Cleaning Oil Muck from Bilge

[Walt L]

Greetings Peggie My topic does not fit well into any listed forum and I was hoping you could give me some advice or a referral. In the bottom of my new-old boat’s bilge is about an inch of oil / diesel / dirt and some water. The bilge is about nine inches wide, three and a half feet deep and about three feet long (I have a sailboat). It is very difficult working in such a deep and narrow cavity. This cavity is also cover by the diesel muffler and drive shaft. I am thinking I can get some oil soak ups from the marine store, but how are these disposed and how should I clean what I cannot soak up? Yes I do want to do this environmentally correct. I have not found much in the archives. Walt

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

First put down some bilge pillows

Don't use any bilge cleaner or detergent first or they won't work. It'll take 'em several days to work, and depending upon how much oil is in the bilge, you may have to change 'em a couple times to get all the oil. Stuff 'em into garbage bags and dispose of 'em in the containers provided by your marina for used engine oil. Once you get all the oil out, you can clean the bilge...lots of detergent and water and elbow grease, followed by hosing it out till what's coming out your bilge pumps is just clean water. If there are areas you can't reach, try to get your hands on a power washer (not a commercial pressure washer, but a 1200-1600 psi power washer). Otherwise you're just gonna have to figure out how to flood those areas with detergent and water...go sailing and tack a lot, and then hose ALL the dirty water out with a hose and garden nozzle.

 

[Bob C.]

Oil in the bilge

Had the same problem once, I used a wet vac to suck out all the oil on the top of the water. I then cleaned the wet vac of all oil residue. You can bottle the oil and dispose of it properly. Then get back in there and suck the bilge and clean it properly. Then use the 3M oil obsorption pads to prevent any further spillsm from spreading. If you have a seal leaking it is best to find it and repair it. Generally speaking the seals are not as hard to replace as one might think and it is better than contaminating the water we all play in or getting a fine. Good Luck.

 

[Walt L]

Thanks for the suggestions

Thank you for the suggestions. I got a couple of oil pads and put them in the bilge. I will let them soak for a couple of days. The wet – dry vac is a good suggestion. It might pull up some of the mud on the bottom after I scoop out as much as I can.