Power washing the bilge?

May 27, 2021
55
Beneteau 37 Chesapeake Bay
I'm trying to determine the best way to clean and deodorize my bilge and several posts I have come across talk about power washing the bilge. What does this mean? Surely it cannot mean using a gasoline or electric power washer INSIDE the boat! Maybe a dumb question but what do they mean?
 
May 27, 2004
1,964
Hunter 30_74-83 Ponce Inlet FL
Yes, in many cases that's exactly what it means. :yikes:
If your boat, like mine, would be damaged by the splashing water,
steam and mess from using a power washer, you'll need a reasonably
aggressive cleaner and a lot of elbow grease.
 
May 27, 2021
55
Beneteau 37 Chesapeake Bay
Yes, in many cases that's exactly what it means. :yikes:
If your boat, like mine, would be damaged by the splashing water,
steam and mess from using a power washer, you'll need a reasonably
aggressive cleaner and a lot of elbow grease.
Thanks, so I guess this is for boats that do not have a finished interior?
 

BarryL

.
May 21, 2004
1,000
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
Hey,

AFAIK the only way to clean the bilge is to use lots of water, lots of degreasers, and lots of elbow grease. And for many bilges, long arms and don't be squeamish!

Once the bilge is clean you may still have to deal with odors. It's common on many boats to have mold growth in hard to reach and hard to clean areas. This includes all of the hidden spaces like compartments behind the settees, under and around water and fuel tanks, under the vee berth, etc. It's hard, like REALLT hard, to get and keep those areas clean. My quick and dirty method was to spray bleach into those areas and wipe with a rag. I was never able to get those areas really clean, but by keeping the mold down and trying to get air flow into those spaces, the odors eventually mostly vanished. I did have to spray the cushions with fabreeze every spring and fall.

Good luck,
barry
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Or an interior that you can get wet and wipe down. Perhaps the idea applies more to deep bilges, like the 5ft deep black hole that sits inside my keel.

I have thought about the speed of a pressure washer, but afraid of the mess. I'm now thinking a long brush on a poll might be better.
 
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Likes: ggrizzard
Jan 1, 2006
7,040
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I don't see a reason why you couldn't use a smallish power washer on the bilge surfaces. PW's don't create as much water as you might think. And you can stick the wand in places you couldn't reach. If you have a bilge pump just stop and pump it out every so often. I am not advocating using it on wood or finished surfaces. Just the bilge - right? After it's clean you could apply chemical Tx's like Wet and Forget or other products to discourage mildew with the PW too.
Your elbow doesn't have a grease nipple on it (Actually it's the shoulders that get most sore) so don't make them work any more hard than you have to.
I have an AR 240 I wouldn't hesitate to use on bilge surfaces.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Yep what @shemandr said... and have a shop vac in the other hand to soak it right back up. Or better yet ... one person zap with the pressure washer and a second sucks up the water straight away. Easy peasy.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,401
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
What? Someone suggest something dumb for boat maintenance? Never.

(Joking... but I'm also not a big fan of power washers. They can do a lot of damamge.)
 
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Likes: ggrizzard
Jan 7, 2011
4,727
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Someone in another thread has an old, mostly plastic, small boat that has a lot of mold and junk on the inside…he wants to sleep on the boat, and the suggestion was to take everything possible out of the interior, and then spray it down with a bleach/water mixture, and then power-wash the interior.

You don’t need to take the pump into the cabin…just put it in the cockpit or on the dock and run the hose and wand into the boat.

As @shemandr said, they don’t use a lot of water….and a shop vac is great for cleaning up the water a bilge pump won’t get.

Greg
 
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Likes: kodiak1120
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
My posts are probably some of those you found mentioning pressure washing. I have done it twice in the 22 years I have owned my C30. Both times were due to severe oil contamination. Once, the Artic diesel heater had a failed fuel nozzle which sprayed atomized fuel throughout the boat.

The other was a failed remote engine oil filter housing which dumped the full gallon of used engine oil into the bilge and then distributed up into the shoulders due to sailing 20 miles home in 30-40 knots of wind. :facepalm:

Both times I used an electric pressure washer (1500psi) and degreaser.

For the first incident, I removed everything that was not attached and started at the headliner and went down everything (ceiling, walls lockers bilge.) I then cleaned everything removed before reloading. The smell was completely gone.

The second incident was limited to the below floor spaces. In a C30 there are lots of crannies between the liner and the hull that cannot be reached unless you are Olive Oyl with arms no bigger round than spaghetti and no joints. I sprayed the degreaser in and pressure washed it out. This took far less water than using a hose and given that all of the cleaning water needed to be hauled to a safe disposal site, this was very helpful.

I would not say that it harmed the interior at all.
 

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Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
I'm not going to to comment on how good or bad it is to use a pressure washer in a bilge. You could section off a small area with plastic or wood so water doesnt splash everywhere. Leave the engine/pump in the cockpit or dock and use the gun inside. I would leave the bilge open with a fan on it to help dry things afterwards. The fan will help get airflow to places that you may not be able to get to. I've used garden hoses inside boats to cleanup the bilge and under the seats