Cleaning / repainting oily lockers and bilge

[Captain Crisp]

Hi - planning to give the lockers and bilge a good scrub and, hopefully repaint. This hasn't been done in years and there's a good deal of grime....
Planning on using a lot of hot water, fairy liquid and elbow grease...
Any further suggestions? I'm concerned that any new paint will find it hard to adhere to the grp...
Thanks
Criso

 

[Mudisox]

A task many folk undertake.

 

[Daydream believer]

Not sure about cleaning, but perhaps the right paint to use would be floor paint, as that is designed for a substrate that has difficult contaminates on it. I know that GRP boat builders have used it on the insides of hulls for a long time.
I have used it where I applied an epoxy finish to the inside of my wooden boat. I also used it on the sailing club committee boat where I removed the old black water tank & some carpet lining that was glued in place. That exposed some nasty GRP hull surface that required some abrasion first. I was quite pleased with the results.
I used Leyland white floor paint

 

[mrangry]

You are pretty much spot on with fairy and hot water. Once dried I would use Danboline to paint as it covers very well and is very durable. International Danboline

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I have had good success with a steam cleaner. In my case a wall paper stripper with a special jet nozzle. Many devices on the internet. Clear away any obvious dirt and grime, wash with soapy water, finish with steam, clean bilges. Note that only some areas required steam power to clean, where grime was difficult to remove by detergent. I used the steam jet to wash away the soap though. Buy a lot of low cost, plastic, stiff bristle brushes for pots and pan cleaning. On YouTube I now notice that rotary brushes on a battery drill are very common when deep cleaning decks, car footwell carpets et cetera. I would certainly use these in the next bilge cleaning task.

I used pads that absorb oil and not water in the bottom of the bilge when cleaning, ASAP has them. Then the water can be decanted easily either with bilge pump or wet vac machine. After clearing out wash water with bilge pump, I used wet vac to suck up the dregs.

I painted with Danboline, Grey as noted above. That was 12 years ago, lasted well, but grubby again after refit.

 

[Poignard]

Sugar soap is a cheap and effective cleaner for soiled paintwork.

 

[Daydream believer]

Disposable nappies are excellent for soaking up excess liquids. I have a pack on board & cut the elastic sides off with scissors so that they unfold easily & are ready to use

 

[Refueler]

Having done just this job .. a while back on my 1970's never had bilge clean boat !!

First Pela to suk up that last few ml's of bilge water / stuff that pump never gets. Then nappies to wipe up the crud.

Then the magic product ..... Oven Cleaner. Plain old foaming oven cleaner ... spray on ... spread it around ... leave it to foam up ... than scrape off into a bucket ... then fresh water rinse ...

You'd be amazed at the results ... BUT make sure its well rinsed off as if left it is not kind to resin. But a couple of rinses and a wet rag wipe down is good enough. DO NOT use any detergent or cleaners once this is done ... as Fairy etc. leaves Sulfates behind ... its the active part of detergent ! and will inhibit coating adhesion.

My preferred coating is flat white vinyl emulsion .. or whatever colour you like ... Its easy to apply - in fact slap on !! Its self levelling for brush marks .. once dry its water resistant as its designed for bathrooms ... Ever need a touch up ... quick wipe down and slap on ..

Brushes / roller or whatever easy to clean.

If you ever want to mount / install anything there - easy to scrape off and Oven Cleaner ritual to get surface back to bare ready for resining any item you want ...

Seriously - there are Bilge Paints out there and other good coatings - but I prefer a simple to apply - simple to remove coating.

 

[capnsensible]

Another vote for danboline.

 

[Stemar]

I had a tiny but persistent diesel leak on Jissel; the diesel soaked into the GRP and stank to the point that after a weekend aboard, Madame made me change when I got home, It was NASTY . After many unsuccessful attempts to clean it, someone recommended Bioclean. It worked and our MAB no longer smelt of MAB³ and the bilges were no longer greasy. It isn't cheap, but you just pour a good dollop into the bilge, add a few litres of water and let it slosh around for a week.

After that, like most of the others, I'd use Danboline.

 

[Poignard]

Is Danboline much different to garage floor paint in its composition?

 

[Refueler]

I had a tiny but persistent diesel leak on Jissel; the diesel soaked into the GRP and stank to the point that after a weekend aboard, Madame made me change when I got home, It was NASTY . After many unsuccessful attempts to clean it, someone recommended Bioclean. It worked and our MAB no longer smelt of MAB³ and the bilges were no longer greasy. It isn't cheap, but you just pour a good dollop into the bilge, add a few litres of water and let it slosh around for a week.

After that, like most of the others, I'd use Danboline.

You never tried Oven Cleaner then ??

So many times I've cleaned up dried gasoil stains .. dried Castor Oil from leaking sounder tubes ... all sorts of grease / oil / shite based with it .. haven'r found anything it doesn't shift yet.

 

[Stemar]

Oven cleaner's hard work, and I'm a lazy wotsit

 

[PetiteFleur]

I used a 'Marine' bilge cleaner, can't remember the brand, hot water and scrubbing brushes. Worked well but not much good on wooden floor bearers which I replaced with new bearers. Must try and do the last remaining bit this year... but it's difficult to access it all.

 

[Refueler]

Oven cleaner's hard work, and I'm a lazy wotsit

??? What spray on ... spread it around ... leave it to foam ... wipe away and rinse ?? No brushing .. no physical

Surely your 'dollop in a bit of water' needs removal - then wipe up / rinse ??

I must admit that since doing mine ... I tend to squirt a bit of washing up liquid into the bit of water that stays pump cannot get out .. then that keeps things relatively clean.

 

[Craigie]

I used Purple Power industrial strength de-greaser from auto parts store to clean an oily bilge. It strips the grease away with ease and is reasonably priced. Seriously strong stuff so you'll need to use gloves.

 

[Refueler]

I bought a hand held Steam Cleaner from Lidl few weeks back ... under 30 euros .....

I thought yeh ok ... cheap and nothing lost if not good ...

It works a treat ... in fact I was surprised - I agree that its not as powerful as a large industrial - but for getting into those small places - its good enough.

 

[Poignard]

I bought a hand held Steam Cleaner from Lidl few weeks back ... under 30 euros .....

I thought yeh ok ... cheap and nothing lost if not good ...

It works a treat ... in fact I was surprised - I agree that its not as powerful as a large industrial - but for getting into those small places - its good enough.

Would it be any good for engine cleaning?

 

[wonkywinch]

I'm fanatical/anal about car cleaning and been very impressed with Bilt Hamber stuff. For degreasing & general clean up, I'd recommend their Surfex HD. If you've got any rust stains, then the Korrosol is excellent.

Surfex-HD - Bilt Hamber

Korrosol - Bilt Hamber

 

[Refueler]

Would it be any good for engine cleaning?

I wouldn't as you need to remove it from the surface.

There are plenty of Engine Cleaners out there that are better suited.

Sorry - thought you meant the Oven Cleaner ... if you mean the Steam Cleaner ... why not ... but nozzle / pipe is a bit short as its meant to be held in hand ...