Shantyboat Forum

Having worked for years in the States as a home inspector, I had to learn a lot about mold.

Few things, including chlorine bleach (and most likely ozone), will kill mold spores --- unless you physically remove them, they are just waiting to fruit and start growing as a fungus. And it is the fungus that causes the problems, not the spores.

(And even if you remove the spores, the air is full of them, so they'll be right back.)

And whatever you do do, do not put chlorine bleach in a spray bottle - breathing the atomized chlorine will, for most people, do more bodily damage to you than a few mold spores ever would.

IOW, scrub. Clean stuff with elbow grease.

Ozone? There are a zillion and one sites and companies trying to sell ozone machines and ozone treatments and claiming that it works. I haven't seen any scientific studies which confirm the effectiveness of ozone. And I have seen government agencies assert the opposite.

E.g. "Studies have shown that ozone, even at high concentrations, is not effective at killing airborne mold or surface mold contamination. Even if mold was killed by ozone, the health threats would not be reduced until mold contaminants are removed through cleaning. Health experts, including the Minnesota Department of Health, do not recommend the use of ozone to address mold or any other indoor air problems." http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/mold/

IMO, the best way to deal with mold is outlined at

http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/eh/hlthhaz/fs/moldclean.htm

There are three ways to prevent mold growth - (i) keep everything dry (on a boat?) (ii) eliminate food sources (like wood or other organic material) and (iii) keep air away. (I mean keep air away - completely - seal your boat in a vacuum. Otherwise, keep air circulating to keep humidity levels down and avoid stagnant locations.)

Oh yeah, (iv), keep the ambient temperature too low for human comfort....

IOW - keep things dry and expect hard work to clean when it happens.

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BTW: Saying "black mold" is sort of like saying "wet water," it doesn't really mean much -- there are thousands of molds which are black, almost all of which are benign to both humans and wood.