Nappies (disposable)

[Borden]

Just sitting here at home in Kent thinking about my boat three thousand miles away in Kaş marina Turkey and nappies came to mind so I thought I'd share this with you.

When I leave my boat for any length of time I put four flattened disposable nappies in the tray under the engine to soak up any drips. They also do a fine job of capturing any spills when changing oil or fuel filters. The absorbency qualities of nappies are remarkable not only can they soak up large quantities of fluid but they also have a mechanism for capturing it making disposal easy. Not surprising really given their purpose!

 

[macd]

Plenty of talc, mind. Don't want your engine bay getting a rash.
It might also surprise you that it's only a lttile over 1500miles (nautical) from Kent to your boat. Hope it makes the absence more bearable

 

[pmagowan]

I would be more concerned with why the oil is dripping. I know nappies are useful at absorbing these things but I thought the purpose of the tray is so that when you go to the boat you can easily inspect if there has been a problem by the amount and type of oil on it. You then clean it up once you have done this check and fixed any problems uncovered. Does leaving a nappy there to absorb any drips not simply hide the problem?

 

[Borden]

I would be more concerned with why the oil is dripping. I know nappies are useful at absorbing these things but I thought the purpose of the tray is so that when you go to the boat you can easily inspect if there has been a problem by the amount and type of oil on it. You then clean it up once you have done this check and fixed any problems uncovered. Does leaving a nappy there to absorb any drips not simply hide the problem?

A very good point. However I'm not lucky enough to own a new shiny boat with a shiny engine. My 30 year old Moody 47 still has the original engine, a 2.2 litre BMC (Thorneycroft) diesel. This is the marinised version of the original Land Rover engine. Sadly it does drip a little and is not bright and shiny, a little like me in fact.

So nappies, that's for the engine not me.

 

[Borden]

Macd

1500 nautical, that would be as the seagul flies. We've logged over 6,000 miles in our meanderings in the 9 years since leaving Hamble.

 

[pmagowan]

A very good point. However I'm not lucky enough to own a new shiny boat with a shiny engine. My 30 year old Moody 47 still has the original engine, a 2.2 litre BMC (Thorneycroft) diesel. This is the marinised version of the original Land Rover engine. Sadly it does drip a little and is not bright and shiny, a little like me in fact.

So nappies, that's for the engine not me.

No probs, mine doesn't even have a tray under the engine. It is just a deep bilge filled with sea water and all kinds of nastyness. A nappy would be no use to me as it would get lost! My point was just to make sure people wouldn't miss warning signs if they had an opportunity to do so.

 

[tcm]

A very good point. However I'm not lucky enough to own a new shiny boat with a shiny engine. My 30 year old Moody 47 still has the original engine, a 2.2 litre BMC (Thorneycroft) diesel. This is the marinised version of the original Land Rover engine. Sadly it does drip a little and is not bright and shiny, a little like me in fact.

So nappies, that's for the engine not me.

Ooh, it's not a done deal that the engine leaks just cos it's old. It would be a jolly good idea to follow the suggestion of the previous contributor and tighten things up to eliminate the leaks. Even some brand new engines leak and people over just say well, it's an engine., tsk, what can you do? Well, you can get the appropriate socket and tight things a little bit, and thus remove the need for nappies. You'll have to clean up the engine a bit first, to see the source of the leaks.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I would be more concerned with why the oil is dripping. I know nappies are useful at absorbing these things but I thought the purpose of the tray is so that when you go to the boat you can easily inspect if there has been a problem by the amount and type of oil on it. You then clean it up once you have done this check and fixed any problems uncovered. Does leaving a nappy there to absorb any drips not simply hide the problem?

When Rolls-Royce bought rights to the Citröen hydraulic system, one are in which they thought they could do better than the damned Frenchies was in the brake control valve. The Citröen one is a remarkably complicated thing, combining a valve for the front brakes, a vale for the back brakes, a mechanism to change the front-rear balance if the car is more heavily loaded at the back and mechanism to lock that mechanism when braking starts and weight gets transferred to the front.

Although complicated, the Citröen version works reliably and stays dry. Rolls-Royce never managed to get theirs to stop dripping hydraulic fluid, and finally specified a disposable nappy to be placed under it and changed at every service.

Moral: it is far better not to have drips than to deal with them. It took a while, but my 1GM10 does not produce a single drop - which means that if it ever does, I shall know to worry.

 

[BobnLesley]

"They do a fine job of capturing any spills when changing oil or fuel filters."

We currently have the boat on the US east coast and one of their Coast Guard's requirements for yachts (presumably all boats?) is a means/method for dealing with fuel and oil spills. This requirement can be fulfilled with a $120+'spill s-kit' available from West Marine and no doubt many other Chandleries too, or a bag containing half a dozen disposable nappies; I'll leave you to guess which we have.