Dry Storing a Boat for Hurricane Season in the South, – Part III of III By Capt. Ron Butler The author’s boat at Indiantown, strapped and secured and ready for hurricane season. If a hurricane approaches, the tarps will be removed. Notice the tie-down straps that go up to the winch (see next photo).
Mold and Mildew Storing a boat in Florida—and much of the South—over the hot, humid, and rainy summer means that you need to protect the boat against mold and mildew. The best way would be to seal up the boat completely and then pressurize it with an inert gas, say nitrogen. Okay, okay—not practical. Not only is it not practical, but you can’t even seal out the rain. Rainwater will find its way into your boat no matter what, and at Indiantown, all manner of bugs and small green frogs will, too. If you have a leaking port or two, it won’t hurt to ducttape them over. You’ll have a gummy mess to clean up later though. Some folks duct-tape plastic sheeting over their ports; others wrap the whole boat in one kind of sheeting or another. I can’t say how well this works. We have had success by putting one small Nicro solarpowered vent into one of our dorades and then setting several Styrofoam dishes out with some paraformaldehyde crystals. By several, I mean five or six dishes distributed throughout the interior. This stuff slowly dissipates into the cabin air and makes it impossible for mold and mildew to grow. It also makes it impossible to breathe inside without thorough ventilation. The small solar vent admits enough outside air to keep the crystals evaporating. We wipe down the inside woodwork with a rag soaked
in vinegar. Oil-based varnishes and teak oil provide an ideal medium for the growth of green stuff. The vinegar has worked so far. In the past we have had success wiping everything down with a weak Clorox solution, and that works, too, but the fumes are wicked to work with. We leave all of our interior doors open including cabinet doors, bilge boards and settee hatches. Some boats stored at Indiantown pay extra for a storage spot with electrical service. Some of these boats run a dehumidifier inside the boat while it’s stored. That limits the growth of mold and mildew, too. We also keep powdered borax sprinkled liberally in all the dark corners of the boat. This keeps the ants and roaches from taking up permanent residence. Interior Cushions Interior cushions can become traps for moisture, mold and mildew. It is best to remove them to dry storage, but you can try bagging them. On Kismet, we simply tilt the cushions up to provide air circulation around them, and our formaldehyde gas seems to keep away the mildew. Other cruisers duct-tape their cushions into large trash bags and enclose dryer sheets with them. That seems to work also. Plastic Bagging We also bag up books, charts, foul weather gear and anything else that might attract mold and mildew using a variety of Zip-Loc and plastic bags, all with those fabric softener dryer sheets inside. Zip-Loc and vacuum seal bags now come in very large sizes that make it easy to seal up moldprone items. Garboard drains Water in the bilges can be a problem, too. Too much water in the boat and its weight could collapse the jack stands. That plus a little sloshing in a bad storm could accelerate the knock- over process—not to mention making a mess of your beautifully varnished teak and holly sole. Since we leave our batteries in place and operational, we rely on our bilge pumps, but you can have a passive system by drilling a hole in the bottom of your boat. Most
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March 2008
SOUTHWINDS
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