Bilge cleaning recipe
Southern Boating magazine ran this recipe for bilge cleaner in Oct. 1998 and I've used it with success many times on my Grand Bankses and once or twice on the Nordhavn. This chemical brew does a terrific job of cleaning bilges and getting rid of oily residue. If it doesn't do the job the first time around, wait a week and do it all over again. Your bilges will be so white you won't recognize them!
Into a five-gallon bucket, pour one quart of ERA concentrated liquid or similar laundry detergent. Add one gallon of Clorox or other chlorine bleach and eight ounces of bottled lemon juice concentrate. Top off with water to make four to five gallons. Turn off your bilge pumps, pour the mixture into the bilge, and allow it to stand overnight if the boat rocks constantly or longer if the boat does not rock much. A light rinse with a hose may be needed to complete the job.
Suck the mixture up with a portable bilge pump and dispose of it properly, then turn your bilge pump switches back on.
One caution: the chlorine odor is very strong, so don't plan to spend much time on the boat while the mixture is in the bilge!
Good luck!
--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Fort Lauderdale
Ed T wrote:
We acquired a 1979 Grand Banks Classic this spring, and enjoyed it this past
summer. Now that it is fall here in the northeast, the boat is "on the
ground", I am trying to undo some of the things that gave us trouble over the
summer.
The more I play in the bilge (bilge diving) the more oil contamination I find.
It kinda looks like Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez spill! There
is black "gunk" on everything in the bilge from the forefoot to the aft end of
the engine compartment.
I really do not want to pull the holding tank to clean under it, and there are
some other challenging areas to get access to, so......
Is there any easy, or reasonable way to clean up this mess??? If there is
something that I can add to the bilge water after launch that would be
effective, and legal to pump overboard, I would be interested!
Milt's formula sounds good, but if you're not into chemistry I've had
good results using automobile degreaser. It's relatively cheap and
available at places like Home Depot in gallon jugs. I also use a long
handled brush to scrub around the bilge. Several applications gets the
bilge clean enough to eat on - well, almost! It certainly gets it clean
enough to paint, if you're so inclined.
As per Milt: suck up the residue and dispose of it properly. I used a
hand-operated bilge pump that I keep in the dinghy and pumped the
contents into a 2.5 gallon bucket (kitty litter containers work great
for these types of jobs).
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On 10/26/2010 9:29 PM, Milt Baker wrote:
Into a five-gallon bucket, pour one quart of ERA concentrated liquid or similar laundry detergent. Add one gallon of Clorox or other chlorine bleach and eight ounces of bottled lemon juice concentrate. Top off with water to make four to five gallons. Turn off your bilge pumps, pour the mixture into the bilge, and allow it to stand overnight if the boat rocks constantly or longer if the boat does not rock much. A light rinse with a hose may be needed to complete the job.
Suck the mixture up with a portable bilge pump and dispose of it properly, then turn your bilge pump switches back on.
-----Original Message-----
........
Milt's formula sounds good, but if you're not into chemistry I've had
good results using automobile degreaser.
Speaking of chemistry, while the formula that Milt provided was spot on,
don't EVER go further, and add ammonia to any mix containing Clorox!
Ammonia + Clorox = Phosgene gas - one of the poisonous gasses used during
the gas attacks in the trenches of WWI.
Either one alone is a good cleaner, but NEVER mix the two in an area that
you want to breath and live in!
Kevin
You are recreating WWI in your bilge! I know because I just made a similar
mistake in my toilet bowl by adding too much Clorox to what was probably
uric acid. The chlorine gas liberated caused me to choke and run to turn on
a forward hatch exhaust fan - fast. Lemon juice is citric acid which, if
added to sodium hypochlorite liberates chlorine gas. Chlorine or phosgene
gas in sufficient concentrations can kill you or cripple your lungs. As a
child, I encountered two WWI gas survivors - not swell. To confirm my
experience, I just confirmed this chemical reaction via Google. Avoid this
powerful, albeit effective, mixture.
Ron Rogers
-----Original Message-----
From: Milt Baker
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 9:29 PM
Southern Boating magazine ran this recipe for bilge cleaner in Oct. 1998 and
I've used it with success many times on my Grand Bankses and once or twice
on the Nordhavn. This chemical brew does a terrific job of cleaning bilges
and getting rid of oily residue. If it doesn't do the job the first time
around, wait a week and do it all over again. Your bilges will be so white
you won't recognize them!
Into a five-gallon bucket, pour one quart of ERA concentrated liquid or
similar laundry detergent. Add one gallon of Clorox or other chlorine bleach
and eight ounces of bottled lemon juice concentrate. Top off with water to
make four to five gallons. Turn off your bilge pumps, pour the mixture into
the bilge, and allow it to stand overnight if the boat rocks constantly or
longer if the boat does not rock much. A light rinse with a hose may be
needed to complete the job.
Suck the mixture up with a portable bilge pump and dispose of it properly,
then turn your bilge pump switches back on.
One caution: the chlorine odor is very strong, so don't plan to spend much
time on the boat while the mixture is in the bilge!
Good luck!