Storing and Cleaning Stinky Things

[flyingraccoon]

I recently became the program coordinator of a school program where we collect clams, oysters, seaweed, and sediment samples from around the bay and send them to a lab to be tested to insure that the decommissioned nuclear power plant isn't leaking anything nasty into the bay.  This means that I'll now be in charge of storing the ice chests,

Comments

[lapenn]

fishy smells from just fish will come off your pants in normal wash. I used to work for Fish and Wildlife, and I didn't have any problems with my clothes smelling fishy once I had done my laundry.

One piece of advice: line both your trunk and the seats of your car. I have some sort of double sided picnic cloth type thing that I used to line my trunk (I wish I could give more details, but I got it from my mom). I think a tarp would likely work well. I also kept towels on all my seats. Those two things really helped keep my car from smelling like fish.

Do you have an outdoor area to your house, like a back patio? If so, I'd buy a storage bin for out there. something like this would work well. That way, even if a vinegar rinse doesn't get the smells out, you can keep the stuff out of your house

[flyingraccoon]

I have a very small back patio that is almost full with a small BBQ out there. I also keep two double sided vinyl tablecloths in my car for covering the seats and trunk.

Good to know that the fishy smell isn't really a problem if you rinse and dry things really well. We don't get too much sun here on the coast (lots of fog though!), but I'm sure letting them air dry probably helps a lot too. Thanks!

[lapenn]

well, I used to live in Gold Beach (not too far from where you are), and we got enough sun to dry things out, so I wouldn't worry if I were you. Just make sure to rinse everything off as soon as you're done using it, and lay them out every afternoon in the sun. There might be a few days where you have to deal with fishy smell due to poor weather, but hopefully you'll get enough nice days that the stuff will dry out alright.

[ravan]

I second the idea of something like one of those deck boxes with a seat. Outdoor storage for stinky/dirty stuff, and a seat besides. Then, you can clean the stuff with a hose on the patio as well.

[mos_stef]

I have no idea, but I just want to say as a Geography major, mad props to you :D What you're doing is fantastic!

[mos_stef]

P.S. You should go on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe!

[flyingraccoon]

LOL, well, it's not that dirty really (not as dirty as other things I've seen him do!), and I haven't had a problem with clothes smelling before, but I figured now I would be getting smelly more often and storing equipment inside so I'd better know how to cut down on the smells a little.

I had a geography class a couple semesters back, I really enjoyed it! HSU has a summer geography program where they go to Nevada for 6 weeks to do field mapping (I was going to travel with them to be the camp cook, but had to decline to take this position). Does your program have anything like that? Seems like it was a lot of fun and from what I've heard it's great resume filler.

[mos_stef]

No, they do have a trip to Hawaii for ethnic geography mapping though. Which, I think is just an excuse to go to Hawaii in Winter term. :]

Geography is really awesome, I like the combination of the hard and soft sciences. Oceanography and Geography are definitely siblings!