bilge cleaner

[david henry]

My e38-200 has a fairly wet bilge and I'm assuming that's true for most Ericsons as well. I suspect it's because my halyards are in-mast, allowing rainwater to drain into the bilge inside the mast. Has anyone found an effective bilge cleaner other than the West Marine varieties that are supposed to slosh around in the bilge under sail?

 

[rwthomas1]

There is always fresh water in my bilge due to rain. I keep after it by sponging/wiping out the bilge once a week during the season. It stays pretty clean and odor free if you keep after it. It only takes a few minutes once you get used to it. RT

 

[Loren Beach]

rain and stain removal

After using sponges to get the (cold!) winter rain water out of our bilge sections for a decade I bought a big ol' plastic turkey baster for $1.49 last fall. Works just as good for all except the last little skim of water, which is then sponged or toweled up easily.
Sheesh! I should have thought of this years ago...


As to cleaning it, once every year, preferably during a warm month, I reach all around the bilges with a wet rag and Soft Scrub cleanser on it. Then follow with a rag and warm water to rinse and dry. Kills mold and whatever.

Cheers,

Loren

 

[david henry]

thanks for your replies. I wish I could be around the boat often enough to scrub the bilge once a week, but, alas, work interferes. I've heard of people using three-to-one water/bleach mixtures, but I'm concerned about the corrosive nature of bleach. Are there any effective alternatives?

 

[Shadowfax]

Dave,
The watermen use Dawn dish washing soap and are quick to point out that other brands don't work. That's what I use.... seems to work and you can wash the dishes with it too! I've tried most of the other brands out there, but nothing seems to beat scrubbing it out in the spring and then staying on top of it with a shot of Dawn in each bilge compartment when leaving the boat for the week.

See you down there soon.

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

I recall a thread a while back on this subject and someone reccommended a product by Fast orange I thought. Dont recall specifics though.

 

[david henry]

Thanks again for your suggestions. Paul, if it works for the watermen, it's good enough for me. I'll give the Dawn a try. Dawn also happens to be the body cleansing soap of choice in the islands because it gets sudsy even in salt water. In the meantime, I guess it's just a matter of frequent cleaning. When I do get a chance to clean it out, I use the modern industrial version of a turkey baster. It's a small wet/dry vac I keep on board. Very quick and effective, but not much good if there's already soap in the water. Suds fill the cannister and it has to be emptied every few seconds.

 

[u079721]

I used to use one of those Parr mini pumps with a length of rubber hose to suck out the couple of inches of rain water that always seemed to collect in the bilge.

Beyond that all we did to keep the bilge smelling sweet was to add a cap full each week of humidifier preservative - the kind you buy in the hardware store to keep humidifier pads from getting moldy. That was all it took to keep stuff from growing down there, and it made an amazing difference.

 

[Trucker Doug]

Now there's inginuity. Lemonade out of lemons!

 

[sleather]

Dawn for Skunks!

Dawn's some pretty weird stuff. Personally I don't like the smell and use Joy for dishes(I've never had a dishwasher). Dawn is the "secrete ingredient" in a guaranteed cure for skunk spray on dogs!

Small 12 oz. bottle of Dawn + 4lb baking soda + 4-16oz. bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide. Mix and work into fur w/ a brush for a time, then rinse(lake or river helps). A friends setter jumped 2 skunks and got sprayed twice within an hour. We travel "in" a Jeep:eek: and when it was all said and done there was only a "faint" odor from her leather collar(still smells 2 years later).

Humidifier treatment........Hmmmm........that I've got.

 

[Shadowfax]

FWIW I don't get involved with a wet dry vac. I've no place to store one and I get so much fresh water in the bilge it is a weekly event if I want the bilge bone dry. My removal tool of choice, after the bilge pump, is a very good sponge. There are some unbelievable high capacity sponges out there. The sponge gets used everywhere on the boat, fits in the bucket, no electricity, no noise, no soap bubbles in the wet dry vac, very low tech, etc..

