These are the material seats and both mine and my husbands smell like dead roadkill! “Especially when wet” Similar to wet boat shoes…
Masking the smell ie fabreze wont work on this kind of stench. I know vinegar/water soaks work for shoes but the seats have me stumped. Oh yeah…we shower every day in case anyone has any wisecracks!!!
Any suggestions that work?? Besides new seats??
may some Sink the Stink?
http://www.sinkthestink.com/
I own three WS boats (used to be four) and haven’t experienced such a problem… I rinse them off with the hose after every use and occasionally wash them inside & out with a mild detergent, but in either case I leave them out to air/sun dry completely before storing them.
Ditto the above reply
Everything is washed and dried after use. Seat’s fine. Booties on the other hand…
seat stink
Im not the brightest bulb in the box, but I do know how to clean. Follow the advice of washing/scrubbing your seat(s). Air dry and than sprinkle with baking soda, allow to stay on seat until next use.
UltraRider06
Same here
I’ve got two WS with those seats. Soak everything in fresh water after paddling and air dry. I also don’t use an airtight cockpit cover, I use a fine mesh cloth. Nothing else, seats are fine.
Ok looks like they should be
rinced after use. Husband rolls and his seat gets wet eventually whereas mine doesnt so its odd that both are similar. We do use cockpit covers which may help to add to the problem although we keep the covers off till everything is dried out. I guess the trick is rince immediately.
try borax
Google, or something, for proportions
A little soap and water
goes a long way. What else is there to say ?
Soap isnt going to work on this!
Or do you know of a super strong soap? I am searching for something stronger or a better idea of how to clean.
soap won’t do it
get the stuff used to remove stink from wetsuit booties.
Just like socks
You wait a year or two before washing, it won’t do much.
Well i cant imagine that!
We do wet exit practice so the seats get wet in the lake - just never washed/scrubbed them which sounds like we need to do and they go into a garage which doesn’t see the sunlight which also may add to the problem.
I’d be suspicious of the cockpit covers
Even just a little residual damp in the seats when you close them up will make a funk.
Yes I think that is the culprit
as they do get wet. I spoke with a rep that sells Mirazime and am going to order some and give that a try.
What I use
At an army/navy store around here I found a cloth camo mesh called a “personal camoflouge screen” that’s about 8x8 for $15. The openings on the mesh are small enough to keep out anything that can’t get through a window screen. I’ve seen it in more than one store so you should be able to find it. I just wrap that around the yak, or you could cut a piece to fit and use a long bungee cord under the lip of the coaming to hold it on. Don’t know why someone doesn’t make one up with a drawstring and sell it in kayak shops.
I agree - its a great idea
I kept thinking mesh screen but the metal one which could get sharp. I didn’t think about nylon mesh. It would need to be very fine to keep out the bugs (especially for me!) I just need to find one of those stores now! I do think the covers turned things bad when they were damp.
Bac-Out
Have had good look on all my paddling gear with this product: http://www.bi-o-kleen.com/pdfs/BacOut.lo.pdf
One caveat: I’ve not tried Bac-Out on Gortex or other breathable fabrics.
Suiggest you contact manufacturer of your boat seat for more suggestions.
Just hose down every time…
I’ve been dunking my WS seats in salt water nearly every time I go out. Have always hosed everything down thoroughly as soon as I got them home…and left them to dry in open air. Then store them on a rack in the cellar with all hatches open.
(Only time anything stinks is when I leave the hatches on for a while. But thats just inside the compartments.)
The seating never reeks…
My advice: blast them with the hose every time you use them.
One other piece of advice while
drying the inside of a boat. Don’t tip it upside down as this will tend to hold the moisture in longer, even if the cockpit cover is off. Leave the boat sitting on its bottom or side until dry, then turn it to the storage position.