Battling “Git Back”
Published: Thursday, September 24, 2020
By: Dan Armitage
Back in the 80s, I lived in the Florida Keys working for The Key West Citizen newspaper and fishing out of what was then called Boog Powell’s Anglers’ Marine, owned by the former MLB star and Miller Lite pitch man (“Less Filling” v. “Great Taste!”) of the same name. Boog had a part-time welder and resident boat cleaner on staff named Jerry who lived rather hermit-like in a ramshackle trailer at the back of the property. I never saw him wear shoes or long pants and the dude had the scruffiest beard I’ve ever seen. One day, making small talk as we prepped a boat, I asked him if he ever trimmed it. He answered that he never had to, for whenever it started to get too long sparks from his day job as a welder would set it on fire and burn it back.
Boog’s was a hard-core fishing marina, and Jerry’s job was to clean up after anglers who didn’t want to take the time to wash down their own boats before putting them in rack storage or leaving them in the slip after a long weekend of fishing—and who-knows-what else. Using natural bait and chum was—and still is—a popular way to catch fish in those days, when you could pay for a week’s boat fuel by selling yellowtail snapper, grouper and dolphin after a productive outing.
If you’re not familiar with the term, “chum” is just about anything you can toss over the side of a boat to attract baitfish or gamefish and keep them in the vicinity and feeding while anglers try to fool them into biting baited hooks. Here in the Great Lakes, some anglers use canned cat food as chum for yellow perch, tying a punctured can to the anchor; others have their own recipes of ground fish and oils and fillers such as oats that they freeze in cups to lower over the side to get the perch in a feeding mood as the concoction slowly melts.
In the Keys, anglers targeting snappers, sharks and grouper use combinations of menhaden or other fragrant fish oils, ground fish and fish parts, and filler such as corn meal, oats and sand. For open water species such as dolphin, tarpon and sharks, cut bait is used to keep the fish in the area of the boat. You can imagine what the deck and baitwells of boats used for fishing looked and smelled like at the end of a day, let alone a weekend. Jerry’s job was to clean up after these guys, earning tips and free rent on the trailer for keeping an eye on the place.
It was from Jerry that I learned the term “Git Back!,” something he coined for the involuntary action of a person opening an especially stinky locker, deck or cockpit who is forced olfactorily to get back and away from the source of the stench. When facing such odiferous boat-cleaning jobs, Jerry often followed crime scene detectives’ method of dealing with foul smells by forgoing the face mask but smearing his mustache with Vicks VapoRub before tackling the clean-up.
I followed Jerry’s lead when I returned to the Keys after spending an August back home in Ohio. Early in my absence, the power went out in the oversized bait freezer I kept in a shed next to my house on Big Pine Key, where its contents thawed, then cooked for a month in the sub-tropical sun. Opening that Kenmore taught me the true essence of “Git Back!”
Most boat smells are not nearly as difficult to deal with, and the majority can be nipped in the bud with regular cleaning and common sense care. For example, putting off washing out the cooler or refrigerator following a weekend aboard is not a good recipe for future odor control. Ditto leaving anything damp aboard, especially in the confines of a cabin. Air circulation is key to keeping confined spaces mildew- and odor-free, and is why many boaters block their lockers open and make sure there is some ventilation through the boat between uses.
Masking odors is a Band-Aid approach in my opinion, as the source of foul smell should always be sought out and corrected. That said, I’ve been known to leave fabric softener sheets in my wake, placing the fragrant fabric strips in places that I don’t have time to investigate until I can determine a cure. The sheets double as critter repellents in the off-season as well, offering a more appealing scent to us humans than traditional mothballs.
Ma’ Nature’s Cleaning Agent
Ever notice how the air smells “clean” before, during and after a thunderstorm? That’s because lightning and other electrical charges in the atmosphere split nitrogen and oxygen molecules into individual atoms, some of which recombine to form large amounts of ozone (O3), which oxidize odor molecules and other volatile compounds in the environment, giving the air a fresh, clean aroma.
Ozone is a powerful, natural deodorizing agent. The O3 molecule is inherently unstable; the third oxygen atom has a tendency to break its relatively weak bond and attach to other nearby molecules at any opportunity, forming new compounds in the process. When a molecule with a distinct odor receives an additional oxygen atom through oxidation, it is changed to something new that no longer possesses the recognizable odor. As contaminants are destroyed, the ozone reverts back to normal oxygen. That’s why ozone is such a powerful odor destroyer. I use an ozone generator for scent control when deer hunting; when I learned ScentLok offered scent eliminating systems for boaters, I was excited to give them a try.
Their latest, the OZ NFuse Ozone Sprayer, offers great results and distinct advantages over typical disinfecting products by injecting ozone molecules directly into ordinary water. Once the 13-oz. reservoir bottle is filled, a press of the button on the NFuse Sprayer begins activating the water into a powerful, oxidizing cleanser using an exclusive platinum and titanium charging system. In 90 seconds it creates a strong, safe cleaning solution to attack odor-causing bacteria, mold, mildew, fungus and viruses on any surface. It’s been proven in laboratory testing to reduce odor-causing bacteria by 99.9%.
The nozzle creates an ultra-fine mist for an increased coverage area and also works upside down to easily reach tight spaces like the insides of livewells, coolers, and in-deck storage compartments easy. What’s more, it’s engineered for continuous reuse: just recharge the bottle with its Micro-USB cable, refill and reactivate whenever and wherever needed.
The OZ NFuse Ozone Sprayer and the OZ Radial EZ and Radial Nano portable ozone generators offer a one-two punch to boat odors that will be aboard my Great Lakes boat for many seasons to come. Learn more at ozbyscentlok.com.
This article first appeared in the Fall Issue (Sep/Oct) 2020 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Boating 101, Cleaners
