Dodging Oil Slicks......

[solanderi]

Hi HOF

What happens to your nice shiny Hatteras if you cruise through an oil slick of any appreciable size ? Thank you for the insight.

Greg

 

[captddis]

Should not mean anything except it will need a good washing.

 

[GJH]

Any extensive time exposed to crude oil will damage the paint job, or especially gelcoat as the case may be (not Hatts that I know of) beyond anything a good washing will accomplish. Depending on how stacked up the crude is, there can be some potential, slight danger of sucking it up into some strainers. You want to absolutely avoid having contact with this stuff.

 

[solanderi]

The reason I asked the question is that there are many ships working closely to the oil slicks, putting down booms etc. I imagine that having the sludge come thru the raw water side of the motors can't be good.

 

[Vincentc]

I would expect that they have keel coolers.

 

[Trojan]

The Chance's are very few that any damage will happen. The slick is laying on top of the water. Your water intakes are well below the oil slick. Once you enter the slick the hull will split the water and oil and the fresh water intakes will be in clear water. The only problem you will have is where you splash the oil on the boat. Use a cleaner that will remove the oil and not your wax. The oil will not attack your paint or gel coat. Dawn dish soap should remove it. It's just plain nasty crap to get off.


BILL

 

[GJH]

"The oil will not attack your paint or gel coat." From what was seen in Santa Barbara and Prince William Sound, boats left in the crude would disagree with that. If you just pass through it and wash it off quickly, you are usually OK. But as I like to say, "nothing good can happen" by putting your boat in this stuff. This is not like going through a diesel spill or refined oil slick; done that myself, not intentionally. Let me clarify one thing: the stuff will not cause structural damage. But, particularly if your hull is at all oxidized, it has thee potential of penetrating and staining it badly. I speak from first hand observation, not hearsay.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

It probably depends on the paint. Imron will not stain. They use Imron on construction equipment and it gets grease and fuel oil on it for extended periods and that comes right off with the pressure washer.

That said, I wouldn't want my boat running through that mess.

 

[Avenger]

I'm not a petro-chemist so don't climb all over me here, but isn't crude oil full of all kinds of light, volatile elements too? Would it be possible for vapors to get sucked into your air intakes and make things go bang?

 

[REBrueckner]

"The Chance's are very few that any damage will happen"

Abasolutely speculative and very likly completely wrong!!!!: I watched a TV news segment where samples of the oil were taken by hand from the Gulf Coast from an outboard boat. The smapler reached down beneath the surface and filled a glass container with emulsified oil...reddish brown in color. So while there IS oil floating on the surface, it also in emulsion form beneath the surface....but it was not possible to see on TV just how deep. It appeared to be several feet, but who knows.

In any case, even oil on the surface will be drawn into engine intakes in choppy seas...where boats roll and oil will be temporarily mixed with sea water froth. I do not know the effect of such oil in a cooling system on the raw water side where one would HOPE the oil residue would be gradually washed away....but in the fresh water coolant side even small amounts of oil DO have substantial effect on cooling. I have seen Detroit Diesel coolant comments about coolant contamination and so would steer clear of ANY substantial oil in sea water.


Regarding paint discoloration : Inland waterway cruisers regularly have "moustaches" along the east coast. am unsure exactly what causes that. Also, when I cruised Nova Scotia in 2002 in my Hatt I had mild discoloration from what I believe was tannin in brackish water from trees and logging activities up there....so my guess is even a mild acidic component, which is certainly possible in raw crude, can disclor paint....in my case, a polishing with Starbrite boat polish (liquid) cleaned it up...but it took a bit of elbow grease.