Black bilge water?

[rwthomas1]

Hello All,
My '83 E38 has some water in the bilge most of the time from rain water coming down the mast or the stuffing box seepage. Maybe 1/4" to 1/2" at most. The strange thing is the bilge water turns black, especially in the aft-most keel well. Any particular reason for this? Obviously its a bilge and the water doesn't smell particularly good either. Any way to keep this from happening? I try to keep it as dry as possible with a manual pump, etc. Would adding a little bleach or other cleaning agent help? Thanks, RT

 

[CaptnNero]

bleach ?

Do you really want to bleach your keel bolts too ? Those stainless steel bolts are pretty tough, but I think Chris Miller's Sequoia had some bolt erosion issues once with normal bilge chemistry.

Our bilge is usually black, but lately it's turned orange. I haven't heard of any tricks there. I can tell you to avoid the $12 bilge-pill-in-a-net that West Marine sells. In our case the water got cleaner looking but then even more black residue formed on the sides of the bilge.

Hello All,
My '83 E38 has some water in the bilge most of the time from rain water coming down the mast or the stuffing box seepage. Maybe 1/4" to 1/2" at most. The strange thing is the bilge water turns black, especially in the aft-most keel well. Any particular reason for this? Obviously its a bilge and the water doesn't smell particularly good either. Any way to keep this from happening? I try to keep it as dry as possible with a manual pump, etc. Would adding a little bleach or other cleaning agent help? Thanks, RT

 

[footrope]

Must be an eastern seaboard phenomenon

My main bilge gets its water from the mast - rainwater. Are you talking opaque black (inky?) or what? Orange? There is a red bacteria that I have only seen since moving to the west coast, but I've seen that in the house shower, not on the boat. We don't use the boat shower every day of course.

I do have a film that forms on the surface of the bilge water, though. Not black, but there is dirt that gets in there. No odor, usually. The aft-most area has some black dried residue, but the water isn't black. Do you have a grounding wire in that aft area? The PO did some bonding of the metal parts of my boat and I wonder if that could be a factor.

My engine bilge is blocked with a cork so it is isolated from the keel bilge. I use a shop vac periodically to get water out of the engine bilge - that's mostly rainwater - as it collects fuel and oil drips during maintenance.

Is your shower bilge (forward end of the keel area) separated from the main bilge? I have seen black mildew form when soap and water and whatever (body leftovers) mixes and drys on shower curtains. My boat has a separate shower bilge with its own pump.

There are bilge treatments to prevent odors but I have not had to use them yet. We have a drier (less humid), cooler climate here that may account for the difference. My boat is not "bachelor filthy" but it's not a shrine to Mr. Clean either. We don't have pets aboard, and only the occasional child, so "mystery contributions" to the bilges can be ruled out for our boat.

New sub-topic for E38 owners: I finally found my boatspeed transducer access. It's under the transverse part of the galley (the galley drawers). I stumbled on it when I noticed the signal wire in the closet compartment adjacent to it. It's just aft of the trailing edge of the keel.

 

[rwthomas1]

Its opaque black inky, etc. The shower sump is separate on my boat too unless it overflows, there is a limber hole high up that allows it to drain into the bilge if the shower pump fails. I have never used the shower. The engine bilge is indeed separate, directly under the engine but the stuffing box drips into a small walled off section and then through a tube under the engine and into the bilge. There are no bonding wires I can see. Hmmm, interesting. I may try one of the bilge cleaner, deodorizer products. RT

 

[wheelerwbrian]

I drop a few ounces of Odorlos in when I put it in the head, usually weekly or every couple of weeks. No smell.

Everything seems to get in there -- I found the uptake clogged with dog hair.

 

[rotorhead]

The black coloration and the rotten egg smell typical of bilge water (mine at least) is the result of anaerobic bacteria growing within the bilge environment. Keeping it dry, is the best. If not possible, adding a bit of bleach perodically (Bleach will oxidize quickly, so it does't last) helps. A bit of Lysol also helps, but be aware of environmental regulations.