It's taken me six years to notice this, and only so because of a single sentence in an article in the last Mainsheet. The hatches have a vent setting and it does make a difference in cabin odor. We left the head hatch and the two hatches beneath the dodger in this detent setting and discovered a world of difference in cabin smell. Additionally, despite heavy rain (and modest wind), there was no water entry. I haven't been brave enough to try it with the main hatches, or in wind swept rain conditions, but even a small amount of air flow makes a big difference when leaving the boat for a week.
Maybe this is common knowledge, but not for those of us who have owned several older boats without this feature and assumed all hatches were the same.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
Our top suggestions for odor control:
- buy $10 cheap clip on fans from hardware store. When we leave boat, leave one fan on in aft cabin, one fan in front cabin with doors exiting bathroom.
- suck out bulge water, (we use a “water blaster” toy water cannon made out of PVC type tubing.
- add 2-3 cups vinegar and paint the bilge with vinegar (or mild bleach water solution). Idea is to kill off bacteria that might be growing in bilge. If you use bleach solution, thoroughly flush out bilge well with fresh water (bleach is hard on gaskets & pumps.
- Always suck out bilge as much as possible before leaving for more than a few days. Dump in 1-2 cups vinegar in bilge, no need to flush out.
- use desiccant bags such as DAMP RID.
- never poop in toilet (“if it’s brown do it in town”)
- only use fresh water to rinse toilet, not lake or river water.
peter g
2000 C36, MK2, Hull. #1897
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful ! ! !. 5 th Catalina
More tips to eliminate odours:
Kevin Lenard
"Firefly"
'91 C-36 Mk. "1.5" Tall Rig, Fin Keel, Hull #1120, Universal M-35 original (not "A" or "B")
CBYC, Scarborough, Lake Ontario, Canada
Many good suggestions- have been doing some but not all. We have no dorade vents on our MKII and I think that was a major issue- having the cabin bake in the sun with no airflow until discovering the hatch detent. Also, we are on a mooring so unless we installed a solar powered vent, we can't leave a fan running. Maybe the newer solar vents have improved but on our previous boat we could only get 2-3 years of life out of them, and, I don't like sacrificing a small hatch or cutting a hole to install. We have a rule of no solids in the head and fresh water flushes only. That has helped, as well as replacing all the hoses with expensive low permeation ones. Every year- I spray diluted bleach or some other mildew/mold killer spray into every accessable hull cavity- that helps. Vinegar in the bilge is also better smelling than stagnent water. I try to minimize the use of bleach in the bilge because of the potential reaction with stainless keel bolts. I also don't use it in the head because of the rubber parts, but do occasionally dump some in through the deck pumpout.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B