need more advice on cleaning the E35-2 bilge

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Barr88

Member II
There is so much bilge that cannot be accessed on the 35-2 that its driving me crazy. I have pulled the A4 and cut some of the sole out. I cleaned up as much as i could and then when i went to the boat yesterday the bilge was full of nasty oily water. The leak was from the gas fill plate in the cockpit, i re-bed it so that shouldnt happen any more but it seems there was a lot of gunk between the fuel tank and the first access point. i shot a hose down there to try and loosen up any sediment but that surely isnt a propper clean. it also made me think how much gunk there is up in the forward sections that i cant access. I was thinking about shooting the power washer everywhere i could to loosen things up and then fill the bilge with water and some kind of bilge cleaner and letting it sitt for a while. I want to clean it right so that while sailing i'm not slushing around more and more oil and gunk in the bilge. the bilge is almost completely free of all previous tubing/wirind/other obstructions that were routed through it. any advice here would be extremely helpful. thanksphoto (11).JPGphoto (14).JPGbildge 2.jpgbildge 1.jpgphoto (13).JPG
 
mherrcat

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
About the only thing you can do is get some bilge cleaning solution, put a gallon or so in the bilge (however much you can without it coming out in places you don't want it to) and go sailing, preferably on a day when there is some wave/swell action. The motion of the boat will slosh the bilge cleaner around and when you come back you'll want to pump out all that solution. Then do that again a few times and the bilge will be about as clean as you can get it, short of tearing up your boat to gain access to all the bilge areas...

There will probably always be some water trapped somewhere in the bilge. I have gotten my bilge about as dry as I can, but with rain water that gets in around the cockpit lazarette lids and from the dripping of the stuffing box, sometimes water will appear in the bilge access areas after sailing in conditions where the boat is heeled over further than usual.
 
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Barr88

Member II
someone over at the moyer site suggested using accetone. after a good clean i am putting down some gelcoat should i use MEK instead?
 
mherrcat

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
I wouldn't use acetone. Aside from it being extremely flammable, it is not particularly kind to fiberglass.

How clean does your bilge need to be? I wouldn't obsess over it; it's just going to get dirty again anyway...
 
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Barr88

Member II
So what your trying to say is I should stop trying to get it so I can grab a quick drink of clean, refreshing bilge water. Thanks! I needed that
 
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Emerald

Moderator
Definitely not acetone. I really wouldn't use MEK either. Try this. West Marine makes a Citris bilge cleaner I've used with good results. Fill her up, extra strength if you wish, and give her time. Let it sit a week, sail her, rinse and repeat. When all done, use some Odorlos head treatment. Yes, Odorlos, as in what actually works in the holding tank. It will feed the critters in the bilge just as it does in the tank, and make both smell remarkably better.
 
toddster

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
I dunno, I was hoping to make the mid-cabin bilge sump clean enough to be a beer cooler, but nasty black stuff keeps dribbling back from the hidden bilges.

What we need is some sort of little critter that could live down there and crawl around eating the scum...
 
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