The bilge goes dry. De-stinking?

[rwaldrop13]

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??

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.[/QUOTE]

As an old Coastie with Captain of the Port experience (3 years pollution investigator) we never challenged someone for foamy bilges. That being said, I shop-vac'd my generator room bilge but first I dropped sorbent pads in to make sure there was no oil present. With the SimpleGreen trick, I haven't noticed any weird smells, other than mustiness but the generator room has benefitted from a lot of cleaning since I got rid of the CrusAir compressors.

[JuiceClark]

So, I should spray the bilge down with degreaser to clean it. Then, I can spray it with used motor oil to knock down the foaminess and please the CG. Got it!

I'm looking forward to painting the entire bilge, from the stern to the bow, before it gets hot again. I bet the entire vessel will smell anew.

[rwaldrop13]

So, I should spray the bilge down with degreaser to clean it. Then, I can spray it with used motor oil to knock down the foaminess and please the CG. Got it!

I'm looking forward to painting the entire bilge, from the stern to the bow, before it gets hot again. I bet the entire vessel will smell anew.

Haha... Honestly, I don't have an answer for you there. I ended up replumbing the generator room bilge pump/hose completely. Hatteras didn't install an anti-siphon, just a check valve. I replaced the valve AND included a new anti-siphon. But in the bilge I haven't had an odor problem since I resolved the sink drain hose issue. And I did it without used motor oil...

[bostonhatteras]

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.

As an old Coastie with Captain of the Port experience (3 years pollution investigator) we never challenged someone for foamy bilges. That being said, I shop-vac'd my generator room bilge but first I dropped sorbent pads in to make sure there was no oil present. With the SimpleGreen trick, I haven't noticed any weird smells, other than mustiness but the generator room has benefitted from a lot of cleaning since I got rid of the CrusAir compressors.[/QUOTE]

In seaschool they couldn't have reinforced this enough.

I don't personally have experience with this due to having a clean bilge with oil pads always present. however, the two times i was randomly boarded, they most certainly looked in the engine room and forward bilges