Cleaning Bilge

[Don]

I'm planning to powerwash the bilge and all reacheable areas on my '84 H31 this weekend. I've seen postings on doing this here before, but can't find them in the archives.My questions:1. What do you suggest mixing in the spray/water? I assume lots of clorox, but what else?2. Do all areas inside the boat lead to the bilge? Specifically, under the v-berth seems to lead under the liner, i.e., between the liner and hull. I think this is the same place the shower and ice box drains lead. So, just go to it, any place I can find to spray, wash, etc.?3. Other pointers?

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

Bleach doesn't clean...

Bleach is the most over-used, over-rated product on boats...it doesn't clean anything...It won't break up and emulsify grease, oil or even dirt (if you doubt this, try washing clothes or dishes in nothing but bleach and water)...all it does is kill some of the bacteria, molds and fungi--but hardly all of them--and bleach dark dirt to a lighter color.Use a good concentrated detergent bilge cleaner...but I wouldn't apply it with the power washer 'cuz that dilutes it too much. Use just water to get everything wet and knock off dirt that's stuck to the hull...then either pour in a good healthy "dose" of detergent or apply it full strength to every surface you can reach with pump-up garden spray bottle. Leave it there for a while...go sailing and tack a lot to really slosh the soapy mixture around in the boat...and then come back--even the next day--and use the pressure washer to rinse the bejabbers out of it. Keep flooding and flooding the bilge till all the water running out is clean enough to drink. Use a hand pump or shop vac to remove the water your bilge pumps can't get...mop up the last bit with big sponges. Chances are, the inaccessible places in your bilge will continue to drain for several hours--or even a day or two--after you think you're done. Keep mopping up until you have a dry bilge. Then, leave your hatches open for a day to let the bilge dry out completely.

 

[Eric Steege]

How often should the bilge be cleaned?

I have a H31 and this is my first full season, as I bought the boat last year. How often should I clean the bilge?

 

[Steve Dion]

You can't get to much of it.

Don:There is not really a lot of area that you CAN access. I assume that your problem is not dirt/oil etc but the odor. I recently poured a bleach water mix in the ice box and let it drain into the bilge. If you take the boat out after giving it this treatment it should move the mixture around and also drain the area too. I do not use straight bleach because of the mixture standing in there and that odor is not too good either.As Peggie says, bleach isn't going to clean much of anything. Use a good strong cleaner and a scrub brush where ever you can reach.

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

How often? Two schools of thought...

Prevention: every spring as part of recommissioning.Cure: when the boat starts to stink. The only problem with this approach is that it usually happens when you're least able to deal with it...i.e. the boat has spent a week simmering in the summer sun, you arrive an hour before your guests are due to discover that the boat smells like a swamp. You don't have time for a real cleaning, so you just throw in some bleach and promise yourself you'll clean it next Saturday...but next Saturday it rains...and by the next weekend it's starting to smell worse than a swamp, but you don't have time this weekend either, so you throw in some more bleach...and, well, you get the idea. So the best time to do it is while you're in "maintenance mode," before the season starts. Once a year--twice at most, even in semi-tropical climates--should be enough to keep your boat smelling clean and fresh.