Anti freeze as mold / fugus repellant ?

[lawrence101]

I read somewhere that anti-freeze will prevent mold from growing on wood, is this true ? Im tempted to splash some around in the bilge just as a precaution but im concerned about the paint job on my new boat. Does anyone know anything about this ?

 

[MTboatguy]

No, Where did you hear this?

 

[poconojoe]

Never heard that either. And I'm assuming you are talking of the non-toxic variety, not the poisonous automotive type.

 

[Grub54891]

Even the pink non toxic gets nasty. I've seen some put in the bilge, by spring it smells funky. Hard to get that smell to go away. The best is to clean everything up real well, and make sure it's dry before covering. A little bilge cleaner is better in my opinion.

 

[Chris1956]

I have heard of that property of green auto AF. It is actually supposed to be real good at killing dry wood-rot. It will attack some paints, but I would think gel coat in a bilge would not be affected.

However, I would use bleach to kill mold. Dry rot is another issue. I would want to combat dry rot in a FG boat with FG resin, not AF. A wood boat might benefit from the use of AF.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Yes, Ethylene Glycol will kill mold on wood. Not sure on Propylene Glycol (pink stuff)

 

[Scott Danforth]

No, Where did you hear this?

In the restored forums on iboats

 

[lawrence101]

Read about it in another forum and I found an article here:

http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/davecarnell/rot.html

 

[bruceb58]

Heard of it in many places as a preventative for future wood rot. I would not however put it in my bilge. You don't want that going into the water.

 

[lawrence101]

I have to agree Bruce on invironmental grounds, I wouldn't want that stuff getting into any of my favourite fishing holes
After further reading , I think AF or rather Glycol was meant to be used on a newly constructed wooden boat before paint or epoxy is applied. Not sure what effect that would have on adhesion.
just for my own curiosity, I'd like to try some of those wood rot experiments myself just to see if it really works.

 

[H20Rat]

Even the pink non toxic gets nasty. I've seen some put in the bilge, by spring it smells funky. Hard to get that smell to go away. The best is to clean everything up real well, and make sure it's dry before covering. A little bilge cleaner is better in my opinion.

I dumped some pink antifreeze in my bilge years ago to prevent any left over water from freezing. I still get the funky smell if the boat is covered too long. VERY hard to get rid of it!