How to remove solvent smell

Advice
#1

Hi



I have a 2010 Current Design kevlar kayak.



Both hatches retain a very heavy solvent smell, even though I left them open all winter and leave them open when not in use. Whenever I close the hatch and go paddling, the smell returns, and it permeates whatever is stored in the hatch.



Anyone with any ideas on how to remove this solvent smell?



Thanks!



A.

#2

Charcoal?
How about filling a sock, pantyhose, or a pan full of charcoal briquets and resting in the compartment for a good week or so?



If you’ve got a cheap source of activated carbon (like the stuff they use in aquariums), that might work.

#3

Baking soda?
That’s the suggestion I’ve seen for removing odors from refrigerators.



It’s cheap and easy enough to be worth trying on your hatch compartments.



BTW, some kayaks are just stinkier than others. My husband’s Tempest 170 still smells very strongly, even after 3 yrs.

#4

Solvent Smell
I HATE the smell of solvents!!



I recommend what the others wrote above.



Also try Borax and cedar chips.



You can buy cedar chip kitty litter that’s really good at absorbing cat smell. Put it in a mesh bag in the cockpits, or wrap it in cheese cloth (the cedar, not the cat).



Hopefully something works :slight_smile:

#5

Have you talked to Current Design
about it? Probably it is styrene or some other gas slowly working its way out of the vinylester resin.



Back in the day, people who laid up boats in the basement, using vinylester or polyester resin, found that fumes permeated the entire house, and were hard to eliminate.



I’d put some 303 on the boat to protect it from UV, and then leave it out in the sun, with the hatches open, as much as possible. Eventually whatever is coming out of that resin will taper down to zero.



Only other thing I can think of to look at is if they used an unusual sealing substance for the bulkheads.

#6

My 2007 QCC hatches still stink.
It’s not a big issue to me, because I never put anything in the hatches.

#7

Smell heavier than air.
The solvent gas is heavier than air. Leaving the hatches off will do nothing. Turn the boat over and then you’ll make progress.

#8

I like that smell
It’s kind of like the new car smell



jack L

#9

.
Can you sell it and just buy a canoe?

#10

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Benefect®'s kills over 99.99% of bacteria & surpasses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efficacy requirements for broad spectrum hospital disinfectants. It will leave those hatches smelling clean and fresh.

http://www.benefect.com/US_benefect/US_technology.php

#11

my McNulty was laid up in 86 , I’ve used
dryer sheets ,open hatches up an down , spilled white gas , in em , rotted fruit , an others I don’t remember , still smells ,

but they stay dry !

M

#12

Sorry Sun, it’s never going to
come out. You would have to roll in a coat of epoxy or paint to ‘seal’ it.