That Old Boat Smell

[Sabre602]

Well, as to diesel, I love the smell....

My late father-in-law was a gifted machinist. He loved old boats and had one his whole life; it had an ancient and enormous old Meadows diesel. He bought diesel cars and trucks before anyone really had them in the US.

In his shop he had a perfume atomizer containing diesel!

 

[kthoennes]

My late father-in-law was a gifted machinist. He loved old boats and had one his whole life; it had an ancient and enormous old Meadows diesel. He bought diesel cars and trucks before anyone really had them in the US.

In his shop he had a perfume atomizer containing diesel!

I sure understand that sentiment. The smell of my garage/workshop is a comforting mix of lumber, wood shavings, WD-40 from wiping down the bare metal parts of machine tools, potting soil, and a faint trace of gas from the lawn mower, chain saw, lawn tractor, leaf blower and power washer. One whiff of that smell is the best anti-anxiety medication I know.

 

[Island Cessna]

There isnt any sulfur in the water. Its the things that live in the water and DIE that produce sulfur dioxide. Even city water treated properly has things that are harmless living in it. Normally the turnover is rapid enough that they dont die but in an unused boat they die and decay.

I’d follow Atwood’s cleaning recommendations. The city water will contain some sulfates, and the corrosion of the aluminum might reduce these to H2S. I didn’t bother to research the chemistry but I’ll bet Atwood did!

 

[tom.gohring]

I agree with vent the bilge.... .

I really like this solution. Can you give some guidance on type of fan? Obviously it will need to be rated for continuous use.... Thanks!

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

 

[DHeckrotte]

Presuming you're docked with shore power, just buy the cheapest fan at a Home Despot or similar, made by our friends in Red China. I've run one in my house basement continuously for about half of the last three years. It's plugged into a GFI, was going fine when I unplugged it last October, and it ran fine when I had to dry up after an ingress of water a month ago.

 

[HeadMistress]

How would venting the bilge have any impact on how the water in a water heater smells???

A wet dirty bilge is a primordial soup that can make a whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer...venting will only blow stinky air out to perfume the air outside the boat...something your dock neighbors won't appreciate. Cleaning the bilge is only way to eliminate odor from it...really CLEAN it instead of just dumping some "miracle" product and some water into it to swish around and calling it done.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

 

[tom.gohring]

Dear HeadMistress, this is good advice. I've recently acquired my dreamboat: plan to clean up the bilge (yes, really clean it up) AND add some additional ventilation.

Dear DHeckrotte, I'll see what Home Depot has to offer.

Cheers, Tom

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I thought the OP was about general boat odors. H2S was simply a side issue. Yup, like everyone is suggesting, ventilate. We leave 2 fans running in most every cabin. We started with 1 per but bought a bunch on sale ($11 ea, I think) so we figured why not run them all. 10 running on high and oscillating as we speak.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lakewood...ns&wpa_tax=1072864_133032_1230511&wpa_bucket=

This vendor has a variety of interesting fans that might easily be adapted with plastic dryer vent tubing to blow the bilge. After cleaning, of course.

Dayton Squirrel Cage Electric Blowers for woodstoves and more - Electric Motor Warehouse

 

[kthoennes]

My apologies, it was my fault really for drifting the thread from general boat aroma to water heater stank. In retrospect I should have started another thread (even though this one has been really helpful and I sure appreciate the advice and opinions). We keep a small clip-on fan running on one of the screened-in bathroom portholes too, but to me that just deals with the symptom -- pretty effectively I admit, but doesn't address the cause or the source. It ultimately just vents the smell to outside the boat and toward my slip neighbor, which isn't very nice. Either way I don't want to be known as the stinky boat on Dock A.

 

[firstbase]

How would venting the bilge have any impact on how the water in a water heater smells???

A wet dirty bilge is a primordial soup that can make a whole boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer...venting will only blow stinky air out to perfume the air outside the boat...something your dock neighbors won't appreciate. Cleaning the bilge is only way to eliminate odor from it...really CLEAN it instead of just dumping some "miracle" product and some water into it to swish around and calling it done.

Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

I went back and forth with Peggy for quite a while trying to chase down down what I thought was a sanitation odor due to an unfortunate run in with a clogged vent line which cause a mini-explosion draining my complete full with other peoples poop holding tank into the bilge. The whole time I was chasing there was a seemingly small amount of water in the bilge that I could not get out on a regular basis coming from my under achieving shaft seals. Maybe a gallon, 1.5 gallons, not much. I would clean the bilge well, empty it out and the water would of course come back. I just ignored it because "It's a boat". After thorough cleaning, PureAyre, etc. it would be fine for a couple if days and then it would be back. Once I got around to getting the shaft seals under control I was able to keep the bilge much drier. No smell. At all. If there is some hint or whiff down in the engine room it is in direct proportion to the amount of water in the bilge. If I hand pump it "dry", only several cups of water in the sump, then no smell. Moral of my long winded story is don't underestimate bilge water.