Effects of Disinfectant on wood?

[AuntyRinum]

I've been having real problems with oily bilge water under the engine of my Hillyard 12 Tonner. Have cleaned it out using bilge cleaner. There are pockets which are impossible to get at and the bilges started to stink, especially as the weather got hotter. The bilges obviously had got some sort of bug in the water which smelled the same as you get in heads sometimes when they've been left unused. Yesterday, completely frustrated, I poured two bottles of disinfectant into the bilge. It seems to have fixed the problem and killed the bugs. Here's my question:
Can disinfectant harm my mahogany hull or oak frames?

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[ccscott49]

I use dettol, for the same reason ansd purpose, it will not attack wood, so I doubt any other disinfectant would.

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[mtb]

Salt water is supposed to sanitise the wood aint it !!.
Some detergents leave a scum when they dry what happens then .


Cheers
Mick

<hr width=100% size=1>Danbrit is for sale I'm spending all my time working on her with no play best offer's please !!

 

[Mirelle]

Anaerobic bacteria?

I used to get the same problem with my 2 1/2 tonner! Same bad eggs smell as a stale heads inlet pipe and same cause, I fancy - anearobic bacteria breeding in tiny spaces where oygen cannot reach and giving off hydrogen sulphide. I reckon any strong disinfectant will be fine - and I would not hesitate to boil a few kettles and pour them down there also. For the last 20 years I have not had this trouble, as Mirelle's bilges are flushed out with cement, so there are no odd corners for stuff to get stale in.

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[chippie]

Re: Anaerobic bacteria?

When you say you flush the bilges with cement, How do you do it?


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[Mirelle]

Re: Anaerobic bacteria?

It was done when she was built; it was a common practice and it is described in detail in Claud Worth's "Yacht Cruising". A skim of cement is laid over the floors (iron, in our case) so that the bilge water drains back to a sump, where the strum boxes for the pumps are - the cement does not cover the keel bolts. Over the years (now nearly 70!) the cement has been broken out to replace floors and mast step and then put back again.

Caution - do not do this to an existing boat without first having her surveyed and getting the surveyor to certify that the area covered by cement is sound, otherwise her value may drop like a stone - it used to be a regular trick for covering up defective floors and frame ends!

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[mtb]

Re: Anaerobic bacteria?

Danbrit has area's 2ft deep in concrete but old trawlers were ballasted like this.
I dont think washing cement through bilges would help more likely cause problems as the hull moves .
cheers
Mick

<hr width=100% size=1>Danbrit is for sale I'm spending all my time working on her with no play

 

[Mirelle]

Re: Anaerobic bacteria?

If you have movment in that area of the boat, you have far bigger problems than smelly bilges! As you say, fishing boats often have a good thickness of concrete in the bottom with lumps of iron ballast included in it. The idea was to keep the bilges sweet with all the bits of fish getting washed to the pump.

The Bristol Channel pilot cutter PET was broken up in the 1960's and it was found that she had two unexploded shells cemented into her bilge....

But seriously, I don't recommend doing this to an existing hull without a surveyor being closely involved.

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[ccscott49]

salt water doesn't sanitize wood. the liccle bugs in the water die without oxygen/light and then breakdown giving off nasty niffs, the disinfectant kills them, I use dettol, leaves a nice niff behind and no scum. The dettol gets pumped out anyway, along with the bilge water. I use a wet/dry vacumn for my bilges, nice and clean, eat yer din dins off em!

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[Richard_Blake]

Re: One of the unsung heroes...

...the person who thought up the portable wet/dry vac

<hr width=100% size=1>LowTech

 

[Casey]

Jeyes Fluid is supposed to be a wood preservative - one can get used to the smell!!

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[LittleShip]

Try a search on Chemotherapy for wood it talks about Antifreeze as a wood preserver ??????and very little smell.

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