Cat litter!

[monkey_trousers]

stop sniggering at the back,

whilst hanging upside down in the engine room today (as you do) I took a little time to ponder the years of accumulated oil, diesel, grease, and general ming that is accumulated down there, all sloshing around periodically atop the occasional ingress of water, when I had a the idea that if I got rid of as much of the 'fluidy' bits as possible, using the age old bucket and chuck it technique, I could then thrown some cat litter down there, rub it in with my hands to scour the wood and soak up all the general nastiness which would then just leave reasonably solid amount of mush to scoop out, bag up and dispose of, which might be easier than trying to do the same with rags, sponges balers or whatever...

its 70 year old scottish mfv, fifie, herring drifter, trawler type thing, so there's probably 'stuff' under the engine and box thats been there since before she was converted!


good idea or have I been overdoing the stupid tablets again?

 

[BrendanS]

babies nappies work remarkably well for this sort of task, and are far easier to remove than cat litter. Just don't leave the nappies down there so long they take on too much water and 'explode'

 

[Gordonmc]

It works... but there is cat litter and cat litter.
The best for this purpose is the pelleted sawdust (Tesco's finest). After geting rid of the wet with disposable nappies I do exactly what you describe: chuck in a few handfuls, rummel it about and then shovel out. Another handful to get up any remaining wet and remove with a wet n' dry hoover.
Don't use the grey/white fullers earth type litter as it turns to clay, sticks and is difficult to get out.

 

[Tranona]

Tesco Value sanitary towels are also effective at soaking up the worst. Smaller and more regular shape than nappies, so get into confined spaces better.