Cleaning out the bilge

boater2065

boater2065

Active Member
Jul 30, 2018
222
Everett, WA
Boat Info
Searay
Engines
merc
Hi all, last summer my remote oil filter lines were showing signs of wear and were leaking oil into the bilge. It was a slow leak, but over time the bilge got pretty full of oil. A few months back i replaced the those lines with new ones and it appears the leak is no longer happening. Because i leave the boat in the water year round, i used the bilge pump with a bucket to catch the contents. This worked slightly until the level of oil and water was too low for the pump to pick up any more of it. I'd really like to get the bilge completely oil/water free and clean it up, not only to make it look nicer, but also to set a baseline for the bilge so i know if oil is actively leaking again/still or if water is leaking from somewhere on the engine as well. I figure taking the boat out of the water is likely the best way to drain the remaining water and oil from the bilge, but i'm curious if anyone has other tips to do this while the boat is still in the water? I've read about the bilge booms/socks etc. but not sure how good they work...?
 
Use a small shop vac, when done easy clean up of shop vac.
 
I hadn't thought of the shop vac, that is a good idea. Maybe I will give that a try. Once i get the majority of the oil out, i plan to use some degreaser that i bought at the hardware store to really clean up the bilge. I have tested it on a few areas and it works amazing. Appreciate all the responses, hopefully i can finally get this mess under control.
 
Dawn will break the oil down and you will not see a sheen on the water. Rest assured it’s used in many retention ponds for the same reason.
 
RBB said:
Dawn will break the oil down and you will not see a sheen on the water. Rest assured it’s used in many retention ponds for the same reason.
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Yep, one of the reasons I use it, and I use a LOT of it. My whole marina looks like the Brady Bunch washing machine disaster, but we all do it.
 
RBB said:
Dawn will break the oil down and you will not see a sheen on the water. Rest assured it’s used in many retention ponds for the same reason.
Click to expand...

Dawn doesn't break the oil down, it just disperses it. The oil is still there. And pumping Dawn treated oily bilge water into the water is exactly the same as dumping oily water without Dawn. Legally AND environmentally.

Rags, followed by rags with degreaser spray is what you need before water is involved.
 
The bilge on an '02 260DA is VERY user friendly. Keep it simple - just use an old towel and a stick. Wring it out into a bucket and repeat. I often used a brush with a 3' handle and, once I got down in front of the engine, I was able to reach pretty much everywhere under the engine. It should only take a few times with the towel to get the leftover water. Plus, you're actually "wiping" the bilge floor every time. You also avoid contaminating the surrounding water - which, by the way, using that bucket was a good idea.

Shop vac is fine - but keep it (the actual vacuum part) out of the bilge since it can spark.
 
add me to the shop vac crew. I used a small craftsman battery powered one to pull any drop of water out of the bilge so its always dry. That way if theres any water I know something has changed.

Took me a while to get a 20 year old boat to be bone dry - it's a sickness so be prepared if you go down that road (and go buy lots of Silicone, you're gonna need it :) )
 
A lot depends on how much oil/water you have. I would start with the absorbent pads/socks. They work well. Eventually, you'll need to use elbow grease.
 
@Lazy Daze Good idea about the rags on a stick or pole. My thought was majority of floating oil is gone, i will use the degreaser with rags, then spray water, then shop vac again and repeat until it looks good and clean. And yes, i'm no crazy tree hugger, but by no means would i ever pump oil into the bay, so i used the bucket. However, this way will be much more efficient.

@Strecker25 Absolutely, i think the biggest thing here is creating the baseline so we know when something has changed. If the bilge is dry and clean, but then we see water or oil, we can act quickly with confidence that something is not right
 
Golfman25 said:
A lot depends on how much oil/water you have. I would start with the absorbent pads/socks. They work well. Eventually, you'll need to use elbow grease.
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See the photo below of the amount of oil i currently have. Not all of that is oil, as there is water underneath it, but this is about what i'm dealing with. It's messy, annoying and gives me worry that if oil is actively leaking I would have no clue, because its already so dirty.
 

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Creekwood said:
Dawn doesn't break the oil down, it just disperses it. The oil is still there. And pumping Dawn treated oily bilge water into the water is exactly the same as dumping oily water without Dawn. Legally AND environmentally.

Rags, followed by rags with degreaser spray is what you need before water is involved.
Click to expand...

FWIW, this is what my before usually looks like. I would suppose if there was a large amount of oil, that's a bad idea.

xXdz7YE.png
 
It might be easiest to start with some oil absorbing pads - they're very inexpensive and will only absorb the oil (not the water) so you'll get the majority of the oil out, first. Then, once you get the water out, the remaining oil will be directly on the surface of the bilge floor - very easy to spray with some Simple Green (or whatever degreaser you like) and wipe up with rags/towels.

I got my bilge to the point where I could get down there with nice clothes on and not worry about getting dirty. Keep at it - you'll get it looking nice.
 
I can go barefoot down there :)
 
Starbrite makes an environmentally friendly bilge cleaner. Pour in your bilge, fill with water and let it soak several hours or longer. They even suggest to run boat so it swishes around. I just use a long brush for scrubbing bottom. Turn on bilge pumps to drain most waste, shop vac to get rest. Here's my bilge.
 

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