Solid Tar in Limber Holes - Help!

they are holes bored at the bottom (and sometimes higher up) of frames to allow water to run from a high part of the bilge to the lowest.

Sometimes to keep them free, a long small brass chain is threaded through so that you can pull it to and fro to free the limber holes from shavings, bits of paper and dead rats.
 
Not sure chuck will fit through limbers but that was my first thought. I expect the drill will not have enough hold to do much. However will ge a flexidrive and give it a try. Thanx for response.
Another idea is to block the limber hole prior to the obstruction, suck out the water to get obstruction dry and then pour in concentrated tar remover. There are some that are water soluable and safe - how effective they are I am not sure.
 
rmorris301 said:
Not sure chuck will fit through limbers but that was my first thought. I expect the drill will not have enough hold to do much. However will ge a flexidrive and give it a try. Thanx for response.
Another idea is to block the limber hole prior to the obstruction, suck out the water to get obstruction dry and then pour in concentrated tar remover. There are some that are water soluable and safe - how effective they are I am not sure.
Click to expand...

Is there room to use a gland packing removal tool with a flexible shaft?

http://www.jameswalker.biz/group/products/packing_extractors.html


Or you might be able to use something like a drawer lock chisel

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...wer+lock+chisel&hl=en&sa=N&ndsp=20&tbs=isch:1

I'm not suggesting you pay the insane price asked for this but you could make something similar from a piece of mild steel bar. (it wouldn't need hardening for digging out tar)


I remember my mother using eucalyptus oil to get tar off clothes. Might be worth a try but would probably be very slow. Even if it doesn't work your boat will smell fresh and your breathing will be easier :D
 
Can you get a length of copper pipe to it, with a bend in it so that it lines up with the hole? If so, get a pipe bending spring one size too small for the pipe, braze a small hole saw on the end, (or make your own hole saw from a piece of steel pipe) and use it to drill out the tar - same idea as a flexible drive, but not flexible. You can extend the bending spring with rod at the drill end. By judicious choice of bits of pipe you should be able to make it up so that the hole saw runs inside the end of the pipe that butts up against the floor.
 
Caution.

What ever method you use, try to avoid damaging the inside of the hole unless the limber holes have been fitted with protective tubes.

If you damage the timber you may get moisture in the timber and have a much bigger problem.
 
oldsaltoz said:
Caution.

What ever method you use, try to avoid damaging the inside of the hole unless the limber holes have been fitted with protective tubes.

If you damage the timber you may get moisture in the timber and have a much bigger problem.
Click to expand...
As the owner of a wooden boat that has had the same floors since 1970, and does not have protective tubes in her limber holes I'd like to know how you stop moisture getting into a wooden floor. Paint doesn't keep it out, for if it did, my boat would never float - because the seams would never close.
 
rmorris301 said:
Hi

Newbie here.

Boat: 1927 motor cruiser/ketch - wooden - Dickies of Bangor

http://rcpt.yousendit.com/866759143/af6f3dc7d586f094c7f62ed6632bab48


Limber holes in engine bay inaccessible but blocked solid with what I assume to be years of engine oil build up. It is solid - just like coal. I cannot get in there to break it up. Front bilge full of water. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

A length of say 3/8" round bar long enough and bent so as to enter the limber round the end so as not to cut the wood, heat it up over the cooker and offer in to the limber and it should melt out the tar / grunge. may take a few gos but it should Leave a coating in the hole to give some protection to the moisture in the timber problem.
Good luck and let us all know how you get on.

A last resort as I see you are at Dickies have a word with Scott Metcalfe he is always willing to give good advise and very helpful.
You will find him across the bay from Dickies alongside the dock.
 
If the pitch (coal like substance - sounds like pitch not oil) is quite glassy it was overly hot when it was poured, and without being too depressing you have a job cut out, it will be hardened on the outside and might be soft on the inside -much like an armadilo (if you remember the advert)
Drilling will not be easy, you will through the crust into what might be quite sticky
I dont expect petrol or the likes will get through the shiny crust
cracking it out might be a start
I think you will be looking at a multi stage attack, chipping the glassy outer away, scraping at the middle and cleaning up with spirit.

You might want to seriously consider why it was poured in, in the first place.
If its horrible to get to, you may regret digging it out in the first place, if its in the engine bay, one might assume the fore and after end of the bay are isolated from the rest of the bilge? is it a real problem?

My top tip would be - pay someone.
But whatever you do, mind your eyes, if it is burnt (overcooked) pitch, depending on the recipe used to make it, it can shatter into quite nasty shards.

Its not a coating over a limber tube that runs from your fwd bilge to aft is it? A pump fwd of your engine room might be an idea, it may be to stop oil and fuel getting into your bilges

Good luck
 
Last edited:
plugged limber holes

don't know if you've solved your problem yet, but here's the approach I would use:

1) pump out all bilges with a portable pump in an eco-friendly manner
2) the primary tool I would use is an electricians fish tape, the type which you can buy on a reel from most home improvement stores, but get the one made out of flat spring steel instead of fiberglass .. .you can usually get a 25' length for under $10.
3) break or cut one end to have a point which can grind your tarball, but is reasonably safe for your wood (I did not get a clear picture what your frames are made of, or how the limber holes are constructed)
4) if you can reach the limber hole with a length of 1/2 pvc pipe, cut a piece of pipe which convenient lets you reach the limber hole, cut/break the fishtape into a length slightly (3" or so) longer than the pvc pipe.
5) put the fish tape through the pipe, put one end of the fishtape into a drill chuck, and put the other end of the pipe and fishtape up against your blockage. drill until the obstruction is gone or holed. keep removing the pipe/tape to check the tip to make sure you are not actually cutting into the wood structures.

drilling with fishtape is an old electricians trick for drilling inaccessible locations...the pipe allows you to position the tip wherever you want, and you can even drill around 90 deg corners...

-Paul
 
Tile saw

Had the same problem on my Sunbeam (pitch and also 85 years of dried paint).

I used a ceramic tile saw blade, a steel wire coated in abrasive (Carborundum), with the end cut off. You can work it into the blockage, and, once through, file the hole open, all by hand and quite gently. The blade can be bent to any shape to get into difficult corners.

I now use it every winter to clean to muck.

Costs about £3 from a builder's merchant or tile shop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top