It Stinks

[One Love]

Hello all....I still have that horrible stink in my 1998 boat. I have looked high and low with no luck. Please do you have any IDEAS on where to look that are not obvious.

It smells like a cross between head and diesel.

Thanks
Reno Viola
1427

[Roc]

If you say it's a cross between head and diesel, maybe one problem is diesel leaking somewhere.  Is there a leak at your fill cap?  Where the vent exits the boat at the thru hull?  All the hose clamp connections from the tank to the engine? Filters?  Fuel pump? (I had a leak here because the factory used teflon tape for the threads which is not right for a fuel application.  Bought loc-tite sealer and that did the trick).  The fittings screwed into the tank (i.e. sender unit, cut off switch)?

For the head smell, check if the hoses are permeated (rub with a hot moist cloth, if it smells then your hoses need to be replaced).  Test the holding tank vent too, maybe that could be saturated.  Check all clamps from toilet to holding tank then to macerator and out.  Pump out deck plate connection to hose may leak during pumpout.  Using sea water to flush can smell because critters die inside the bowl, you should leave the boat with a fresh water flush before locking up (not fresh water dumped into the bowl, but sucked in via the intake hose so water gets inside the bowl).  Stagnant water in the bilge can smell worse than the head.  Try giving it a good cleaning (good to the point that you could eat out of the bilge).  Is the area clean in and around your stuffing box where sea water inters from the packing?

Do your sink drains totally drain, or can they hold stagnant water?  I replumbed my galley sink drain because the hoses for each sink came out at a 90 degree angle, then tee'd in the middle, then straight down to the seacock.  Water would sit in the horizontal hose area.  I turned the tee on it's side to create a 'V' so now the horizontal hose sections have a downward bend to them.  Now the drains run clean.  Do your sink drains leak gray water?

Does your ice box drain leak?  How about the shower sump drain?  Do any of your deck fittings leak?  This could cause mold and mildew to grow inside lockers, etc.  Could there be mold in the cushion fabric or foam maybe from leaky chain plates or hatches?

If I think of more places, I'll send another reply.....

Hope this helps...

Roc-

[rdavison]

I'm still beating down the smells in Gorbash #1268 but here are a few more ideas.  The hose from the holding tank to the vent in my boat was plain water hose and smelled really bad.  Replacing this hose along with the rest helped a lot.

I've heard that there can be small leaks in the macerator pump flanges and gaskets that are hard to see.  This will be my next search area.

I also periodically pour a gallon of bleach into the bilges, making sure I get all the areas where there is standing or dripping water.  This helps a lot.  Once every three months seems to do it.

Randy Davison  #1268 1993 k7voe