Boat stinks of diesel

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Novice21

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Due to a now solved problem, the inside of our boat stinks of diesel. Will this go away in time? Is there anything we can do to improve the situation? It is putting us off letting the kids have their longed-for sleepover on the boat /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
This takes me back to childhood memories of the "diesel butter" we had to endure. For some reason butter seemed especially good at picking up the taint. (No fridges in those days)
 
It wont bother the kids. Answers? Well apart from scrubbing the thing out, you could try cutting an onion in 2 and putting the two halves out on the surfaces. Or even just an air freshener.
 
Spray all the upholstery with "Febreeze" do this on a nice day then leave them on deck to get a good airing.....I found this worked for me afer a small diesel leak.....the smell of diesel seems somehow to linger in the berth material.
 
My eldest son's socks would completely remove any sign of the diesel smell. If you find any way of removing the smell of sweaty socks let me know /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We used to put ground coffee on a plate and burn it to sweeten the cargo holds on old ships and that removed old oil smells. A wash down with bicarb of soda is also effective at absorbing odours.

Good Luck.
 
Do you mean there are boats that don't stink of diesel /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Remove the cushions for a week to see if the smell remains, if it does then wipe down every surface of the boat (from the bilges to the headlining) with suitable cleaners.

Clean the cushions if necessary as previous posters have suggested.
 
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Do you mean there are boats that don't stink of diesel /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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In short yes.

In long, we have twin Vp's that live between bulkheads fore and aft, (it's a Cat) access is via a hatch alongside the cockpit. The fuel tanks are under the cockpit and enclosed but for a small hatch above each located on the cockpit floor. Filler caps located under the cockpit seats.

Room to walk around the engines and gear boxes, not even a hint of diesel on board.
Still working on how to prevent the stench that comes and goes in the anchor locker though.

Avagoodweekend......
 
[ QUOTE ]
Due to a now solved problem, the inside of our boat stinks of diesel. Will this go away in time? Is there anything we can do to improve the situation? It is putting us off letting the kids have their longed-for sleepover on the boat /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

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Why get rid of it, it is a lovely smell, takes me back to my youth and fooling arounf in black tubes.
 
I have a couple of those Glade stick on wall press to spray a shot of freshener ... plus I have a battery powered timed freshener if necessary - but it's a lot bigger. I haven't fitted that yet - still undecided. The manual little ones seem to do well.

My boat will never be free of the taint of Diesel ... being a 70's job with wood box and steps covering the engine at back-end of main cabin. It's not like the engine is sealed off from living space.
 
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Ahhhh, lovely. Add a splash of bilge water, some hemp rope, tar and an old seagull outboard exhaust, a bit of seaweed and you are back to what boating is really about.

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Disagree. They all drown that lovely smell of styrene you get with a modern boat. like perfume it is. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I had a similar problem with my previous boat. It will take some time to get rid of the diesel smell; keep putting washing-up liquid in the bilges and a bit of disentfectant and water. Leave it for a while; the wave action will keep mixing the liquid and will clean the bilges. Also it will release a bit of the "aroma" to counteract the diesel smell.
 
Years ago a leak from an oil fired central heating storage tank deposited about 50 gallons of central heating oil into the concrete floored cellar of the house we lived in whilst we were away for a few days, so that it had plenty of time to soak in.
We eventually got rid of the smell by using heat to evaporate the oil and plenty of forced ventilation to disperse the vapor.
 
Do you smell that? Diesel, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of diesel in the morning /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, I will try them all, one at a time. Except for selling the boat, that seems a little extreme, and I am quite attatched to her now she is finally floating!

It is true that the smell will never be totally gone due to the placing of the engine, but I'm sure it needn't be as strong as it is now.

Thanks again /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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