The humidifier cleaner sounds interesting, but does it cut grease/oil from the engine? I've never had a problem with the smell of Dawn, but then when I open the boat up after sitting the week in 90 degree heat, the last thing I'm going to be smelling is the Dawn detergent in the bilge. How does bleach reactwith with whatever the hoses and pump parts are made of and salt water? I don't think bleach is a real good grease cutter.

Anyhow like I said the watermen use Dawn, I'm sure not exclusively, but if you have ever seen the bilge of a watermen's boat that doesn't care what the bilge looks/smells like you would enjoy the difference.

 

[e38 owner]

A dry Bilge

I have been able to keep the bilge bone dry by doing the following
1. A use don caseys old innertube method for the seal between the mast and the deck.
2. Put silicon in the mast track right above the vang attachment.
3. When not on the boat for the week leave the bilge cover off.
The above works all summer long. During the winter I leave the boat in the water and it gets very gold with lots of snow. Although I am not sure it does any good I leave roof heat tape in the bilge over the winter months. It has been bone dry all winter. http://www.livelakeview.com/lakes/bearlake/

 

[u079721]

The humidifier preservative I mentioned is just an antibacterial quat compound (the same as you find in Lysol), and is only good for preventing bug growth. It does not have any detergency properties, so it won't help clean the bilge.

But maybe I am missing something here, because we never had any oil or grease in our bilge to deal with as that was all trapped under the engine by the engine pan. Our issue with the bilge was just that the standing fresh water would allow bug growth, which would smell after a few weeks. Which is why we added the preservative. At first I used bleach, but I didn't want all that bleach on the keel bolts, so I switched to the non-corrosive quat.

 

[Maine Sail]

The humidifier cleaner sounds interesting, but does it cut grease/oil from the engine?

Grease and oil from the engine should not be in the bilge! If it is you should either fix the leaks and/or use oil absorbing pads beneath the engine to prevent the oil from making it to the bilge!!

During CG boardings they inspect the bilge. If they find oil, and no means of preventing the bilge pump from turning on, if it senses oil, you run the possibility of a fairly large FINE..

Bilges should have water in them only! If you have oil you ought to fix the problem....

 

[Shadowfax]

Perhaps oil and grease was too strong a word. There is an oil like "residue" most likely from the breather that does get into the bilge, at least on my boat, added to that is residue from oil changes and fuel filter changes no matter how careful I am or how many oil absorbers I use. I'm not talking a visible oil sheen in either the bilge or what the bilge pumps overboard, but it has a greasy feel to it and the detergent cuts it.

 

[Maine Sail]

Perhaps oil and grease was too strong a word. There is an oil like "residue" most likely from the breather that does get into the bilge, at least on my boat, added to that is residue from oil changes and fuel filter changes no matter how careful I am or how many oil absorbers I use. I'm not talking a visible oil sheen in either the bilge or what the bilge pumps overboard, but it has a greasy feel to it and the detergent cuts it.

I was picturing a black colored bilge...

 

[chaco]

Zep It !

The best Bilge Cleaner bar none is Zep Orange Cleaner (1)ga from HD.
It cuts Diesel Fuel and KILLS those FUNKY SMELLS from weird things growing
in your bilge. Let er' slosh around at sea and pump er' out when ever you
need a CleanUp. :nerd:
The WM version is 4x the Price like usual

Happy Fresh and Clean Bilge

 

[jkm]

I ditto Dan.

I bought that stuff at Home Depot-pretty inexpensive.

Keeps my bilge "pleasant to the nose".


John

 

[JEESails]

Oily bilge

I use an industrial citris degreaser/cleaner (CRC Brand) - similar to the Zep product. It works great...
I had a little, ahem, mishap installing a new oil filter and ended up with copious amounts of oil in my bilge (despite the carefully placed sorbent pads). I got it all cleaned out and the little bit of water in the bilge was clear for weeks after that. Then I went out sailing for a few hours... oil in the bilge again - cleaned it out again...
I've checked very carefully and I don't have any oil leaks, so from what I understand from the PO; the TAFG system "catches" liquid from the bilge and when the boat heels under sail it finds its way back to the bilge. I suspect it will take several sailing excursions and subsequent bilge cleanings to completely rid myself of it...
John