MOLD!

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:56 am

The potential adverse risks of shrink wrapping especially up here where the winter days can be relatively hot & sunny and then the nights cold have always concerned me. Why I have never wrapped my smaller boats, I just used tarps to keep the snow off.
Now with a larger boat I make sure my marina has a shed I can put it under to keep snow away.... I have never had a problem with mold with either route.
Mike... Good luck getting it fixed, since you are so allergic to it I would suggest you take down the headliner as there is likely to be mold on the other side of it as that is the cloth surface. That way you can also see if there is any on the underside of the topside fibreglass too. Mold keeps coming back unless it is thoroughly removed.
After replacing with new headliner your boat will look like new.

chumwithabottleofrum · Thu May 14, 2009 7:37 am

Just out of curiosity-those of you that shrink wrap your boats-are you putting desiccant on the boat when you shrink wrap?

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:49 am

MikeAstringer, we all had to learn from experience, either ours or someone elses and luck is where experience and opportunity come together, Good luck.

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:02 am

We store ours inside and I leave the windows open, but we still get some mold in the v-berth area (around the headliner and sidewalls). Our long winters can be pretty damp.

Here's a homemade recipe for a mildew spray that may be useful. It makes a galllon:

1 pint rubbing alcohol
1 cup bleach
1 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons anti-bacterial dish detergent or liquid hand soap
3 quarts water

Put this into a leftover spray bottle and add 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide to the spray bottle when you're ready to use it. The reason for this is that the H2O2 breaks down if left in the rest of the mix.

Mac32 · Post by **Mac32** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:06 pm

I had the same spots of mold on my head liner that I cleaned up a few times, but when I gutted the interior of my boat last year (to do the stringer rebuild) what I found is the fiberglass behind the areas of headliner had 10x mold on them and the headliner was just the tip of the ice berg. It was quite a surprise, the more I disassembled the more I found lurking.

Of course this was my situation and may not be the case for you, but I can tell you that I now feel so much better that I did look behind the curtain to expose the mold and take care of it. Especially now before my family spends time sleeping on the boat this season.

Also I did use bleach because it was hard surface, and I had the interior removed so I did not stain anything. Now I am going to spray with a paint that has anti fungal additives before I put a new headliner in.

TC · Post by TC » Thu May 14, 2009 9:04 pm

When we bought our boat it had some mold on the headliner. That surprised me cause the owners wife was a nurse and used the boat as an apartment to sleep in on her shifts. Anyway, Clorox, a small scrub brush and right arm horsepower. That was 2 years ago. I installed a solar vent last summer and all hatches are left open all winter. Nothing has returned.

foofer b · Post by **foofer b** » Thu May 14, 2009 9:21 pm

Once again, I am happy to live in the south! Plus the $90 a month I shell out for covered storage (with my boat on my trailer) seems a bargain. I store it uncovered, and the afternoon sun shines through the front windows, eliminating any mildew and mold. But the topsides get kinda dusty. I have been contemplating a blue tarp cover. Any suggestions or recommendations?

vito tursi · Post by **vito tursi** » Thu May 14, 2009 9:25 pm

When we bought our International it had been sitting neglected for a long while, we tried everything to rid the V-Berth of the mold and the only thing that worked was a product by ZEP commercial called no-scrub Mold & Mildew Stain Remover. We bought it at Home Depot and have not seen any reacurance of the mold and it has been a year. Good Luck!!