Ideas to get rid of mice smell in bass boat?

[Newbie@boats]

I recently purchased a bass boat that sat for year inside a barn. Showroom new! But unfortunately there were some mice living in the live wells and storage lockers.

I already dumped bleach in all the live well, vacuumed out the storage lockers, along with rest of the boat. But it’s still stinks like mice and it’s starting to stink up my garage.

I bought simple green and sprayed the carpets and storage areas and live wells. My concern isn’t with the live wells at this point it’s with the storage and carpet.

Anyone have any tips or ideas to get rid of this smell before my wife makes me sell this thing

 

[Grub54891]

Cant help ya much, but I'd be removing any panels that you can and check behind them also. Bass boats are sometimes hard to get to in the lower hull areas, hopefully they didn't set up shop down there.

 

[fishrdan]

Baking soda, charcoal, cat litter? Spread them around to absorb the offending smell, then vacuum up . (I'd place something under charcoal, so it doesn't leave a black residue.)

Not sure how confined the spaces of your boat are, but once a year I remove all the loose items from my boat, haul it down to the car wash, then use a bug sprayer loaded with 50% Simple Green to spray down the interior. Let it sit for +-10 minutes, the hit it with the car wash sprayer to remove the year worth of fishin' funk. (I hand clean the dash, switch panel and remote control, so they are not flooded with water...) My interior is Nautolex (marine vinyl), aluminum and plastic, so pretty friendly to being soaked with Simple Green, and it drains like a sieve, so it doesn't take long for the dirty water to drain into the bilge. I wouldn't do this to a boat that doesn't drain well, which could possibly be your bass boat.....

Since mice were living in the boat, I would check over the wiring and hoses closely. Those little buggers like gnawing on wire and hose. I wouldn't be surprised if you find a couple nests in obscured areas. When I bought my boat, I found a YUGE 1'x3' hornet's nest under a deck panel....

 

[roscoe]

I'd get a pet urine odor eliminator.

I've used SCOE to get cat urine out of hardwood floors.

Very expensive, but it works. Enzymes eat the odor producing bacteria.
Mouse urine is very concentrated. You may need 2 applications.

Saturate the carpet and let it work.


Google :
[h=1]SCOE 10X - Natural Probiotic Odor Eliminator Concentrate - Makes 5 Gallons – Removes Dog Urine, Cat Urine, Pet Odors, Other Odor-Causing Problems - 100% Odor Elimination[/h]

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Ozone generator will work wonders, buy one on e-bay for around $40

 

[Captain Caveman]

My concern isn’t with the live wells at this point it’s with the storage and carpet.

My bet is that the mouse urine and poop is absorbed in the carpeting. You may need to replace all of that, which sucks, but is minor compared to get a sweet boat in great working condition.

Anyone have any tips or ideas to get rid of this smell before my wife makes me sell this thing

Put your wife on smell elimination duty?

 

[Newbie@boats]

Thanks for all the info so far guys. My wife wont even set foot in the boat with this smell lol......

Could I use like a carpet shampooer as a first step or would that be a waste of time?

From what I can tell they were mainly in side storage compartments. I haven't seen evidence of them inside the walking portion of the boat....doesn't mean they weren't running around peeing everywhere.

 

[robert graham]

Maybe set boat outside in fresh air and sunshine, then a garden hose to wash down everywhere inside boat

 

[ahicks]

If you haven't already, power wash the daylights out of anything you can get to!

 

[Newbie@boats]

Its a to cold in CT to run my power washer right now which sucks.

I was thinking of trying the hand shampooer first, then in a couple of months was and scrub the carpet in the boat.

I like to keep thing era specific so as far as replacing the carpet goes I don't think I would be able to find carpet to match an 88 ranger

 

[Grub54891]

Perhaps there is some kind of cleaner that won't stain/damage the carpet you could spray on the carpets with a garden sprayer now. Let it sit till warm weather when you can rinse it out.

 

[GA_Boater]

You could try Febreze for and nature. Spray Febreze for pet odors like a mad man and roll the boat out into the Sun, uncovered of course. Plenty of dry, sunny days even in wintertime. Here is a link for other ideas - https://www.thespruce.com/remove-urine-odors-from-mattresses-1814759

 

[ahicks]

Cover it well with a snow proof cover and store it outside until warm enough to power wash. Bonus is the power washing will rinse all the sand out of the carpet leaving it like new.

