The Mullet Incident

First, let me tell everyone about mullet.  Not the unattractive hair style, I can’t explain that, but the fish.  Anyone who has spent any time along the Gulf coast has seen mullet swimming around.  They are vegetarian fish that hang out in schools near the surface.  They usually just swim around in circles, but occasionally they jump from the water.  No one has figured out why they jump, but that doesn’t stop them from jumping anyway.  The big ones can leap about three feet up into the air, though they seem to go for distance rather than height.  Typically, they land on their side with a loud slapping noise.  Mostly they irritate little kids who don’t understand why they won’t bite any bait.  Or so I’ve heard.

Anyway, here is the story:

We’re sitting in the cockpit watching the sunset and having a beer.

Will: What’s that smell?

Wendy: Huh?

Will: It smells like something dead.

Wendy: I don’t smell anything.

Will: Well, I don’t smell it now, but I did just a second ago.

Wendy: I still don’t smell anything.

The conversation goes on like that for a while.  I occasionally sniff something that smells like dead fish and Wendy smells nothing.  Oh, well, I’m sure it’ll be gone tomorrow.

I’m wrong.  The next evening we both smell dead fish.  I go look around the boat to see if there is a dead fish stuck next to the hull; nothing there.  I sit back down for a while, but the smell gets me back up again.  I look all over then notice some stains in the floor of the dinghy.  I lean way off the back of the boat so that I can see the whole dinghy and there in the back, bottom, corner is a dead mullet.

We keep our dinghy hanging on davits on the back of our boat.  To prevent it filling up with rain water the back is lower than the front.  That way any water that gets in will go to the back and empty out the drain.  Apparently this mullet leaped high enough to land in our dinghy and get stuck there.  It was probably days later before we found him.  Now he is way past dead and smelling like it.

Dinghy on davits.

When sailing your boat is like your house and your dinghy is like your car.  Most places your boat will be at anchor and you will take your dinghy to shore to pick up groceries, wash cloths, to go snorkeling, go to the beach or just exploring.  You spend a lot of time in your dinghy once you arrive at your destination and you certainly don’t want it to smell like dead fish.

I’m not sure how this happened.  I spent half my childhood on Tampa Bay and I’ve seen mullet jump thousands of times.  I have never seen one hit anything when they jumped.  I’ve never seen one hit a boat or a dock or jump up on a beach.  They always seem to know where they are jumping and where they are going to land, so I’m not sure how this one ended up in our dinghy.  My guess is since the dinghy was suspended and not touching the water the poor fish never knew it was there until he was landing in it.

After we realize there is a dead mullet in our dinghy, I pull the dinghy up while Wendy leans over the stern and grabs the fish with a paper towel.  Very brave of her, I want nothing to do with that.  She drops it overboard and it quickly sinks to the bottom.  The smell lingers the rest of the evening even after we rinse out the bottom of the dinghy.  I suspect we’ll need to get in there with some soap and water.  And by “we” I mean me.  Fun, fun.

The next afternoon I decide it’s time to tackle this project.  I grab some dish soap and a rag then Wendy and I pull the dingy up onto the dock.  The dinghy is nearly 12 feet long and the dock is about 10 feet across, so we’re basically blocking off our end of the dock.  We could lay it on the dock sideways, but then it’ll be hard to drain, so we just block off the dock. 

Our dinghy is a soft bottom dinghy with three pieces.  There is the main boat with big pontoons on the sides and front and a thin fabric bottom, an inflatable spine that runs down the center to give the bottom a V shape and an inflatable flat bottom which lies on top of the spine.  The fish landed on the flat bottom, but as it started to decompose it leaked down into the lower layers of the bottom insuring that all the pieces would need a good scrubbing.

I start by just trying to spray the mess off with the hose.  That does nothing but fill the dinghy up with water.  I’m going to have to go in and take care of this by hand.  I pull out the flat floor to work on that separately.  It has rotten fish covering it on both sides.  I start scrubbing and get some of the dirty suds on me. I realize this is going to get messy and I don’t want this stuff on my clothes, so I take off my shirt and shoes and just wear my board shorts.  I scrub and scrub, then flip it over to scrub and scrub some more.  Wendy rinses that piece off while I climb into the dinghy to start on the bottom.   Now I’m knelling in water that has putrid decaying fish particles floating around in it.  I mostly hold my breath while scrubbing then when I’m about to pass out I sit up, turn into the wind and gulp some fresh air.  After recovering I knell back down to continue.  Occasionally I breathe a little in and nearly gag, but I manage to get though it without losing my lunch.

A few people want to get by and I need to climb out to move the boat for them to pass.  Wendy explains to them the cause of the terrible smell as I climb back into the stench.  Some people smile and shake their heads, one offers a “good luck”, most just move away as quickly as possible.  After scrubbing all I can, Wendy rinses everything off one more time.  I can still smell dead fish, but I’m thinking that is just what has gotten on me.

I go off to the showers to clean myself up and when I return the smell is still there.  I’m pretty sure it’s not me, not positive, but pretty sure.  I stick my nose near the dinghy and find it still stinks.  It’s better, but far from good.

Dinghy bottom laying on deck.

The next day I attack the smell with Tilex.  I’m sure bleach will take care of the problem.  Another hour of scrubbing and rinsing, another shower and the smell is slightly better.  I tie the flat bottom to our deck and leave it in the sun for days.  My hope is the sun will burn the smell away, but the only thing that happens is the smell gets worse as it heats up.

Next I try baking soda and lemon juice.  I mix the two together to form a paste then spread that over the area that has the strongest smell.  I leave it on overnight and rinse it off the next day.  This solution has some success.  The smell has been reduced, but it is still not completely gone and I’ll have to spot treat each section.  That’s going to take a while.  I’m going to try white vinegar after this to see if that does any better.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of dead fish smell from PVC please let me know.
 

Dinghy bottom with lemon juice and baking soda.

Some may ask, “Why go through all this trouble?  Why not just buy a new one?  How much could an inflatable boat cost?” The answer is about $3000, plus tax, plus a few hundred for shipping.  So, the decision to clean it is an easy one. Until I win the lottery which may be a while since I don’t even play.

I used to like the sound of mullet jumping then slapping down into the water.  Now it just makes me cringe.  I’m sure I won’t enjoy that sound again until long after the dinghy stops stinking.