Worst Nightmare

I just got a call from the marine where I have my boat in storage, and he informed me that my boat is filled with mildew and mold. The owner of the marine where I keep my boat said "when your boat was winterized they never removed the drain plug" . I am going on a trip in 10 days and this is the worst news I could get. Also when I picked my boat up from the dealership it was raining and the cover was on and the poles were not put up to hold the cover firm. It looked like a small pond on top of the cover and ran over the sides into the boat and left water in the hull of the boat which eventually molded. Maybe I'm somewhat to blame, not sure how or even if it matters. PLEASE HELP.

I have had mold on my carpet before and I took it to a car wash. I used the high power sprayers and it came right out of the carpet. The carpet looked Great afterwards.

As for the vinyl....Not sure of using a high power sprayer on that for a long period of time. I have never done that. It might work, but others on this site might say "no".

Call the dealership and let them know what happened. They might clean it up for you.

we had some light mildew all over our boat when we took it out of storage and i used a mr. clean magic eraser and i just wiped it off like it was nothing.

Use Babe's Seat Soap and a brush...mold and mildew spots come right out!

I have talked to the dealership they were going to call me back 4 hours ago. What a help they are I pay retail for everything they should help me out. Thanks for the suggestions I have not even seen the boat myself I wont until tonight. I'm scared I will freak out even more once I take a look at it.

I had the same problem on a boat that I just sold, but not to that extent. I bought some Starbright Mildew Remover and sprayed it on the carpet and vinyl and it worked very well. It was harder to get the mildew off of the carpet, but with a bit of scrubbing with a bristle brush it worked fine. I have also been told that if you just wash the mildew off it can come back. The mildew remover has a bit of bleach in it that kills the mildew. I did not have any problem with the bleach actually dis-coloring my carpet.

Thats your worst nightmare?

I love my boat and no not literally my worst nightmare, but I'm sick too my stomach over it. My buddy just went to pick it up and called me and said it's everywhere. Also the dealership called me and said that it should not mold unless there is a mold problem inside the place I stored it. Sounds like a crock to me the storage owner says it's the dealers fault for leaving the plug in it. The dealer says it's a mold problem at the storage place. I guess I'm on my own on this one besides the advice I'm getting from everyone at wake world, which I really appreciate.

Bleach White automotive tire cleaner is great on mildew and other stains. It contains bleach, but will not discolor your carpet or vinyl. It is inexpensive and can be purchased at Walmart or any auto parts store.

Has anyone ever had a severe case of mold, my buddy says it's bad, and I should bring my camera. I hope he's overreacting I guess I will find out in three hours. I will try and post pics tonight or tomorrow. Maybe like a before and after shot. Hopefully the after shot will be of a mold free boat. I will check for more advice through out the day it sounds like I'm going to need it.

either way you will be able to get in there and clean it out. It will take a ton of elbow grease, but it should come out. make sure you check all your stereo equipment as the moisture could very easily have damaged it. definitely a tough way to learn the lesson, but we always run a fan in ours in the winter if we leave it covered. Those covers do just as good of a job of keeping the moisture in as they do keeping the moisture out. This happens more than you know. I had a buddy that had it happen real real bad. Literally the dealership would not even go near the boat for risk of getting someone sick. He got it all cleaned up and looking good again...
Good luck to you. I feel your pain!

Paul, I think the dealer is full of S@#T There are mold spores everywhere, they just need a wet place with little air movement to grow. The only reason you have mold in your boat is because there was water in it, not because of where you stored it.

Mike, I agree but from the conversation I had with the dealer it sounds like he's looking to place the blame elsewhere. For liability reasons only he does not want to be the one to pay to have it cleaned or replace the interior. This sucks I'm leaving april 15 to Alabama, lake Wedowee and we were going to take my boat. I hope this does get resolved before my trip, I'll cross my fingers and start to scrub tonight.

I had a Moomba LSV and it had mold in it also. It will happen when water is in it. Like Diggs said the cover keeps water in and out. I was told I could just power spray the carpet at the car wash. I did and it cleaned up perfect. Nothing to worry about. Just wipe down the rest with warm soapy water. Really not a big deal. If you have to. Next time make sure it is clean and dry, put your cover poles in place, add a fan to vent, and or one of those moisture things for house closets that trap what ever moisture is in the boat. Just remember to empty once and while.

