How to stop clothes from smelling sour?

[Iron E]

+1 on the Vac Bags

[allen lofland]

We spend the hurricane season at our home in wichita Kansas. On November first we move to our 35 ft sailboat in Biloxi Mississippi till June 1 !
We have a yard that puts our boat on the hard and places it above the water mark left by Katrina. We leave a dehumidifier running and the yard makes a point to notice dripping from the sink drain.
So far except for racoons and feral cats useing our yard,
We have survived with out damage !
The us mail is not dependable so my sister catches our mail we do not use the usps for financial business.
We are looking for a cover for the boat as she takes a beating from the sun in the yard .

[BenBowSirocco]

Three ideas for you:



#1: Ventilation, Ventilation Ventilation..
We removed our clothes locker doors and cut the opening larger- leaving approximately 2-3" of plywood left- then stapled woven wicker over the hole on the backside. Looks nice and definitely adds lots of airflow. This solved our musty smell.

#2: Aromatic Cedar
On our second boat, the clothes lockers were too small to ventilate properly with the wicker, so we put a layer on aromatic cedar on the top "ceiling" of each locker and on the back wall. It was purchased as "closet liner" and was 1/2" thick. Cardboard patterns and just a couple screws.

#3: Long Term Stowage
On our third boat not only did we do the wicker trick.. We discovered and used "Home Zone" powder whenever we stored the boat for more than a couple weeks. This powder reacts with the oxygen and forms a formaldehyde gas, which is toxic for oxygen breathing creatures like mold, fungus, bugs and humans. You want to seal the boat up as tight as possible and lay it out on small plates. Plastic over the companionway with spring clamps (on the inside) and turn off all the through hulls: seal it up tight!! It will eliminate everything that causes odor and leave you with a wonderfully fresh boat after you air it out for a couple hours. It has a noticeable smell, cant miss it, so no risk later on. It otherwise left no evidence we could find.



**Note, a friend of mine used desiccant packets in his clothes lockers. Pretty darn big ones and replaces them regularly.