Bilge Cleaning

[mlm6304]

My bilge has had diesel oil from a leaking Perkins for many years from previous owner. What would be the best way to clean this mess up?

[a64pilot]

A good emulsifier, simple green, purple power, Gunk etc. and a scrub brush and elbow grease., Then use a shop vac to suck up the solution, you don't want to pump it overboard.
If you use a solvent base emulsifier, maybe not a shop vac cause of the sparks in the motor

[pcmm]

saw dust! Get as much water/oil out as you can and then go to a millwork place and get a couple of bags of sawdust. drop it in the bilge and let it sit for at least a few days. It will suck ALL the oil out! If you can get softwood saw dust I think that would work best!

Last summer we replaced our old Perkins 4-154 that must have leaked oil for decades. When we cut out the engine beds we found oil sludge in places I wouldn't expect, but in the process of rebuilding the engine room we created alot of sawdust and as we were only working weekends we forgot and left the sawdust in the bilges and stuck to the sides of the keel. When we came back the following weekend the sawdust was full of the oil and the fiberglass looked brand new!

[SailRedemption]

Get Tuf Enuf. It works great and smells better. It's the best. Enough said.

[sailah]

No pride, just get in there and get after it. I do it on the hard every spring. Flood the bilge with hot soapy water and scrub everything down. Wash it down well then spray everything with Simple Green and do that until it's clean. I clean all the bilge hoses, under the shower sump etc. Everything. My bilge is pretty darn clean and it makes working on things enjoyable to not have filth down there. If you do it every year nothing gets built up. Ignore it and you have a science project.

You know how it looks when you clean out your fridge and bleach all the glass shelves etc? It's like that feeling or maybe I'm just weird

[zeehag]

brush, soap, i use laundry soap for best results, sometimes a degreaser--i use mr musculo, as i am in mexico--works great. much brushing and rinsing with hose. use engine oil absorbing diapers for the oil.
without diapers you must remove oil and take to recyclers. with diapers you will be amazed how clean water is .....
and do this every 6 months until bilges are clean. good luck. perkies leak. fact of life. i place engine diapers under leak spot of mine. saves hours of work.