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  1. #1

    The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    While the ol' girl in on the hard, I'm having a decent list of items completed. One is installing dripless shaft seals.

    There's been water in this bilge since 1985. The first thing I'll do after bringing her home will be to vacuum the water out and let it dry. So, it'll be a priority to clean the formerly wet and damp areas of the bilge with some sort of sweet smelling cleaner before painting it all down there. Maybe I should dump a gallon of something in there before the ride home?

    I don't know what I'd use other than my old Formula 88 degreaser which I use for everything. Any tips for a newly dry bilge and a sweeter smelling boat??
    Last edited by JuiceClark; 11-21-2021 at 02:38 PM.
    At the mouth of the Caloosahatchee
    1984 52C

  2. #2

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Look at the purple stuff or purple cleaner. Makes 5 gallons. Degreaser and cleaner. It improves the small as well.
    SEVEN
    1979 53' MY Hull #563
    Antioch, California

  3. #3

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Be careful what you use. Go with odor free cleaners as much as possible. These smells can find their way into the salon and cockpit if vents are under gunnel. I had some old oily gunk under my STB pump in ER and used lemon Dawn to clean up and shop vac out. Left a weird odor for a week or 2 that was very noticeable in the cockpit and a bit in the salon. Weird thing was I didn't really smell it down in the ER or through the hatch.
    1966 34c
    1982 46 HP

  4. #4

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Sounds good. Just a normal cleaning and thorough rinse. Might as well give the bilge pumps some exercise one last time!
    At the mouth of the Caloosahatchee
    1984 52C

  5. #5

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    I actually just dealt with a worst-case scenario of this - My drain hose from the galley was split just inside generator room and was blowing some pretty nasty water into the generator room. I vac'd the water out, replaced the hose and sprayed SimpleGreen in the bilge to kill the odor. I let it dry in the bilge and it did a pretty fair job of overcoming a noxious odor problem that i would compare to roadkill in August.
    "A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor"

    Rob Waldrop
    M/V Pau Hana
    Ft Myers FL

  6. #6

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Quote Originally Posted by rwaldrop13 View Post
    I actually just dealt with a worst-case scenario of this - My drain hose from the galley was split just inside generator room and was blowing some pretty nasty water into the generator room. I vac'd the water out, replaced the hose and sprayed SimpleGreen in the bilge to kill the odor. I let it dry in the bilge and it did a pretty fair job of overcoming a noxious odor problem that i would compare to roadkill in August.
    Ugh. That's a tough one.


    I guess the real destinkification will happen with the painting of the bilge. So, this is more paint prep than anything.
    Last edited by JuiceClark; 11-22-2021 at 08:09 PM.
    At the mouth of the Caloosahatchee
    1984 52C

  7. #7

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Quote Originally Posted by JuiceClark View Post
    Ugh. That's a tough one.


    I guess the real destinkification will happen with the painting of the bilge. So, this is more paint prep than anything.
    I was finally able to get the shop vac extension into the generator room bilge in places I couldn't reach before (I've removed all the dead Crusair compressors) and sucked out what I would categorize as sludge. Getting that out combined with the simplegreen treatment seemed to really make headway in the generator room to deodorize the bilge. The tricky area is the midships passageway where the access to the holding tank is, just cleaning it.
    "A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor"

    Rob Waldrop
    M/V Pau Hana
    Ft Myers FL

  8. #8

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Did you spray the Simple Green and rinse or just spray and leave?
    Dave & Trina
    Benedetto
    1989 60MY HATDK310
    Sturgeon Bay/Ft. Lauderdale

  9. #9

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sadey View Post
    Did you spray the Simple Green and rinse or just spray and leave?
    Sorry about delay Sadey, I sprayed and left it to dry for max deoderizing action. Normally I would spray and rinse, but in this case I wanted to give it time to work.
    "A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor"

    Rob Waldrop
    M/V Pau Hana
    Ft Myers FL

  10. #10

    Re: The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

    Maybe I should dump a gallon of something in there before the ride home?

    I don't know what I'd use other than my old Formula 88 degreaser which I use for everything. Any tips for a newly dry bilge and a sweeter smelling boat??[/QUOTE]

    The coast guard looks upon foamy bilges with considerable dismay. They see it as a method of dumping oil. probably best to clean it on the hard. Spray nine is the best I've used for nonpetroleum degreasers.

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