I did have two of the moisture absorbers in my boat. The mistake I made was not knowing the plug needed to come out. Besides that the dealer and the owner of the marine said I did almost everything right other then leaving it covered. One more hour and the shock of my life. I hope it's not as big a deal as I first thought. After reading some of these posts I'm starting to feel more optimistic about my chances of getting it totally cleaned. What a great site WW is I'm glad I found it. I will pay it forward with any advice I can give anyone else, only if it's good advice.

A long time ago I had a friend store my boat for me. When I got it back in spring the white interior was completely black with mold/mildew. I was pissed but he thought he was doing me a favour. Long story short it cleaned up fine with alot of work. I only had a couple of small spots under one seat that I couldn't get out but this was before I had heard of magic erasers. I kept it for a couple more years and it never returned and looked great. I used some type of mildew remover with bleach for most of it. Good luck it will probably be just fine...........

Well I'm finished cleaning my boat it only took 4 hours a lot less time then I expected. It was not as bad as I expected, don't get me wrong it was everywhere. One thing I never mentioned earlier was that every removable cushion I took out of the boat before I stored it. Saved me a lot of work Starbright Mildew Remover is the best. It took two people scrubbing for four hours (thanks to my good buddy Bryan B.) and I'm still sure I missed a couple or more spots. I'm going to let it air dry the next couple of days. Oh yeah, I did get some before and after photos that I will try and post tomorrow

Thank's to everyone for the advice you help to keep me level headed through this mess.

Here are some before and after pictures

Paul,
If you want to avoid the problems in the future, I'd replace the boat cover. I have a 2004 Mobius LSV and the cover was pathetic - it required poles which never really worked and the cover did not breathe. My cover tore at the front pole pouch so I replace it with this one from Covercrafts. Best thing I ever did. The cover requires no poles, is trailerable, sheds water great and breathes so the interior stays dry, not like a sauna with the old cover. On top of that, I've had a lot of comments on how sharp it makes the boat look. They are not cheap, but extremely effective. My boat stays outside in Texas year round. Covercrafts pointed me to several folks in Texas that have had their covers for over 7 years, outside all the time and the covers are still doing the job.

wakeshoe, i have the same cover for my supra and all i can say is they are nice.

cory is awesome to work with also.

Here's the before

and after

What cleaning agent(s) did you use? I have a similar problem with my vinyl (due to a cover leak I wasn't aware of).

Looked pretty bad but it came up nice...

definetly ugly!! wow.. i think its one of those things that actually looks worse than it is.. Glad to see it cleaned up for ya!

Starbrite mold mildew remover it's magic, and a lot of elbow grease. We started @ nine last night and finished at one, two people busting their butts. I'm lucky I have good friends that helped me out. The magic eraser did not work as good as Starbrite. I did one section @ a time let the starbrite sit in for a couple minutes, and continued to scrub. It was not coming off with a quick brush I had to scrub for awhile. I also used a scrub brush that looks like a huge toothbrush for the seems and cracks. Get a 12 pack and a friend and go to town on it. Good luck

Im happy to see that everything turned out ok for you. That truly would have been a nightmare if that sh!# didn't come out of the upholstery.

Not to make light, but that's not as bad as I expected. Picture all the white areas a deep black. I am glad to hear it all came out, though. It's not something you want to see when you get your boat out of storage...........

I expected worse myself, I'm glad it wasn't. I pictured the white all black myself lucky it was caught before it got worse. The stereo came on no problem I'm not sure if there is any other problems that could arise due to moisture.

I got on this late, but it looks like it worked out Paul. By the way, if you use household bleach and dilute it about 6 parts water and one part bleach in a sprayer, then spray it on and let it sit in the sun, it works wonders. Also, make sure when you put your boat away for the winter that you wash it well and make sure all drink and food items are taken out.

When mold grows like that does it just sit on the top of the vynal or is there mold in the foam?

My boat was thoroughly cleaned before I put it away. I'm a little anal about my boat, so people say.

looks like you sprayed it down at a carwash like I do? It works great and no chemicals or products needed.

I used Starbright and yes I was at a car wash wanted to make sure I got the Starbright out of the boat. I gave it a good washing after I got all the mold off then I used one of their cannister vacs and pulled out the water. I now have it at my house opened up letting it dry and air it out. It looks like a new boat, what a relief.