 

[dingbat]

The easy solution is to leave a couple of squid in the box. Give it a week and your mouse smell will no longer be a problem.....lol

I use Orpine boat cleaner to clean bait wells and fish boxes. Best stuff I know to remove odors from just about anything. Use a deck brush to clean the carpets.

Leave an open box of baking soda in enclosed compartments

If you have a carpet cleaner, I’ve had good luck using the pets stain and odor formulas on carpets

 

[jimmbo]

Problem with Mouse Urine and Droppings, the risk of contracting Hantavirus. Soaking of any Contaminates with Bleach mixed at 10% for 30 minutes, will kill most of it, but Respiratory Masks, Goggles/Face Shield, Gloves,Throwaway Coveralls, and Duct Tape are recommended in any Mouse Dropping/Urine Clean up. If Contracted the Survival Rate is about 50%

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Hantavirus life span is pretty short two weeks should be ok if the rodents are gone.

In an area that is closed up fresh ground coffee in a paper bag loosely wrapped so it can breathe works wonders if you can leave it there and keep adding to it buy a cup or two at a time put them in any areas that are not jdirectly opened to the air. Meaning it will help in your cubbies but not on an open deck. Citrus cleaners are pretty impressive but finding one that works for urine thats mild enough for carpet I dont know. Contact citrus king in Florida. We buy it in 55 gallon lots there industrial degreaser and cleaner and its impressive what odors it will strip not just mask but it needs washed with water afterwards. There are less strong mixes that might work well and you can spray it in or even fog it if you had a good sprayer just keep in mind your sprayer is onlly going to work for a while because its hard on the rubber seals in the sprayer. Spray it on let it soak then pressure wash it off.

Ozone machines are probably not going to help any open areas I use ours on rodent cars but it’s mediocre at best. Rodents are becoming a plague here in the sticks I do a lot of late model car repairs with rodent infestations. Most important thing is to make sure your not feeding them access to bird seed dog and cat food draws them in like mad.

 

[roscoe]

Problem with Mouse Urine and Droppings, the risk of contracting Hantavirus. Soaking of any Contaminates with Bleach mixed at 10% for 30 minutes, will kill most of it, but Respiratory Masks, Goggles/Face Shield, Gloves,Throwaway Coveralls, and Duct Tape are recommended in any Mouse Dropping/Urine Clean up. If Contracted the Survival Rate is about 50%

Seriously, only one case reported east of the Mississippi in 2018, 6 or 7 in 2017 which was the highest ever. Usually 1-3 per year.
yes, high mortality rate at 36% per CDC, but I don't know anyone that treats this as a danger to worry about.
I live in farm country and mice are everywhere. You scoop em up and toss them. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so I wear gloves or use a shovel.
Yeah, I handle dead people, but wear gloves to pick up a mouse. ????

CDC:
Anything that puts you in contact with fresh rodent urine, droppings, saliva or nesting materialscan place you at risk for infection.
Hantaviruses have been shown to be viable in the environment for 2 to 3 days at normal room temperature.

 

[roscoe]

Its a to cold in CT to run my power washer right now which sucks.

I was thinking of trying the hand shampooer first, then in a couple of months was and scrub the carpet in the boat.

I like to keep thing era specific so as far as replacing the carpet goes I don't think I would be able to find carpet to match an 88 ranger

So, are using period correct sonar, gps, and trolling motor?

Seem like after a while, either its a classic to be kept vintage, like a 69 Hurst Olds, or its something to be upgraded to increase efficiency, ease of use, and accuracy.

 

[jimmbo]

When I was working for the Phone Company, we had Hanta Kits in our Trucks. Paper Coveralls, Tape, Gloves, Mask, Goggles, Bleach, Spray Bottle, Distilled Water, Disinfectant Wipes, Disposal Bags, were some of the Items.There were several Deaths in Western Canada from Hanta, so...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Its a to cold in CT to run my power washer right now which sucks.

I was thinking of trying the hand shampooer first, then in a couple of months was and scrub the carpet in the boat.

I like to keep thing era specific so as far as replacing the carpet goes I don't think I would be able to find carpet to match an 88 ranger

here is the issue with your 32 year old Ranger bass boat covered in mice urine

all the live-well plumbing fittings will be broken. those plastic fittings were brittle 15 years ago..... so you have to pull the whole boat apart to fix that.

mice will have chewed thru wiring and seat cushions, etc. so you should check everything while you have the boat apart.

when you do, simply tear out all the carpet and replace. you should also check the stringers and transom