The temperature dipped to the lowest it had been this winter and I became, I admit, obsessed with the nemesis of my life as a liveaboard – condensation.
On our boat, Silom, moisture typically formed in the lockers behind the settee cushions, in the corners of the headliner above the V-berth and along the hull in the cabinets under both the head and galley sinks. It goes without saying, Silom is not insulated.
The worst place moisture formed was between the mattress in the V-berth and hull liner. Eventually stains from black mould (mold to our American friends) appeared on the supposedly mould-resistant coating on the bottom of the mattress.
Years of wiping down those surfaces with solutions of various recipes and strengths — vinegar, bleach, concrobium — didn’t seem to rid Silom of mould, at least not to the degree that would make me happy.
Until this year.
This fall I initiated a series of preventative measures that seem to have worked over the winter. Here’s what the Condensation Cop (that’s me) has done:
- Every time I light the propane stove, or boil the electric kettle, I put up a small, powerful 12-volt