How to get out the smell.....

[Guest]

So it looks like the boat I bought had a small leak in the holding tank. There is a bit of an odor left after removing all of the plumbing, hoses, tanks, etc. Anyone have any tricks for getting a stubborn odor out of the vberth area/bilge under Vberth.

I am replacing everything with Sealand hoses, tanks, etc.

Thanks

[Oswego John]

Hi guest,

We have a predicament up here in the boonies that may, or may not, apply to your situation.

We are the proud??? owners of a rare, purebred Oswego Skunkhound. This dog has the intelligence of an anvil. Actually, he has more nerve than brains. During season, he ties in with a skunk three or four times a week. He never wins, never learns.

Of course, he is relegated to staying outside. I might add that he has no friends. When he is "in odor", we find that the only thing that seems to return him to a semi- civilized state is swabbing him down with copious amounts of tomato juice. It seems to neutralize the obnoxious odor until the next encounter. Perhaps tomato juice might be of some benefit for your problem.

I shall ask my wife if tomato juice really works when she uses it on him.

O J

[Tom Keevil]

OJ:
Forget the tomato juice. Rub him down with (rubbing) alcohol in generous amounts, wash him with your favorite shampoo, then rinse copiously with dilute Clorox, say 1:10. My husband, the chemist, can tell you why this works (oxidation/reduction stuff,) but it doesn't really matter. Just make sure that you then do steps one and two to yourself, to get the poison oak off that you've just transferred from dog to you. (Voice of experience here...)
This technique might transfer better to one's boat than tomato juice?
jean

[M. R. Bober]

John & Jean,
Perhaps the ideal solution would be a combination of your remedies. I would suggest mixing the tomato juice with some alcohol (vodka or gin)--let's call it a Bloody Mary--as a odor mitigation experiment. Rather than splashing it on the dog (or under the V-berth,) sip it slowly. Repeat as neccessary until the odor is no longer objectionable.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where V8 is often used in place of the juice of the tomato), MD

[Frank Vernet]

Yes, yes that's it. It also allows you to satisfy your daily vegetable intake requirements

[Oswego John]

To one and all,

It never ceases to amaze me when I reflect on the collective wisdom of this board. It never fails.

Tomato juice is so mundane, V8 juice is truly the way to go. Celery swizzle, anyone?

Staying out of the woods,
Pepe Le Pew
AKA
O J

[M. R. Bober]

I learn something nearly every time I visit this board. For instance, until this morning I was totally unaware of the existence of the Oswego Skunkhound.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where if you learn something new every day AND live long enough, you could become knowledgeable),MD

[Marianna Max]

Try oxyclean or baking soda as a scrub.

[RPerlot]

For biological odors, go to a pet store and pick up an enzyme concoction. A good one is "Natures Miracle". Get a gallon. Splash it all over the place and just let it be. It contains enzymes that will eat the contaminates and then die off when there's none left; effectively evaporating. During the process the odor is "Transformed" into a more pleasant smell. But you have to wait a couple days for it to go away completely. So don't get discouraged. If the smell doesnt' go away (hard to believe) this just means there was more food than was consumable by the amount of enzyme provided. Just hit it again.

We used this with our dog's "accidents" on the carpet, bed wetting kid, etc.. I got this idea because I overfilled my holding tank and in a blow it spilled out all over the place. By just dumping this product all over, the enzyme fluid can run into the same areas and get to the same locations whether they can be reached by a cleaning rag, or not. It is quick, simple and very effective.

[Reed]

I've found that the most essential factor in mitigating holding tank odor is effective venting. If there isn't a good overboard air vent from the holding tank, the positive pressure in the holding tank (generated in great part from simply flushing the head) will back up into the boat. We were experiencing foul odors on our CD31 and I discovered that the transom mounted vent outlet had a screen insert that had simply blocked up with corrosion and crud over the years. When I pulled out the screen, the odor in the boat vanished.

Happy Sailing , Reed CD31 #51 Mary Alice

[Bob L]

Reed,

You're lucky you caught the clogged vent in time. A clogged vent like that could cause pressure to build up in the tank. I found this out once attempting to pump out. Suffice it to say it wasn't pretty.

Bob

[DanaVin]

When my boxer ran into a skunk while camping one time, I called the vet and he said to wash him down with catsup. Guess it does the same thing as tomato juice.
Anyway, I drove back into town to one of those warehouse market type places and bought several of the largest containers of the stuff that I could put in a cart.
Rubbed him down real good with all of it and let him be for awhile.
Then a good rinse, shampoo and I swear he smelled like a fresh daisy.
Incidentally, on the same camping trip he also ran into the wrong end of a porcupine (Remove needles by cutting them in two first. Not by pulling them out as I did.) If that wasn't enough, he leaped and bit into my three triple hooked lure when I was casting and you can imagine what that was like! That was easier to remove then the porcupine needles! What a week that poor dog had!
Anyway, some form of tomato looks like the answer.
Hope this helps.
Dana