Boat "funk"

[rodecon]

I have taken a few rollers over the bow and with the rainy, overcast and cool weather we have been experiencing in Upstate NY I haven't been able to fully dry out the interior to my boat, and it has developed a case of general mildew odor or "funk".

 

What have other Ballers done to cure this? I thought about a dilute solution of bleach but will that bleach the carpet?

[gregy]

Rent a water extactor carpet cleaner and use some commecial cleaner. My buddy used clothe detergent and a shop vac

[I5boi]

Closed bow always help...

[skiray]

There msy be a better way, but this is what I've done. Go to a car wash. Put the sprayer on soap. Cover the carpet with as little as possible. (It goes a long way) Pressure wash the soap out. Be careful around the vinyl.

[jwroblew]

Use diluted solution of simple green, stay away from soap, if you don't get it all out it will attract dirt. Then rinse with fabric softener, fluffs the carpet back up and make it smell fresh, rinse then rinse some more. Shop vac up the water, then put in the damp rid buckets until its completly dry.

[SDNAH2OSKIER]

The "carpet" in newer boats, 90 and up are nylon and olefin and are essentially plastic. They can be damaged by bleach but are relatively impervious to cleaning solutions. Most household cleaners arent labeled, but you should be able to clean them with degreasers as strong as 12.5-13ph however, you should treat the carpet with a mildew specific cleaner (its actually a fungus) like wet and forget (name??) or moldoff (sp??) just google, not sure if I got the names correct

.

[BraceMaker]

My go to for a wet boat (if you have power) is to put a dehumidifier in there with the drain tube under the dog house and tarp the boat.

 

She'll be dry pretty quick. A good windy sunny day helps, but you're SOL there huh?

[east tx skier]

Tide Detergent with no bleach and warm water in a bucket. Get a good soft bristle brush and go to town on the carpet bit by bit. When you're done, take the boat to the hand wand car wash and without much squeeze on the wand, rinse the carpet and wash the soapy water into the bilge. Use a shop vac to remove the excess and leave in the sun to dry. When you're done, you can spray a mixture of Downy fabric softener and water onto the carpet. I have heard one person who swears this will fluff up the nap in the carpet. Never did much to my 98, but I may have not been liberal enough with the Downy. Either way, it will smell nice.

[SDNAH2OSKIER]

At east tx, tide is good, or for an easy household go to, Dawn.

[rodecon]

Thanks guys, a lot of great ideas here! Loving the simple green and fabric softener idea!

[Tdub]

Love the Downy idea as well. My carpet looks so good...under the bow. I will give it a try.

[Wayne]

Our old boat got a little funky after multiple week long vacations down at Dale Hallow Lake. It spent a lot of time with the cover on and soaked carpets.

 

I hit it with fabreeze and let it air out really good. I also sprayed all the enclosed compartments with an amorall mildew remover. This helped but I would still smell something if the boat got really wet. At the end of the season I vacuumed everything really well, power washed the carpets with a low pressure nozzle and straight water. Then shot fabreeze on the carpets while they were still wet and let the boat dry out really good before covering it for winter storage. I think I fabreezed it again after it dried out.

 

The following season no more lake smell and when the carpet got soaked it had a fresh laundry smell.