Skip to content
Winning The Impossible Battle Against Boat Mildew
The ceaseless march of mildew has brought many to their knees. It's a war that's impossible to win, but it's still worth fighting for the precious few battles that you can salvage a victory from.
Today, we'll discuss mildew in depth. While it might seem like a boring topic, it's one worth paying attention to. Mildew is a menace everywhere, but boat mildew can be particularly rambunctious.
We're going to discuss how to stop its advance and perhaps even cause it to retreat, at least for a little while.
Our Recommended Product
Know Your Enemy
Knowing your enemy is the most important part of any fight. Luckily, mildew isn't smart enough to keep any secrets, so we know everything about it. Regardless of that fact, it manages to persist.
Say what you will about mildew, but I find that fairly impressive. So, enough waffle. Let's get down to brass tacks: What is mildew and what causes it?
Mildew is the common name for several varieties of fungi, including mold. Black mold is a particularly pugnacious variant.
Mold and mildew reproduce through spores, which means that they can spread far and fast. One cell under ideal conditions can create 200 miles of cellular growth in just 24 hours! Granted, that 200 miles is packed densely together, but there isn't much else on the planet that can match the sheer growth rate of mildew.
What Does Mildew Do?
If all mildew did was propagate endlessly, it would be inconvenient but not something to worry about. However, nothing can spread that quickly without consuming some sort of energy.
The next question is: What does mildew consume to grow so quickly? Well... basically, everything. While mildew prefers natural products such as wood, cotton, leather or silk, it'll certainly make do with anything from plastics to fiberglass and anything in between.
Our Recommended Product
Unlike higher life forms that envelope their food before beginning the digestive process, mildew does it in view of everyone by simply spraying digestive enzymes on whatever they're consuming. How rude!
These digestive enzymes can cause pitting and other irreversible damage. That's why it's so important to get rid of mildew with a strong mildew stain remover as soon as you notice it developing.
Have you ever had a mildewed boat sail that you were able to get looking decent again? Well, the integrity of that sail is still compromised depending on how severely mildewed it was.
If it gives way under the wind, you'll have a pretty decent answer as to why that might've happened. As an aside, have you ever wondered why sailboats have two sails?
Why Is Boat Mold So Stubborn?
You'd think that with all the tools we have to get rid of mold on boats and everywhere else, we would have it on the run. That hat simply isn't the case.
Mold spores can be ejected several feet from where they spawn. If they land on one of the few surfaces that isn't conducive to growth, the cells remain dormant, sometimes for years, until the conditions are right for growth.
When you add dormancy to the fact that mold and mildew exist almost everywhere on the planet, you're bound to run into it at some point. The pitting caused by the digestive enzymes I mentioned earlier can create a nice little home for new spores to settle in and continue the party.
Our Recommended Product
Better Boat Upholstery Brush Set
How To Win Against Boat Mildew?
Mildew develops extremely quickly in a tropical climate. High humidity, warm temperatures and still air are prime conditions for boat mold to do its work.
Most molds will still grow in conditions quite far removed from those described above. It just happens at a slower rate. To keep mildew in check simply via environmental factors, you'd need to keep your boat at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is going to do a lot more damage than the mildew would.
A small low-temperature space heater can create an environment hostile enough to keep boat mildew at bay in tightly packed spaces. Heat and open air both remove moisture, which the mildew depends on to survive.
One caveat is that mildew's digestion process can create its own heat. Mildew has even caused spontaneous combustion in piles of hay!
Open air is the best way to wick away moisture, but if you have enclosed spaces, then a dehumidifier bag or two can do the trick. There are also a variety of mildew cleaners on the market, but the real trick is to not let boat mildew settle in at all.
Our Recommended Product
Final Thoughts
It might seem like an impossible battle but the more you know about your enemy, the easier you can defeat boat mold and mildew. You have all the tools at your disposal, and now you probably know more than you ever wanted to know about this pervasive menace.
Perhaps one day we will win the war, but until then friends? Stay vigilant!
Our Recommended Product
