Fungus

[Mick_B]

 

Have not been getting home till late most days or not at all so have not lit the stove for a while. Also the boat has been dark inside. Found this growing out from a crack between the floor and the side of the boat just inside the rear doors.

Should I be greatly concerned or just throw it in the cut and give the place a good cleaning, airing and heating?

[Ray T]

Sorry can't help but I'd "Be afraid,......... Be very afraid".

Edited November 23, 2011 by Ray T

[Bat & Frog]

How big is this, hard to get a sense of scale ?

I would be quite concerned as could be your floor or floor bearers rotting, is there any way to check below the floor, do you have dry or wet bilges ?

Edited November 23, 2011 by Bat & Frog

[Mick_B]

It is about 10 inches wide. Due to some leaking windows there is always about an inch of water in the cabin bilge where the inspection hole is under the rear steps.It used to be a lot worse but I have managed to fix most of the leaky windows.

[RLWP]

I wonder if that is dry rot?

 

 

 

More here:

 

http://www.timberwise.co.uk/tag/dry-rot-pictures/

 

Dry Rot needs 3 elements to continue its growth within timber. These are water, air and a food source, in this case timber.

 

Richard

Edited November 23, 2011 by RLWP

[Chagall]

don't let it get any bigger!

 

[Naughty Cal]

It is probably best to have a dig around and further investigate the extent of this growth. It may just be localised and easy to treat.

[Guest]

I wonder if that is dry rot?

 

Inclined to agree - it looks very similar to something that grew under the floor of our very first house.

 

We had to cut out some timber and treat around it - I can't recall what with (It was 30 years ago) and there is probably more advanced stuff on the market now.

[carlt]

Chop it out, put it on the burner and treat everything with Cuprinol 5 star complete wood treatment.

[Old Son]

As I understand it, you would need to remove all wood within 1 metre of the outbreak and treat as suggested by Carlt if it is indeed dry rot

[Mick_B]

Guess I will have a dig around when I get home. Mind you it did just lift off the floor. Was not as if it was stuck to the floor tiles. (lino)

Have spent an hour googling fungi and stuff but can find no images exactly like it. Nearest I found was a Crusted Coral Fungus..

[carlt]

Have spent an hour googling fungi and stuff but can find no images exactly like it. Nearest I found was a Crusted Coral Fungus..

It isn't typical of dry rot but it may be behaving differently, because it hadn't found wood yet.

 

Check under the lino for fluffier white stuff, on the wood. If it's there scrape it off and use loads of 5 star on that, too.

[Mick_B]

Cheers guy's. Will have a look and see what I find.

 

Thanks :cheers:

[LEO]

Hi,

 

It does look like the dreaded DRot.

 

Urgent treatment needed, lift floorboards, read the instructions on any treatments used carefully, especially if you are sleeping on the boat.

 

Eradicate the souce of damp.

 

To be really safe, if you are breasted up to another boat you should warn the occupants of that what chemical treatments you are using.

 

As stated burn any affected timber

 

Best of Luck.

 

Leo.

[Bob18]

Take a lot of care when digging out the stuff, have a good supply of plastic bags to hand and don't over fill them, you want to keep the fungus and its spores under as much control as possible.

 

And put it onto a hot fire, not onto one that you are starting from cold - that way you will destroy the fungus and spores more completely.

 

One old fashioned treatment for fungal outbursts was "Bordeaux mixture" - a mixture of copper sulphate and hydrated lime which would be applied diluted with water - With all the changes in rules around the use of chemicals I don't know if its legal or not today, but I can say it is "quite cheap" and "pretty effective" against a wide range of fungi, either on "large lumps", or to treat the affected wood at preventing regrowth...

[Guest User]

I'm not sure it's dry rot fungus. If anything, the fungus appears to be making some small mushroom-like grey/brown heads on over-inflated white stalks. Dry rot fungus does not make mushroom-like fruit bodies.

 

If those grey/brown heads in the OP's photo have gills underneath then its definitely not dry rot fungus.

 

 

... but either way the solution is the same, open up the boards, strip out the rotten wood and give what remains a good drenching in Cuprinol's finest.

[Alan Saunders]

It isn't typical of dry rot but it may be behaving differently, because it hadn't found wood yet.

 

Check under the lino for fluffier white stuff, on the wood. If it's there scrape it off and use loads of 5 star on that, too.

Good advice but I would say 'Treat it with Cuprinol 5*, next day remove the (hopefully dead) fungus', repeat for the stuff found under the floor covering.

 

The 'lino', vinyl or other floor-covering can trap a small amount of moisture leaking in at the edges over a long period and transfer it by capillary action over a large area.

 

Whatever fungus you have its presence indicates good conditions for destructive fungus growth. The fruiting body is feeding through a myriad of fine strands, mycelium, which will, likely, spread over a large area of the interface between the 'lino' and the wood floor.

 

I believe, as others have said, that Cuprinol 5 Star is the best treatment legally available to the amateur.

 

Now is not the ideal season to get everything dried out but the 5* should keep the problem at bay until spring.

 

You cannot eliminate the spores, even by cutting back by a metre; keeping the timber dry is essential.

 

Alan

[Iain_S]

I'm not sure it's dry rot fungus. If anything, the fungus appears to be making some small mushroom-like grey/brown heads on over-inflated white stalks. Dry rot fungus does not make mushroom-like fruit bodies.

 

Yes it does. Google "dry rot fruiting body"

 

Iain

[Caprifool]

Not a single fruitbody on Google pic's that looks like the OP's pic though.

[Guest User]

Yes it does. Google "dry rot fruiting body"

 

Iain

 

????? ... by mushroom-like I mean wih a stipe, cap (and gills) ... Serpula lacrymans does NOT produce these, it produces an open creeping basidiome; no stalk, no cap (and NO gills).

 

Yes they are both basidiomycetes and by definition, both produce basidiospores, but I've taken your advice and rather than rely on my 25 years experience as a mycologist I've used Google to find a couple of links you may find helpful to show the difference in the fruit body structure ....

 

Serpula - dry rot

 

Agaricus - classical "mushroom"

[Bob18]

Parts of it almost look like a white form of a staghorn fungus.

 

What has it consumed to get to this size?

I'd guess damp timber

 

How much more of it is lurking under the floor and behind the side panels?

Again a guess - Lots.

[Athy]

Don't trust it in your omelette.

[Higgs]

I have an invite to a party. Is it free next friday.

 

Yours, not fussy. Higgs xxxxxxx

[Mick_B]

Had a good clean up last night. Haven't removed any panels yet though. I am off work on Friday so it will happen then.

A lot of good advice forthcoming and am greatfull for it. Took a few more pic's today in daylight for a bit more clarity. It does not show as I only read Graham's post after getting to work but as far as I remember there are no gills to be seen but I did include some of the bits I had broken off and a lighter for perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for suggestions.

 

I have an invite to a party. Is it free next friday.

 

Yours, not fussy. Higgs xxxxxxx

 

[carlt]

Were there any unusual lights in the sky, the night before?