Bilge Problems

[Sunshine Girl]

Help! Bilge and grids were disgusting...caked and dried pooh, it seems...spent many hours cleaning to get rid of stains and smell...looked fab and then we went sailing...after rocking and rolling, seepage of brown/black fluid back into bilge and first grid...silent scream...

There seem to be hoses that go nowhere...you would expect them to connect to the next compartment but they don't...I'm concerned that fluid is pooling under the grids, in something, and don't know where it's coming from or how to get it removed. The problem seemed to start with a clogged holding tank that wouldn't pump and a T connector valve in the lazarette that should have been a Y...

Any ideas? I love my boat(new sailor and new boat for me) but she went from smelling like urine to smelling poopy to smelling moldy... not a pretty girl smell...

Thanks!

 

[Kings Gambit]

My advice-- fully pump out and flush holding tank with several rinses of fresh water; then fill with yellow-dye water. [Put dye tablet in tank from outside.] Fully flush bilge with fresh water and pump clean using bilge pumps [need to test them anyway]; mop out all residual water; blow dry everywhere you can. Let set a couple of days with floor boards up to facilitate further drying. Go sailing. If yellow-dye water appears in your bilge--then you know its source. If other water appears, determine if it's fresh or salt. Go from there.

 

[Sunshine Girl]

My advice-- fully pump out and flush holding tank with several rinses of fresh water; then fill with yellow-dye water. [Put dye tablet in tank from outside.] Fully flush bilge with fresh water and pump clean using bilge pumps [need to test them anyway]; mop out all residual water; blow dry everywhere you can. Let set a couple of days with floor boards up to facilitate further drying. Go sailing. If yellow-dye water appears in your bilge--then you know its source. If other water appears, determine if it's fresh or salt. Go from there.

Thank you so much! Great idea. Will try it! We got it all cleaned out (wish I could send you a picture of before and after); however, after our sail it was wet and murky. I wonder if there's a cavern under the bilge and grids where water (or whatever lurks) can collect...

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

And find out where all those hoses that seem to go nowhere go (both ends!) If they really do go nowhere, get 'em out of there! The simpler, the better.

You're welcome to give me a shout if you can't figure out what's going on.

 

[Steve Dion]

30 yo. Boat. Who knows what previous owners have done. I would suggest that you flush out the grid with hot soapy water with a dose of bleach. Once you find the weep holes you can clean them out and enlarge them.

The area under the berth is an excellent place to start cleaning.

 

[Benny17441]

Yes, water gets trapped in between the stringers under the sole and becomes stagnant. It turns nasty and smells. Now the amount of water down there can probably be measured in gallons. The way to dislodge that water from its trap is to take the boat on a few vigorous sail where it heels, rocks and yaws and allows some of it to flow into the bilge. The idea would be to first correct any leaks from rain, spray or holding tanks to avoid having new water just replacing the one you take out. You could even purposely pour a chlorine solution under the sole and let it mix down there to kill some of the organisms that produce the foul odors. It will take a while but you can get it to smell well. On the other hand you could spend three days on the boat away from land and you will likely not notice any smells from your boat. The nose adapts rather quickly.