For various exciting reasons we packed up Selah and made a quick trip “home.” Everyone we meet in boat world wants to know where “home” is – we had to come up with a standard answer as looking at each other and shrugging was starting to get confusing. The canned answer is “Atlanta” in case you want to know.
Technically, we did fly through Atlanta and I got to visit for a few days – so we did get to go “home” on this trip. It is where my people are, after all!
Meanwhile – Selah is bobbing around in the Bahamas waiting for us. My hesitation about leaving her is probably much different than Bo’s, but I was hesitant nonetheless. We left Selah on a mooring ball – which is a permanent anchor screwed into the ground. She is in what is called a hurricane hole – as it should be safe from any crazy weather with limited wind/waves. We have some friends that will be by to check on her while we are gone! Thank you Nightingale Tune and Delancey!!
MOLD.
Those 4 letters strike more fear in this clean freak’s mind than anything else! And it is inevitable living on a boat unfortunately. I do my very, very best to keep things dry and clean and am never far from a spray bottle of vinegar and clove oil. When we are home and in normal life it is pretty easy to keep things clean and under control.
Leaving the boat for a month just floating around in the hot sun with limited air flow is a different story. We have never left her this long before without power, so hopefully my preparations will keep things as good as can be. Having to pack up and dig around in dark corners of the boat revealed the beast and I went into full on freak mode.
#1: I pulled our suitcases out of vacuum-sealed bags and they had been taken over by a mold colony. Words can’t explain how they smelled. I instantly smothered them in clove/vinegar conncoction and set them in the sun – hopefully to kill the mold colony. Putting clothes in them about 12 hours later about killed me. GROSS.
Left the mattress pulled up and tented to prevent gross.
#2: Every.single.surface was wiped clean and then smothered in clove/vinegar. Every ceiling, every cabinet, every drawer, every floor, etc…you get the picture.
The VBerth aka “Garage” is especially special.
#3: All cushions had to be pulled up and stored upright to prevent growth.
Yes – I actually left the boat like this on purpose!
#4: We had to turn off the fridge/freezer a few days before we left to conserve power and see how the batteries will hold up while we are gone. We cleaned, gave away and ate every last morsel of food and left fridge/freezer open to keep air flowing. We *did* leave the deep freeze on and stocked – fingers crossed it stays cold so we don’t revisit this nasty “incident.”
#5. Bo did all kinds of stowing of important things that I can’t even comment on. He will have to tell you about his “systems” and how he preserved them. Pickled watermakers, oil changes, fuel filters, fresh water systems, etc…
Selah’s control panel
Nancy told me that everyone thinks our life is very glam. “Everyone” doesn’t get my daily texts providing updates on how many days since the last shower, mold growing on luggage, and other various disgusting tidbits. She suggested I share the real life boat things that happen to make this sailing thing a reality. 90% is hard work. 10% is rum drinks and sunsets – we wouldn’t have it any other way.
And we are off!
Water Taxi ride to the mainland
Bye Selah! Please still be mold free and floating when we get back!
Hi, I love reading about your adventures, I never comment on blogs, but I want to share my mold treatment with you, mold is the one thing about the boat in the summer that used to drive me nuts! I’m up here in Canada, on Lake Ontario, and my sailboat is all packed up and in hibernation for the winter. I used to use vinegar and tried several oils, including clove oil, I found it didn’t really end the mold issue in our hot humid summers. I still use vinegar but a couple of years ago I discovered tea tree oil – amazing! My boat is an older one, with a beautiful interior of teak and mahogany, I do a thorough clean after launch in the spring and before haul out for the winter, all the interior wood, corners, walls, deep dark hiding spots etc all get cleaned up, and then everything, and I mean everything gets a wipe with a fairly strong mix of tea tree oil in a spray bottle of water – spray it, wipe to make sure it gets everywhere and bye bye mold. Then it’s just spot treating every now and then. Tea tree oil is the best!
Enjoy your time back on land, and I’ll go back to lurking, I hope one day to say hi on a tropical beach!
Thank you for the tips!! I have Tea Tree oil on board and use it for cleaning – but didn’t consider the mold-helping properties. I will wipe it all down as soon as we get back -thank you!!! Hope to see you somewhere sunny and warm soon!
If you have add 4 more rum drinks, does that get the work / rum ratio to 50-50?
You better believe it!
I just spent my first weekend on Attitude after her months of being alone. Randy was 2 trips ahead of me and had already started to bring home everything that was stored in my mold proof ‘Certainly it won’t smell if I store it in these containers.” Well all the dryer sheets and eucalyptus on the planet couldn’t cover that underlying odor, I knew the mold spores were laughing at me, silly girl you actually thought…. well you get the idea. Needless to say his instructions were to put everything on the deck and patio at the house in the sun until they made their way batch by batch to the laundry room. Those of us who have boat partners that are nose blind have the most difficult time explaining that we can not eat, sleep or stay down below until the annual boat detox is complete. Over the last few years I have managed to make insulated removable wall liners, no more glued in wall vinyl, fabric or carpet for this boat. It’s all gone. Pop in quilted panels line all the walls and they get their day in the sun with a 10 % bleach solution, detergent scrub brushing and then a very light coat of tea tree and peppermint linen spray.
This trip last week was to clean the head and galley, and I managed to feel safe enough to sleep on the leather settee after a few rounds with some disinfecting wipes. Randy, however, had no problem sleeping in the aft cabin with whatever was living in there with a sleeping bag. Again nose blind. However, dishes are all washed, shelves, dark corners and nooks cleaned, assorted food items and condiments discarded, stove/ oven unit was even removed and cleaned. Next wave of attack was fans and dehumidifiers. Can’t put all that clean stuff back until all the cubbies and cabinets are dry. Since we left… La, Ms and Al have had torrential rains and flooding. And we all know that our best efforts with port visors, new gaskets, hatch covers etc. is just another reason for leaks to laugh at us. Randy hates it, but my new best friends are those large under pads. Very absorbent and plastic backed. So before I left the boat I placed one under every port and hatch, the hopefully the few drips will stay in one place and keep cushions, books, and anything else we have protected. Once we are back on board every weekend it gets so much easier, but at the start of each season I get an eerie Indiana Jones feeling opening an ancient tomb.
Hey guys. We are in Georgetown leaving Friday sorry we missed you. Left u a boat card. GAC
Oh shoot!! Sorry to have missed you! Will be back next week!! Hope you enjoyed and had some good weather!