60 years of dust

During the first season with Meritaten I could not get rid of the smell in the boat. It smelled like old wardrobe. Our clothes had to be washed directly after coming back home since the small was so notorious.

Previous owner was keeping open jars with vinegar to get rid of the scent. It was not smelling rot - as then I would not buy the boat - but the smell was like the one you find in old houses.

I could not find the source of it - so I kept sailing with mental note to fix it after the season end.

Directly after lifting the boat to her winter storage I had my boat inspected by Thomas Larsson. He advised me to remove ceiling (mahogny panels screwed to frames on the inside) and to look behind it. The smell was coming from dirt, as he believed.

And so I did, removed the first few mahogny panels…

It was a tedious job. Partly because all these awkward positions I had to work in but mostly because 60-year old brass screws were hard to remove, some of them twisting apart while unscrewing.

I didn’t want to damage the ceiling (very nice mahogny) so I can put it back again afterwards.
In some cases, thou, I was forced to split the wood to get it out.
Well… Finally I got all of them removed.

It’s good I’m insensitive, thick-skinned, simple guy.
Should there be me wife she would vomit.

Sixty years of dust. No wonder it smelled.

It was late at night when I was done with removing the panels and scraping the dirt. Bilge was literally filled with litter. Dust filter in my mask was fully clogged, making breathing difficult.

As a last activity I vacuumed all the dirt and went home, exhausted.
Jeeezuskraist, how can you get a boat to this state???

After scraping and vacuuming the boat started to resemble itself again