Stumper Boat Odor

[raven16]

We have a stumper, bought Peg's book and have done the obvious. We have a what smells like a chemical type off-gassing type odor in the boat. It has been getting stronger over the 4 years we owned it. When we keep clothes on it, then step off, we can smell it in the clothes. It really seems to take to rubber (koozies) and rain jackets. We have cleaned the bilge to no end, checked for permeated hoses, isolated the foam mattress smell (not it), washed everything, wiped everything, and even have a small UV light device now going. I have pulled most of the interior panels off and sniffed behind them for it, bought a scope camera and have probed holes for anything obvious. Have you ever heard of testing for VOC's and then trying to back into what it could be? Any thoughts?


Peg's Response:


What you're describing sounds a lot like at least one of your batteries is outgassing...common when batteries get old. It's not a source of odor that I cover in my book because it's an electrical issue. There have been a couple of threads in cruisers.com on this subject...start with this one https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ing-35007.html