cleaning bilges

Ian_Edwards

Ian_Edwards

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The boat has had several small leaks from the top of the diesel tank during this season, so I think there is a "residual" of diesel lurking in corners of the bilge.

Most of the bilge is inaccessible and can't be cleaned using the hot soap water and scrubbing brush approach.

I have put fresh water and dishwashing liquid in the bilge and let it swish around whilst we sail and then pumped it out, and that seems to have got rid of the bulk of the diesel and smell.

Is there anything else I can use which will clean up the remaining diesel?

I don't like bilgex, which I thinks smells as bad as the diesel, I was thinking along the lines of dilute bleach, or dilute sodium hypochlorite, or something along those lines, but I'm worried about the potential damage that might do as it sloshes around.

The boat is built of GRP and being a Southerly has a very flat bottom and no sump, any water collects in one of four easily accessible places where it can be pumped out and dried with a sponge.

Any thoughts on an effective cleaning agent for bilges?
 
The magic ingredient for diesel in bilges used to be 'orange zest' scented Cif floor cleaner but you cant buy it anymore, or at least not from Cif. I think the magic ingredient is the citric acid. I used to work with a charter fleet of yachts and we found that this removed the diesel smell very well. I have also seen it claimed on here as well. Also buy the special absorbent sponges that soak up diesel and not water. Use after you have scrubbed down into the bilge, they really do get rid of the residue diesel floating on the water. They can be bought from many places, ASAP for example have them.

So, citric acid, orange zest floor cleaners, hot water, diesel absorbing pads.
 
Not taking anything away from the above, i recently did mine by squirting a couple of litres of neat Lidl bleach everywhere. Left for a while, then sprayed a hose in and as the bilges started to fill the bilge pump pumped it out, kept the hose and pump running until it was nice and clear.
 
Thanks for all the replies. There some useful ideas to follow up on, I think I'll try the Toilet Duck first, it's an easy option since I can buy it at any supermarket. I'll add some fresh water, 10 to 15L of water is enough to wet most of the bilge, and let it slosh around whilst I go for a sail.

As I said in the original post, most of the affected area are inaccessible, on the port side there are two 400L tanks and on the starboard a battery box with 610 amp hours of AGM batteries, and I'm not going to move either the tanks or the batteries to get at the bilge. Anything that requires spraying onto the surface or scrubbing just isn't practical.

Although I have no doubt that Bilgex works, I really don't like the smell of it, I find it as invasive as the smell of diesel.

I've already used dishwashing detergent and hot water, which cools very rapidly, and oil absorbent mats from ASAP to remove all the mobile diesel. It's the diesel residue that's on the surface of the GRP and stuck in the limber holes and other nooks and crannies that I want illuminate.

Ideally, I want something that will eat or change the nature of the diesel and produce something which is soluble in water.
 
I have successfully used 'Gunk' which smells pretty horrible but the smell goes away after a while.
When I was a ship's engineer 'Teepol' was generally used for cleaning paintwork but I don't know if it's still available.
 
Following the advice from another forumite, I went to a pet shop and got a bottle of 'Simple Solution stain + odour remover' which is for cleaning up after pets' mess. It comes in 2 varieties - cat or dog. I got the cat version and can confirm that it is very effective at removing the last traces of diesel without the smell of Gunk or Bilgex.
 
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