Fibreglass boats and headaches...

[opp-i-ottan]

I have what might be an "odd" question but I'd like to know if anyone has had any experience with this:

I have started to get pretty bad headaches from sleeping in my fibreglass boat! It doesn't impede my sleep but I wake up in the mornings with whooping headaches! The headaches usually hangs in there for an hour or two after I get out in the freash air - then dissapears - and comes back the following morning - so I can't help but to associate it with spending a lot of hours in the cabin! And NO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEER or any other drugs or alcohol for that matter!

The "fibreglass smell" in the cabin (what is that by the way... epoxy or something?) has always "bothered" me a bit, but I haven't had any health symptoms till this year. Am I getting some kind of allergy? Is it time to buy an aluminum boat?

 

[Rob Warren]

HMM I don't have any smells from my Cabin. Do you have a Carbon monoxcide alarm in your cabin? Mine has one and it acually went off once, so I opened up all the hatches and it went away. I think maybe that is why the alarm was there to begin with .. so you don't wake up with headaces.

 

[opp-i-ottan]

Thanks Rob! I'll check it out. But I thought that carbon monoxide is supposed to be odorless - hence the wisdom of having an alarm because you can't detect it by yourself! And also, it is supposed to give a slightly "different" problem than waking up with headaches - in fact you don't wake up at all!! [xx(] But hey... I'm not an expert so there might be a connection! It's probably not a bad start to find out what's going on.

The smell is a "monomer" or "paint-thinner" kind of odor and is stronger if the boat is out in hot weather and the cabin is not ventilated. I asked my buddy (who could smell it but said it doesn't bother him much) and he said it just smells like a new fibreglass boat! Problem is... the boat is FAR from new and I think it is far too strong for my comfort! Anyway... any more ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers...

 

[salmonkiller01]

My old searay had that smell of old varsol or ??? , it ended up being water in the floatation foam. I guess at some time water soaked into the foam, and being a closed cell it held the water. I had to remove all the foam and get it re-spayed.

Have you tried adding a cup of bleach to the forward bilge to kill any odours in their.
good luck.

 

[dog]

Maybe someone did a little epoxy or fibreglass repair or patch or addition somewhere in the cabin or behind the dash...and did not mix the resin and hardener in the right proportion, or an epoxy mix same problem. My old seats have that problem. They were reinforced with glass and the resin appears to have never completely cured, I assume because incorrect ratio...

 

[opp-i-ottan]

Salmonkiller... "old varsol" is actually not a bad description of the "smell"! How do you check if you have water in the flotation foam? Bleach in the forward bilge is not a bad idea either! Guess I'll start in the anchorlocker. I accidentally left a piece of crab bait there once that caused a horrible odor in the cabin for about week! [xx(] Couldn't figure it out! Kept scrubbing the cabin and blamed the kids for leaving pizza wedges and french fries under the seat cushions... oh dear![:I]

Dog... thanks for the tip, but I haven't done any repairs in or near the cabin. It's pretty much the same now as when it was new. Sure appreciate all the advice though...

 

[Mr. Dean]

quote:Originally posted by opp-i-ottan

But I thought that carbon monoxide is supposed to be odorless.... it is supposed to give a slightly "different" problem than waking up with headaches - in fact you don't wake up at all!!

Headaches are the EARLY sigh of this type of poisioning. However, I doubt that this is your dillema, as long as the cabin gets air'd out fairly well before going night-night and that you don't have the main running for heat or a generator.....

Sounds as if the glass is still curing (?) and the foam contamination therory is interesting (mold?).