When I asked what readers wanted more help with, the number one answer – by a long shot – was mold and mildew.
Unfortunately, when there is dampness and condensation, there is going to be mold and mildew. There is no way to completely prevent it. Products that say they’ll prevent it are thinking of typical “house” conditions, not boats. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you will have to clean mold and mildew every two to four weeks.
Prevention
Ventilation is the best preventative. Open hatches. Fans. Inside the boat, open lockers. PortVisors will allow you to keep ports open even if it’s raining. Use coupon code SmartBoatStuff10 for 10% off.
At the same time, try not to store anything fabric right against the hull – as condensation forms, the fabric will soak it up and get mildewy AND will just keep putting that moisture back into the air. Many cruisers raise the mattress above the hull by using interlocking rubber grids (Amazon) or the Froli System.
If you have shore power available, you can try running a dehumidifier but then you have to close the boat up so that you’re not just constantly bringing in more humid air. While we’ve never had the power that a dehumidifier would require, friends that I have talked to thought that it was not much more effective than ventilation unless the boat is in storage and no one is walking in/out or cooking.
Mold Killing Myths
Next, I want to play MythBuster for a minute: bleach does NOT kill mold or mildew. It can remove stains, but it does not kill the spores. Ditto for anything that bills itself as a mildew stain remover: it may remove stains but it does not solve the underlying problem.
More things that do not work to kill mold: any sort of wipes (as far as I know), soap, and Lysol – they can remove surface mold from hard surfaces, but won’t kill anything left behind.
Killing Mold – What Works
To kill the spores, you need one of four things:
- Vinegar
- Borax
- Concrobium (a commercial product usually found in the paint department, not with cleaning supplies; also available on Amazon)
- Very hot water or steam
Which one I use depends on what I’m cleaning.
Methods for Different Surfaces
Sorry, one method does not work for every situation. But here are my best methods for cleaning mold and mildew on different surfaces.
Hard Surfaces
For ceilings, floors, counters and the like: use straight white vinegar or a strong solution of borax in hot water. I may go over an area two or three times until my rag or paper towel isn’t getting anything more off. Don’t rinse – let the solution dry on the surface. I go back and forth on whether I think vinegar or borax does a better job.
Soft Surfaces
TO clean upholstery, fabric covered walls and ceilings, other things too large for a washing machine such as life jackets: straight white vinegar, a strong borax solution I use the hottest water I can stand, or a steam cleaner. If using vinegar or borax, rub it into the material and then blot it, let dry. This will usually take a lot of the black stain out too.
Washable Fabrics
In a hot water wash, use borax as a detergent boost at a laundromat or boiling in a strong borax solution in the galley. If borax is not available, use white vinegar. Rinse and dry.
Laundry, including sheets, towels, and clothing, is a real breeding ground for mold and mildew although it doesn’t always show up there first. Washing sheets and towels every week to 10 days can really help the situation. Use as hot water as you can and add borax to the detergent.
Paper Products
Paper items are a big problem as there is simply no good way to clean books and documents, yet they pick up mold fairly quickly. I have never found a good way to deal with it. The best thing is to keep books and papers away from the hull and where no drips are likely to fall on them.
The Bilge
If it’s possible to keep the bilges dry, it will really help. Otherwise, add a half gallon of vinegar to the bilge every week or so to kill anything growing there.
Lockers
Keeping the insides of lockers clean is an often-overlooked part of the fight against mold and mildew. I figured that Barefoot Gal had 41 lockers and drawers. If I made it a habit to empty and clean one a day, I’d get to them all in 6 weeks. While maybe that wasn’t as often as ideal, it’s a lot better than “only when I really saw a problem.”
Final Thoughts
Concrobium bills itself as a mold and mildew cleaner. I’ve tried using it on just about everything on the boat but I always felt that it didn’t do anything that vinegar or borax didn’t – other than let me spray it into areas that I couldn’t get to otherwise. I tried spraying many of those with vinegar and I think that Concrobium did do a better job. So yes, it’s part of the tool chest.
When I started cruising, I expected mold and mildew to be worst in hot weather. The reality is that winter is its peak season due to keeping hatches and ports closed and there being less heat to dry things out.
If keeping up with the mold and mildew is driving you nuts right now, just hang on . . . summer is coming!
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