Painting interior hull after removing insulation

#1

I removed all the insulation in my V-berth lockers and drawer area as the smell from the old blackwater system had left an unpleasant smell even after removing all of the tanks and plumbing. The insulation was holding a lot of the smell as well. I removed all of the original insulation and tried to scra and wire wheel all of the old glue off the hulls in preparation for painting the fiberglass. I scrubbed the hull with simple green and then scrubbed with Pure Ayre. They smell better but I am hoping some kind of paint or gelcoat will cover the remaining odor. The problem is there is still a little but if glue stuck in between the large weave fiberglass. Anythought and how I should prep the walls and what I should use for a cover coat?

Denton

#2

Denton, You could try “Noflex digestor” to kill the residual odour, available from Fisheries Supplies. It’s the best stuff I’ve found for preventing holding tank smell, but it’s also works well to deodorise after cleaning up a spill. Sprinkle it around the area, spray with a little water and brush. Not sure what would work painting over residual adhesive, but you might want to put a respirator on and use acetone as prep whatever you choose. Good luck.

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#3

Those areas in my boat are painted. I’m wondering if your removal of the insulation has taken things down to bare resin or if you still have another coating in place. If you still have residual glue then you have whatever was there under the glue. I can’t imagine any paint (for sure not gel coat) adhering to bits of old glue well. You could end up with a real mess which would be a pain to get rid of. If it were me I would sand or strip that surface down to bare resin and coat accordingly or think about applying another barrier to the surface mechanically after getting it clean with sanding and or solvents. What about another, better insulating material, glued down to the surface that is 90+ percent good. Get the area clean enough that a glue bond works and you only have a small percentage of questionable spots distributed around and not one big area. Acetone, or other solvents (whatever the specs say you need) are likely needed to get it clean (using lots of clean lint free rags). I’ve got this same problem in my aft head and I think the only solution will be a complete remodel in order to get way down behind and into buried spots where the odors seem to linger after many attempts to flush them out.

Trying IanMoore2468’s solution first is a good idea that might save you a lot time and money.

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#4

We removed the rear holding tank as well. Funny thing is there is no pump out for the rear tank on our boat. I am not sure what happen to it. The tank was a quarter full when we removed it. It didn’t smell bad though. The front tank and hoses were the bad ones for us. We found that once we removed the bulkhead in the back of the locker next to the rear head the tank was accessible. We now have even more storage with the tank gone. This head will be a direct overboard for when we are in the discharge zones. It will be nice having an “offshore” head and an inshore dry head. I know a lot of cruisers pump overboard in anchorages when they get full tanks as sometimes pump out facilities are hard to find in remote areas. I would rather not practice this behavior as I like to swim in brown trout free water.

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