The in floor compartments on my 2004 1700 Angler SS have a "general fuel/garage smell" to them. I pulled the floor and checked the fuel tank but found no leaks. Clamps are all tight and no loss of fuel over the winter. Not strong gasoline smell like the thing is going to blow up, but just that garage kinda smell to it.
Any chance the smell is from the marine plywood flooring offgassing? It's getting in to the sweatshirt and stuff.
If you find out, let me know. I have the same thing in my 2001 Explorer 1650 that I bought new. Seems to have a little gasoline flavor to it but more than that.
A friend of mine has an older Lund, I think a 97 or so, and has the same thing with it. Might just be a Lund thing.
I still can't figure it out but right after posting the question above I sprayed soapy water (used Dawn) in all the compartments & down in the bilge and rinsed it out. That helped tremendously for a couple of months but the smell is coming right back.
Rinsing that soap out was a pain in the back side! It just kept sudsing up so it too lots of water to get out.
While I use the boat for fishing and really don't care about the smell getting in to the sweatshirt and rain jacket I keep in there, it's my lures that I'm concerned with. I'd like to leave them in their boxes down in the compartment to stay outta my way but a "garage smelling" lure isn't going to help my fishing success.
Soaping down everything under the floor often isn't something I'm too keen on. It was a great test because it showed me it's on the metal in the bottom of the boat by washing away but I'd think having so much humidity under the floor doing that will eventually rot it away.
Just thinking out loud... I wonder if dusting a couple of small boxes of baking soda down in there would help. Then just once in a while rinse it out. I check after every trip out but my boat is super tight and perfectly dry. Never a need to pull the plug to drain so I shouldn't be concerned about creating a gummy mess under there.
Or soaping it but not trying to rinse it out. Not sure this would work all that well. The Dawn is a great grease cutter and makes it easy to wash such smells away but I don't think it would actually neutralize the smell the way a baking soda would.
I even tried some of my Scent Away left over from hunting and that didn't really help enough.
Here is what I did & maybe got rid of 90% of that smell;
I put in my plug & filled up around 4/5" of water, added a quart of Orange De-Greaser & went on my road trip which lasted 5 hours. Un-plugged it at a sewer & drained it. Refilled it with fresh water & drove around for 15min or so, stepping alot on the brakes to slosh around, drained it again & it helped a great deal.
Nik
Took my road trip to Lake Erie from Illinois in June, & was good all summer, Tucked the boat away last week for winter, & I added aprox. 20 moth balls all around the boat, Battery/acsess door, all compartments, for the little critters that might get in (?), along with 2 different types of mouse snacks. By next spring there will be a slight odor of moth balls but will only last a few hours once uncovered.
I have a 2002 Lund Fisherman 18' and only had trouble with a front compartment smelling stale. I did the Dawn thing too and then rinsed with lots of vinegar and HOT water and let it air dry in the sun. It was good all year. I think a good aluminume cleaner (brightener)with an acid base would clean the best. I have used lots of it over the years on tanker truck and boats and it takes all the old film and tarnish off and any smell with it. available at Napa auto stores. If it comes back right away, my guess is moisture or humidity. Jay
I get some moldy smell from time to time especially after I get caught in the rain and the water seeps in and sloshes around in the lockers.
I keep all my clothes that I store in the boat's lockers on board all the time: gloves, jackets, sweatshirts etc in Seal Line dry bags. Keeps everything dry and "odor free". Amazon has them with free shipping for orders over $25 and at discount prices too!
I just bought a leftover "2008" 1775 Classic Sport, and I gotta tell you, for what I paid for this thing, I'll be more than a little upset if I get water in my storage lockers!
I have the same smelly issue with my 2003 Explorer 1675. My buddy with the same boat does too. I came across another blog where a guy was claiming that the vapors come right through the plastic tank. The light bulb went on above my head as I remembered an equipment manufacturer for automotive fuel tanks stating that the car manufacturers used an 8 layer polymer - one of the 8 layers was in there to keep the vapors from escaping. Boat tanks are not that sophisticated. I also discovered that Lund is not the only boat maker with this issue.
So I guess we're stuck with it then. That would make sense.
I usually leave the storage doors open so it doesn't build up inside. I'm not too crazy about this since my boat is tored in the garage. (condo living). But it never seems to get enough concentration to worry about explosion (I hope).
I just had to replace the gas tank in my 2001 17' Mr. Pike. Minor leak.
Also, I notice that when I fill-up, and the punp handle shuts off automatically, there's a little spill over going on. I thought this was the source of the gas smell until the leak was discovered by my mechanic when installing an on-board charger.
I came back from my 8th canadian trip this summer....
To define the smell:
1. Several days of fish slime, blood, smooshed minnows, smeared in the carpet.
2. The "natural" Lund smell (gas, chemical, plastc)
3. 2 days of heavy rain activating this slurry of yummy-ness....
4. I put the boat cover on for the ride home on a hot 90+ degree day.
After arriving home, we proceeded to remove the boat cover so we could try to get the boat dried out. I have to say that the smell that was emitted after rolling the cover back has to be the foulest, nasty, evil smell that I have ever experienced.....
I know exactly the smell your talking about.. I do make it a habit to keep all clothing items ( & other stuff) in the big blue ziplock storage bags. Never know when you'll get wet, or someone in the boat wants to go home early cause she got cold.. LOL !!!
Good luck.... Bill
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASCTLC
Hi all,
The in floor compartments on my 2004 1700 Angler SS have a "general fuel/garage smell" to them. I pulled the floor and checked the fuel tank but found no leaks. Clamps are all tight and no loss of fuel over the winter. Not strong gasoline smell like the thing is going to blow up, but just that garage kinda smell to it.
Any chance the smell is from the marine plywood flooring offgassing? It's getting in to the sweatshirt and stuff.
I have no idea what the "Lund Funk" is, but I have noticed on every Lund I have ever been on except for a buddies '07 Mr Pike. His boat is parked in a garage and always kept meticulously clean, but it does fish 3 times a week. Either he is lucky or he cleans it really well.