Bilge Odor

[HydroTherapy]

I bought a 1987 C34 last year.  We love sailing her, but the bilge has a terrible odor.  I have cleaned the bilge many times and the odor just comes back.  Any sugestions?

[Ted Pounds]

How about an ozone generator?  Prictical Sailor tested a bunch of them a while back.  They all worked well at getting rid of odors.  You'll probably still have to figure out where it's coming from.  My guess is it's either from the holding tank/head (maybe a leak somewhere?) or something nasty is growing in the bilge in an area where you haven't reached cleaning.  In the former case the the odor should be readily identifiable.  In the latter case an ozone generator may kill off the culprit.  Good luck.

Ted

[ScottHess]

Had the same problem.
Start by changing the original hoses on the holding tank system with modern odor free ones.
This is a big job that takes time and effort.
You need to heat the ends with a dryer or boiling water and lube the fittings with dish soap.

[JIM BRENER 1987 #504 "WI]

I have been working on this problem for some time and am now begining to make progress. Replaced all lines, intake and out with the best sanitation hose I could fine. The advise on heating the ends with a hair dryer and using detergent is correct. I just replaced the vent line, major contributor, and added an holding tank vent line filter from e-marine, $39.95 plus shipping, about half the cost of a unit from West Marine, lasts for a year. The address is e-marine.com.  I placed the filter upright in the first port storage space forward of the nav station. Not an easy installation but I think it will work better.

I also use an enzyme odor eliminator both in the head and any place else I want to get rid of organic based odors. Mix it 50-50 with warm water, saturate and let dry. Try a janitorial products distributor and buy it by the gallon or go with friends and split a case. Those on the Chesapeake can email me for suggestions. I tried a commerical ozone generator with out much success. However, ozone does work wonders on smoking caused odor.

My goal is to eliminate the "boat odor" one smells when opening the boat. Once I have the head under control I will look for mold odor that the mate thinks is causing the problem.

Jim Brener
Wind Spirit #50

[Stu Jackson]

Jim Brener

Have you checked out the FAQs page about Head Odors?

It's http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/phall.htm

It appears from this reference that putting anything in that line is coutnerproductive to keeping the odors down?

Hope it works for you.

Stu

[JIM BRENER 1987 #504 "WI]

STU

The odor from the tank would clear the cockpit real fast. Installed the filter, no more odor.

Jim Brener
Wind Spirit #504

[rdavison]

Stu,
I was planning to put a vent hose filter in Gorbash after trying for year to keep aerobic bacteria alive.  I finally concluded that there is no way for enough oxygen to crawl down the vent hose.  In fact, one of the articles referenced talks about large minimum vent hose diameters and the necessity of running the hose at a shallow angle to the tank.  Not going to happen on my boat.

Then I noticed an ad (I think in the new West Marine flyer which I misplaced) for a new $230 device that pumps air into the holding tank continuously.  This seems like an inspired idea if the current drain is pretty low and it's not noisy (not a vibrator type pump).  It appears to come with tubing and fittings to fit it to an existing tank.  

The downside would be the necessity of keeping it powered all the time.  I'm going to look into it further before going the filter route.

Randy Davison  k7voe

[rdavison]

Further thought - I'm going to try a test this winter before buying new $229 pump:

Install short hose segment with nipple right at tank vent outlet.

6 inch piece of 1/4 inch hose interior to hose segment and running down into the tank.

Aquarium air pump running on shore power

Aerobic bacteria goo in tank.

Wait, smell

Simple, cheap, easy to undo, test of air pump idea.  BTW, has anyone else tried it?

Randy Davison  k7voe