I pulled our boat out and planned to prep it for our first outing last weekend. I had other projects I was working on this winter so our boat had to sit outside a couple months. I have done this many times over the past 25 years as needed to our boats and we have been successful at storing it well and I never once had a moisture issue.
I wanted no issues so I bought a brand new "Heavy Duty" tarp to put over the boat. I always use straps and supports to make sure there is good drain and no low spots for water to sit in. This year California had very little rain again so I expected no moisture issue but I was very wrong. The new tarp had cracked along the top strap by the windshield, maybe wind damaged it, I don't really know but it split. the split was at the top of the windshield and I never saw it. Water got inside and when I pulled the cover off the MOLD Damage was unbelievable. My boat was near perfect inside, white / Red and Black interior colors.
My White area's in the seats were black with mold. I wanted to cry. It looked like I would need a complete new interior. I started cleaning with a strong mix of Murphys oil soap and water. This removed about 50% of the mold on the first pass. I did not dry the interior as I washed and I left the Murphy's oil soap solution on the interior to soak in. I have used this for about 20 years on my interior and it seems to keep the seats very soft and it feels good to the touch after cleaning. Second wash and a little more came off. I am starting to have hope I can save the interior. Third pass it is a little better but some area's are still showing black spots that are not coming off.
Now I am into this cleaning about 6 hours and I quit for the night.
The next day after reading all I could find on Mold removal with Marine applications I decided to use a solution of Bleach and water with about 5-10% bleach. It was a strong mix. Reading told me this can be used to clean the interior if you are very careful to not let the bleach touch any of the seams where the interior is sewn together.
This solution was effective but very hard to avoid dripping on the carpet or getting on the seams. Procedure was the same, dip the cleaning rag in the bleach solution, wring it out and wipe the mold areas, not to scrub them but to apply the bleach and let it work for me. Use gloves to protect your hands. After a full day and lots of applications I did get almost all the black spots out of my interior. I hope I kept the bleach off the threads.
Everything I read says the bleach will eat the threads in no time so I was careful.
On a very close inspection I can find area's that still have black stains but they are out of the way and area's hard to get to without getting bleach on the seams and not in the site lines. I washed the interior after this process again with a mix of Murphy's oil soap and water, rinsed it well and the interior feels good and looks great again. Then I started cleaning the carpets from under the back seats to the bow. Time will tell if I kept the bleach off the seams but I tried my best. After this major project I had to wash every single item stored in the boat, ropes, ski's, vests, and the 100 other items we keep in the boat. My boat cover was old so think I will just order a new one. The tarp that failed is in the trash. I can't believe it split but it did.
About 25 hours later I am ready to start putting everything back in the boat.
A fan has run for about a week drying everything. Glad there is no wood to rot!!!
New Plan, EXPAND the garage so I have room to store the boat even when I have other projects that need garage space. I normally always garage the boat but when necessary I had a system that had always worked in the past to run the boat out while I did the other jobs. This boat was so clean it kills me that this happened but I thought reporting this might help others avoid the same fate and I deserve the verbal beatings for putting it out in the winter.
I finished with putting my 4 blade Acme 224 back on and ran the engine while on the trailer, all good there so I think it is ready.
I think there is a product that adds UV protection to the seats and Engine Cover does anyone have experience with a good product? I am afraid the bleach might have weakened the factory protection..
When I did my reading to find a good product to clean the Mold one product was advertised as an all Natural product that did not harm the environment or hurt your interior. Reading the ingredients for this product I saw it had Coconut oil as the main ingredient., same thing is true for Murphy's oil soap so I stayed with Murphy's.
A boat magazine test of the top Mold removers said all the tested products work about as well as a bleach and water mix so I stayed with bleach and water for the serious area's.
The warnings about keeping the bleach off threads and seams must be true, the cotton rag I used with the bleach mix for most of my scrubbing of the Mold dissolved into a powdery like substance.
|