Most boat owners know that sinking feeling you get when opening the cabin door after the boat has been locked up for a few days. It’s that musty musty smell maybe mixed with head odors, gasoline chemicals in the engine bay, stale tobacco odors, cooking odors, etc. The smell is a bit embarrassing for any guests you bring on board, as well as how the clothes, cushions and bedding smell on board.
Most ship odors emanate from the bilge. The water in the bilge gets nasty. There are smells of oil and fuel. Holding tanks filter odors into the bilge. Mold, fungus and bacteria accumulate. All those odors end up in your cabin and are not pleasant to the nose or healthy. Mold and mildew collect in the bilge and seep into the cabin. Air fresheners don’t work, they just cover up odors. The air filter may be a temporary fix, but as soon as they are turned off, the smell is back. What you need to do is stop odors at the source.
Some necessary measures to take into account in the bilge are to make sure that all the hoses are correctly fastened (below the water level, double fastening). Check your bilge pump periodically by raising the float to make sure it engages. Use an engine oil pan or absorbent pads under the engine to catch oil leaks. Use a good detergent like Tide liquid (no phosphates) to clean the bilge. Put a cup or so of Tide in the bilge water and head out for a ride. The splashing water will clean the bottom of the bilge, then vacuum it with water and rinse it. Do not pump the bilge water with the Tide into the water (it is illegal).
Now that your bilge is in good shape, keeping it odor free. Quantum Pure Aire has been manufacturing air purifiers for the marine industry for over 20 years. Their products have been featured in major boating magazines for years. They have several models for different applications. They work with low level ozone generation and attack airborne pollutants and control the source of the pollutants.
The best solution for bilge odor control is a product called BilgeBuster. Quantum’s BilgeBuster(TM) effectively removes odors from holding tanks, greywater, gas and diesel fumes while preventing the growth of harmful mold and mildew. US Coast Guard Labs FCC 15B (non-interference) approved and is absolutely safe for use in the bilge where gasoline, diesel, and propane vapors often collect.
Hundreds of boaters have installed these units in their bilge and within a couple of days they have eliminated odors they have been struggling with for years. They work on boats from 20 feet to mega yachts. It’s a great system, check it out.
In addition, there are cabin units to control cooking odors, tobacco odors, pet odors, mold in the cabin, etc.
