diesel smell!
- Thread starter SeanMorey
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Emulsify the soaked-in oil with STRONG detergent, may take many 'washings' to do this as it sometimes takes quite a bit of time for the oil to be extracted from the porosity of the fiberglass. For oil soaked into the FRG 'above' the sump level, use polyester fabric soaked in water/detergent and then apply to the area and cover with 'saran' ... let sit 'many' days, etc. The saran will keep the 'poultice' from drying out.
Applying the strong detergent and 'let sit' (sometimes for days/weeks) as it takes TIME for the emulsification.
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When 'rinsing', take a 'bilge pillow' and 'unwrap it' so that you get maximum 'surface area' of the polypropylene fluff exposed, then let the 'fluff' adsorb any remaining free oil out of the water before 'dumping'. The longer that an oil mixture is in contact with the polypropylene fibers the more efficient the 'recovery'.
That's a tough one if your bilge had diesel in it when heeled. It then could have gotten up into the unreachable parts of your bilge or even your cabin sole.
The former owner of my boat had a leak that ruined the sole. I replaced the sole and cleaned every nook and cranny of the bilge. Even though I no longer have a smell I still use bilge cleaner and get some sheen occasionally.
Also, I never really got rid of the smell until I refinished the entire teak interior, replaced the curtains, laundered the cushion covers and replaced the sole. If left long enough the smell gets into every pore of the interior.
The former owner of my boat had a leak that ruined the sole. I replaced the sole and cleaned every nook and cranny of the bilge. Even though I no longer have a smell I still use bilge cleaner and get some sheen occasionally.
Also, I never really got rid of the smell until I refinished the entire teak interior, replaced the curtains, laundered the cushion covers and replaced the sole. If left long enough the smell gets into every pore of the interior.
Sean,
You're located in Cal so I'm not sure if this is going to help you but back east alot of homes are heated with oil. Sooner or later oil ends up on the basement floor & your house stinks. There are a couple of products out there that are carried by plumbing & heating supply houses that elimantes it. A product called "oder out" comes to mind. Not sure how well they'd work on a boat but for short money it's worth a try.
Bob
You're located in Cal so I'm not sure if this is going to help you but back east alot of homes are heated with oil. Sooner or later oil ends up on the basement floor & your house stinks. There are a couple of products out there that are carried by plumbing & heating supply houses that elimantes it. A product called "oder out" comes to mind. Not sure how well they'd work on a boat but for short money it's worth a try.
Bob
Does an ozone machine get the smell out. A guy in my marina is renting one and offered to let me use it when he did. I am not sure if mine smells of diesel, but it definitly smells like an old boat.
Personally I would rather smell diesel than flowers. Every time I smell a truck in traffic it reminds me of the boat and the ocean.
Personally I would rather smell diesel than flowers. Every time I smell a truck in traffic it reminds me of the boat and the ocean.
Ozone generators, if they are anything more than toys, will do "wonders" to hoses, rubber gaskets and O-rings. They are often ineffective (for their intended purpose) and should never be used on a boat for this purpose where conventional cleaning as mentioned above will suffice.
Don,
Lest we forget what damage an ozone generator can do to the expensive $$$$ foam in your interior cushions. It can damage foam in a short time and make it literally begin to crumble.
As an example our spa/hot tub has an ozone generator and between that and the bromine I don't know which one is doing more damage except that I have a direct comparitor my brother-in-laws tub. The head pillows/cushions on our tub last maybe a year and the cover perhaps a year and a half at best. My brother-in-law has the identical Sundance tub only one year earlier before the ozone generator "ozonator" was added as standard equipment. His head pillows are about five years old and we use the same chemicals of the same brand. His cover is three years old and looks significantly better than ours which is not yet even a year old (instaled last September).
As Don, Rich & Tim said proper cleaning is the right way to attack a diesel odor. Once you have thoroughly cleaned the boat, and no source of odor remains, you can then spray the surface with a product like PureAyre (LINK). Cleaning this will take time but letting it fester will only make it take longer to get the smell out of everything.
Masking of an an odor is a bandaid unless you remove the source, eg: clean it. If you don't remove the source there is nothing I know of that will get rid of the smell not even ozone. If left too long diesel odor can also permeate the cushions and fabric. This happened to Tim R. as he mentioned. Diesel smell is one of the toughest odors to eliminate. Sorry to hear you're dealing with this..:cry:
I have had this happen to me
When my boat was new, a mechanic I hired to change the fuel filters left the boat overnight with several gallons (at least 10) of diesel fuel in the bilge (and didn't tell anyone). Nice guy! First I had to get all of the liquid out of the bilge. The fuel never got up as high as the wooden floor boards or cabinetry, it only touched the FRP. I used a small pump, followed by those oil specific "sponges or pads". I stuffed them into the limber holes, etc, until I stopped getting any sign of diesel. Then I used a spray cleaner product called "Simple Green" to clean the entire area. This successfully removed the smell of diesel, especially after I "aired out" the boat with all windows and hatches wide open for several hours as well. Good luck with it.
Tom
When my boat was new, a mechanic I hired to change the fuel filters left the boat overnight with several gallons (at least 10) of diesel fuel in the bilge (and didn't tell anyone). Nice guy! First I had to get all of the liquid out of the bilge. The fuel never got up as high as the wooden floor boards or cabinetry, it only touched the FRP. I used a small pump, followed by those oil specific "sponges or pads". I stuffed them into the limber holes, etc, until I stopped getting any sign of diesel. Then I used a spray cleaner product called "Simple Green" to clean the entire area. This successfully removed the smell of diesel, especially after I "aired out" the boat with all windows and hatches wide open for several hours as well. Good luck with it.
Tom
Cheap and effective way to get the smell out.
Wash the bilge out completely, then add a couple of gallons of vinegar. Cover the bilges completely with the vinegar, it will over power the diesel smell and make you boat smell like a salad. Leave the vinegar over night. Once done remove the vinegar and enjoy. If the smell is through out the boat you may have to wipe down the whole boat. At the price vinegar is cheap and effective.
It worked for me.
Wash the bilge out completely, then add a couple of gallons of vinegar. Cover the bilges completely with the vinegar, it will over power the diesel smell and make you boat smell like a salad. Leave the vinegar over night. Once done remove the vinegar and enjoy. If the smell is through out the boat you may have to wipe down the whole boat. At the price vinegar is cheap and effective.
It worked for me.
Be aware, that dumping bilge water contaminated with diesel overboard, even if you've "emulsified" the diesel is ILLEGAL. If you get caught doing so, you'll end up getting fined heavily....
There are a couple of products that work really well. The first is Pure Ayre. It does a good job of knocking out odors. This one is sold on this website. A second product that I have also used was a diluted solution of K.O., the holding tank product. A friend had a mechanic forget to close the valve when changing out a fuel filter. I gave him a diluted solution of K.O. in a spray bottle and told him to spray the area and let it dry out. Worked very well, and got rid of the odor.
Bartender's Helper is a product that seems to eliminate diesel smells. Perhaps this can be a follow up to a good bilge cleaner as some others have suggested.
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