your headliner.

Maybe try an ozone generator before the replacements,after you fix the leaks.

Hopefully our Headmistress, Peggie, will chime in with her usual sage advice. She's got the down low on the low down...and vice versa.

obenton said:

Our boat is almost ready. It has new bottom paint and all deferred engine and generator maintenance has been done. We had a whiff of black water and knew the waste hoses were permeated. The temp went down and I assume the outlet on the tank contracted and now looking at a tank repair. We are prepared to replace carpet and linens and all cloth items. Also going to paint the bilge and the floor. I am concerned now ( since the smell has worsened) that all the head liners ect must come out. Has anyone been thru this before? I would love some advice. OB

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We had a little head odor in our new to us 190 45 Californian this spring. I toyed with replacing all the hoses and instead did a investigation of the area around the holding tank. Turned out one hose had a slight weep. It was hardly noticeable but i found it using a paper towel as an indicator. I changed that one hose (the one from the tank to the pump) and then bought some aquarium activated charcoal which i added to a section of old panty hose and hung in the holding tank compartment. Smell is gone. Time will tell if this remedy holds up.

obenton said:

Our boat is almost ready. It has new bottom paint and all deferred engine and generator maintenance has been done. We had a whiff of black water and knew the waste hoses were permeated. The temp went down and I assume the outlet on the tank contracted and now looking at a tank repair. We are prepared to replace carpet and linens and all cloth items. Also going to paint the bilge and the floor. I am concerned now ( since the smell has worsened) that all the head liners ect must come out. Has anyone been thru this before? I would love some advice. OB

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Our 1990 calif hadall the old boat smells.First I cleaned all the bilges with a mix of bleach and Whisk administered with a one gallon sprayer, several times. Remove panels leading to the hull and spray there as well.
Replaced and tightened all head lines. Re-sealed the access port into black tank after scooping 25 years of raw water flush sediment out. Changed heads to fresh water flush.
Every opportunity I get I open up the bilges and ventilate with fans and open windows. This REALLY helps.
It's pretty good after 6 months of all the above several times

mkinter said:

Our 1990 calif hadall the old boat smells.First I cleaned all the bilges with a mix of bleach and Whisk administered with a one gallon sprayer, several times. Remove panels leading to the hull and spray there as well.
Replaced and tightened all head lines. Re-sealed the access port into black tank after scooping 25 years of raw water flush sediment out. Changed heads to fresh water flush.
Every opportunity I get I open up the bilges and ventilate with fans and open windows. This REALLY helps.
It's pretty good after 6 months of all the above several times

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I also keep small pans of unscented kitty litter in any space I can get into. Indpect frequently and replace when the litter smells.

45ft californian waste issues

Unfortunately a cold spell hit Tennessee and we found that the waste tank had a leak . It must have had the leak when there was water in the bilge because there is dried waste all the way aft. We are trying to power spray under the fresh water tank which is under the aft cabin. Very difficult space to access. Next will be to take up the batteries and the floor in the engine room to blow all the stuff out of there. Has anyone had this issue before. I'm getting pessimistic about ever getting the boat to be livable

Sorry to hear that, OB. I get to feeling the same way when the latest project fit hits the shan, but "this, too, shall pass."

Hopefully this will soon be ancient history for you as you're enjoying your new, fresh boat!

Aluminum waste tanks do have a tendency to develop leaks. Ouch.
Watch out with the space under the fresh water tank. The fuel tank is under there in it's own sort of box. If you do indeed have waste in that box, you'll have a major job getting it out of there. If you pull the bed and remove the access hatches you'll have room to poke a pump or wet vac nozzle into the box to dry it out.
As noted, this will pass.
The bare bones of the Californian are really good, but the items in the hull are the same as any boat and fail with age.

I find this very interesting. Your 45 should be the same as my 48 except for no middle stateroom. My water tank is under my aft fuel tank under the mattress in the aft stateroom. My holding tank is fiberglass and is under the galley and runs from the engine room to the forward stateroom and is glassed into the hull. I had an oder problem everytime i would flush a head and I traced it down to a plugged vent line. My vent line is 1.5" same as the waste lines and it being plugged made it hard to do a full pump out. Air was being pulled through the three head joker valves. Forgot to mention my fresh water tank is also fiberglass. Since I fixed the vent line we have had no oder problems and we get a full pumpout with no problems. Good luck with your problem. I am only an hour away if you need some help.

45 californinan

the problem we have is getting to all of the hull beneath the aft water tank with a power sprayer. The only access at present is from the back behind the bed. Its a small space and and the sprayer cannot reach the area under the front of the tank. So I told the mechanic who can do most anything on a boat to cut a hatch if needed to allow for power spraying. Does anyone know if there is space in the bilge to even get into for this purpose.OB

Finally got most of the smell out. With lots of powerspraying,bleach,Dawn and some kind of citrus smelling agent. Made the 70 mile trip down the Tenn river with no issues. Now my wife takes over.