Pardon my interruption of the political, uh, commentary here; I have a
boating question.

Since its purchase three years ago, my '99 Four Winns 258 Vista cruiser's
mid-berth foam-backed wall carpeting has been staining, from the bottom up,
as if the bottom edge of the wall carpet is wet and is wicking upwards. It
has never felt even damp to the touch despite visible mildew in the stain.
This does not occur forward of the mid-berth.

The boat is normally hanging in a lift, covered, and has a reasonably dry
bilge. Here, in southwest Florida, the cabin gets quite warm during the day
and, of course, it's cooler at night but only in these recent Autumn months
has it reached the dew point. Perhaps monthly, I've lowered the hull and
run the air conditioning continuously for a few days to thoroughly remove
the cabin humidity, and the remainder of the cabin is free of mildew.
Fortunately, soaking it with an Oxy-Clean solution from a spray bottle
clears the stain and mildew, but it always recurs.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there anything I can do to prevent it?


Tom Becker
RighTime
Cape Coral

Hi Tom,

Something like that happened to my cruiser once. It turned out the
fellow who installed the new AC had the drain running into the "dry"
bilge. If I were you, I would look for a water source. Perhaps the head,
pressure water system or, a leak in the portholes, vents and door trim.

Vinegar will kill most molds, mildews and Bacteria. After it evaporates
out, vinegar does not leave an odor. But during the evaporation process
you will think you are living in a winery. To help the situation, try
opening a couple of your vents.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Frank

Tom Becker wrote:
Pardon my interruption of the political, uh, commentary here; I have a
boating question.

Since its purchase three years ago, my '99 Four Winns 258 Vista cruiser's
mid-berth foam-backed wall carpeting has been staining, from the bottom up,
as if the bottom edge of the wall carpet is wet and is wicking upwards. It
has never felt even damp to the touch despite visible mildew in the stain.
This does not occur forward of the mid-berth.

The boat is normally hanging in a lift, covered, and has a reasonably dry
bilge. Here, in southwest Florida, the cabin gets quite warm during the day
and, of course, it's cooler at night but only in these recent Autumn months
has it reached the dew point. Perhaps monthly, I've lowered the hull and
run the air conditioning continuously for a few days to thoroughly remove
the cabin humidity, and the remainder of the cabin is free of mildew.
Fortunately, soaking it with an Oxy-Clean solution from a spray bottle
clears the stain and mildew, but it always recurs.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there anything I can do to prevent it?


Tom Becker
RighTime
Cape Coral

Do you have enough ventilation available throughout the boat when it is stored
on the lift? Running the A/C every so often may not be doing the trick in a
climate as humid as FLA.

...AC [] drain running into the "dry" bilge...

I have that covered. My installer did the same, running the condensate
drain to the bilge rather than a few more feet - and difficulty - to the
shower sump. I just built a sump out of a gallon Tupperware-like covered
container with a small pump and floatswitch. It didn't work initially; the
3/4" line to the throughhull had enough volume to take three inches of sump
water without putting any overboard; when the switch shut the pump down, the
water just ran back to the sump. I reduced the tubing to 3/8" at the pump
and back to 3/4" at the throughhull so, now, it shoots a very nice thin
stream out of the center of the throughhull - and almost completely empties
the sump. Works well and I have a "dry" bilge - when it isn't rainy season.

I've looked for other moisture sources and don't see anything that could
reasonably wet the bottom edge of the carpet (I guess "cabin liner" is a
better term). Thanks for the vinegar tip; I'll try that.

Happy Thanksgiving, Frank.


Tom Becker
RighTime
Cape Coral

... enough ventilation...

Probably not. I leave two ports open so, at least, it can breathe but there
is no forced ventilation. Would a timer that cycles the bilge blower (which
also draws from the cabin) for a few minutes a day do?

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:28:28 GMT, "Tom Becker"
wrote:

... enough ventilation...

Probably not. I leave two ports open so, at least, it can breathe but there
is no forced ventilation. Would a timer that cycles the bilge blower (which
also draws from the cabin) for a few minutes a day do?


They sell little solor-powered vent fans at camper stores. That could
help?
Mark E. Williams

Solar powered fans might do the trick. If you can keep air moving through the
boat, you will reduce the tendency for little green and black critters to grow.
There are formulas that identify exactly how many complete changes of cabin air
should be accomplished every day.

Now that the mildew has a head start, you will be faced with the problem of
arresting its progress and killing off the present growth, in addition to
bringing enough air aboard to reduce humidity.

You might wind up stripping the carpet or fabric lining from the inside of the
hull. If you have to do that, consider fairing and painting the hull instead of
covering it back up again- or if you must recover look for a meshy fabric- like
maybe a dressy burlap.
Critters will thrive on moisture trapped between a hull and a lining.

"Tom Becker" wrote in message om...
Pardon my interruption of the political, uh, commentary here; I have a
boating question.

Since its purchase three years ago, my '99 Four Winns 258 Vista cruiser's
mid-berth foam-backed wall carpeting has been staining, from the bottom up,
as if the bottom edge of the wall carpet is wet and is wicking upwards. It
has never felt even damp to the touch despite visible mildew in the stain.
This does not occur forward of the mid-berth.

The boat is normally hanging in a lift, covered, and has a reasonably dry
bilge. Here, in southwest Florida, the cabin gets quite warm during the day
and, of course, it's cooler at night but only in these recent Autumn months
has it reached the dew point. Perhaps monthly, I've lowered the hull and
run the air conditioning continuously for a few days to thoroughly remove
the cabin humidity, and the remainder of the cabin is free of mildew.
Fortunately, soaking it with an Oxy-Clean solution from a spray bottle
clears the stain and mildew, but it always recurs.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there anything I can do to prevent it?


Tom Becker
RighTime
Cape Coral



We just put a $22 oscillating table fan on the counter. Turned it on
low and let it to run 24 x 7 when we aren't there. We haven't had a
problem.

Coff

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm turning the radio off, now. Every time I
come back here I make the same damn mistake of reading other messages,
thinking that there might be something else to learn. Alas.

Instead, I get sick. Why it is that every simple subject has to become a
political gangbang mystifies me. If Harry Krause pilots a boat, I wonder if
I want to share his seas. Whether he does or not, I won't share his NG.

Click.

"Tom Becker" wrote in message
om...
Thanks for the help, guys. I'm turning the radio off, now. Every time I
come back here I make the same damn mistake of reading other messages,
thinking that there might be something else to learn. Alas.

Instead, I get sick. Why it is that every simple subject has to become a
political gangbang mystifies me. If Harry Krause pilots a boat, I wonder
if
I want to share his seas. Whether he does or not, I won't share his NG.

:-)

1. click on the posted message
2. click on "message" at top of the program window
3. click on "block sender" in the pop up menu
4. click on "yes" on the 'are you sure window'
5. repeat for each sender