A Woman's First Houseboat Purchase - it's Cozy, Homey, and now Odor Free!

by Jypseygal
(Alabama)

When I first purchased my houseboat, my first house boat at that, it had a mold, mildew, or musky odor, and I found a simple trick to get rid of it all.

But first, here is how all of this got started. I am 59, and I bought my first houseboat in April 2008. I bought it sight unseen from Craigslist, and lucked up to have bought a 1968 Nautaline that is all orginial and in great shape.

My boat is at a marina in a State Park and I feel very secure and safe when I go there to spend a week or two relaxing in my little get away in the mountains.

I was fortunate to have found some handy marine men around the marina that were willing to help me with upgrading and maintenance issues.

I totally love the community feel of marina life and friendship where everyone looks out for each other. I am loving my adventure with my houseboat, as I have it all dolled up to feel cozy and homey.

Now back to my solution, like I said, when I first purchased the boat I found it had a musky smell and I worked on cleaning and sanitizing the boat so it would smell good.

I was able to accomplish this with simple white vinegar and water. I spritzed everything in sight, cleaned scrubbed and kept the vinegar spritzing in action until I had no more musk and mildew smell and it is now ordor free. I have been away from the boat all winter and went up yesterday to check everything out and was pleasantly surprised to find
the boat ordor free.

Try this simple inexpensive cleaning solution and tell me what you think. Vinegar kills 90% of mold and mildew on contact and the vinegar ordor goes completely away within a couple of hours.

I love this website,

Thanks, jypseygal from Alabama

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Reply - Answer
Well jypseygal, welcome to the houseboat forums, and glad to hear that your love the site :)

I am also glad that everything is working out well for your first houseboat. It takes a lot of guts and courage to buy a boat sight unseen, and manage to get get her up and running.

It's a refreshing feeling and am always pleased to hear of more and more female captains taking to houseboats. There are a few at our marina, and some of them kick butt when it comes to their docking and their handling skills :)

One added bonus to having a female Captain aboard, their boats are always better organized, and often smell better :)

I am sure that your story will inspire other women to have a look at houseboats as an alternative boating and living option.


A Challenge to our Female Readers

As a matter of fact, it makes me want to throw a challenge to our female readers, let's hear more stories from the female perspective, as I am sure they will be eye opening and enlightening.



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their first houseboat adventures and experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN from all-about-houseboats

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