A potential moisture/mildew preventative/reducer for ski locker

FIRE UP

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Gang,
We purchased this nice 2014 Benny 25 RCL back about 6-8 months ago and we LOVE IT. When we first got it, we'd loaded a few things into the center compartment, Ski locker is what we call it, and, basically forgot about all that stuff. Well, here it is about 5-6 months later and, in the winter here in Lake Havasu City AZ (yeah, we do have winters here in SW AZ) and we decided to take the boat out a couple of weeks ago since it hadn't been out in a couple of months. We wanted to test a couple items when we took it out. One, we had our local Benny dealer install a *wash down* in the front left corner of the kick area of the left front seating and, wanted to test it out. And two, as some of you had seen, we'd had the TOONS POLISHED and, wanted to see how the lake water would affect the nice polish job.

Well, we went out for a few hours and, retrieved the boat back onto the trailer and brought it home. One, the new wash-down didn't work and, two, the polished toons were totally un-affected by lake water. About a dozen water spots totally and, some spray mix of vinegar and water took care of those.

But, we decided to open the center compartment and check out what we'd stored in there a few months ago. Guess what, there was quite a bit of mildew on lots of the items in there. Things like covers for folding chairs, matts for laying on, noodles for floating, etc. all had wetness and some mildew. Hmmmm., So, we emptied that compartment and, in the bottom of that compartment are two pieces of 1/2" thick black plastic. They're tethered together with a strap and some snaps. If you pull on the snaps, you disconnect one piece of plastic from the other. Now, each of these pieces of plastic are about 2' wide and, about 4' long.

There's one problem. As of yet, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how they come out of that compartment. I have tweaked and twisted 'till the cows come home and, they just get hindered from multiple corners stopping them from being extracted from that compartment. So, as of now, all I do is, slide one on top of the other, in order to thoroughly clean and dry the bottom of that compartment which, did have a small amount of water and some saw dust in there. Presumably the sawdust and shavings were from when the boat was built but, the manufacturer and or dealer, never efficiently cleaned that compartment prior to the sale of it to the first owner. You can't see the bottom of that compartment due to the two pieces of plastic acting as a flat floor to store stuff on.

Well, because they are solid pieces of plastic, there's no capability for any air to circulate in or around anything that's in that compartment. Not that there's that much air anyways in there, only when you open the hatch. So, being a retired fireman and, have dealt with compartment organization and outfitting of new fire trucks for well over 24 years, I came up with plan A. Some of you may or may not have heard of a product called *Dri-Dek*. It's merely a vinyl matting that is perforated with a zillion little feet on it, so that anything stored on top of it, can have air circulating under it., And, the second part of that name, *Dek* refers to the fact that it can be used as a decking surface too. And, due to it being a marine oriented surface to be used for decking, it has a non-skid type surface on it. That also helps in air circulation.

So, I ordered up enough of this Dri-Dek to cover both pieces of plastic and, run up each side by about 6" or so. Now, if water enters that center section, no matter how, at least there will be something to help alleviate moisture that can cause issues by stuff sitting on a solid surface. It sure did help in the fire service. See what you think.
Scott
 

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I installed Dri-Dek in my lounger storage areas and under the helm -- love it!
 
When I put the mooring cover on at night, I leave the hatch door open for air circulation. Haven't had any mold problem in this area.
 
Good stuff! Never used it on our boat but had it all around our hot tub at our last house Virginia.......Maybe you can put a couple canisters of Damp dry in there to help out with the wetness.
 
Ya know,
Common sense would dictate that one should leave that type of hatch cover open when the boat is either not in use or, in some sort of storage. I should know better. There were at least a month or two that the boat was covered and, under a drive under aluminum cover. (car port only A LOT BIGGER). That would have alleviated any chance of mildew or mold. Well, live and learn, AND, the use of the new Dri-Dek is gonna help the next time. Thanks for all the responses.
Scott
 
I keep a small fan in the shop that I will put blowing down into the ski locker when I know I have wet stuff in there after a weekend of use. When I had the boat in a slip I would cover it and plug up a fan blowing underneath the cover and keep the lid open. Took carE of most moisture in the locker and under the cover
 
All so I keep a couple of bars of soap thrown down under the black plastic so when water does get in there it self cleans. I believe lava or a similar heavy cleaning bar soap is what I picked up last year.
 
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