Peggie is so right about this that I just could not stay silent. Had the same problem on an express cruiser some years ago. Using TSP and Tide, hot high pressure washer, and plenty of plastic and tape to protect all stuff electrical, started at the top of each engine and worked my way down. Disabled boat's bilge pumps and used temporary one encased in wife's nylons to pump to 3 55 gal drums marine yard had. Spray nozzle found and opened limber holes that were closed with construction debris. Surprised by how little water the sprayer actually used. Then used wet-dry vac to pick up the remaining gunk, which there was plenty. Then, re-enabled the bilge pumps and while still high and dry, but outside, used fresh water to rinse. (Had yard's permission.) Then, put boat in water and used fresh water to rinse all bilges weekly. Also rinsed all AC drip pans (not hard) and shower sumps. While underway, looked for oil leaks and weeps, and using diapers under the engines, cataloged them. Fixed them. (There were 4-5 total on both engines.) Bilge under the engines was closed and therefore, any drips would not be pumped overboard. After this, repainted engines the same blue that they were and called it done. Took from Mid- May to early June working weekends to do all of the above. The yard was so impressed that I worked with them on a 60+ Sea Ray that they were broker for. Got a 30% reduction in following year's storage and the Sea Ray went for 10K over ask. Later that season, had an electrical problem unrelated to the cleaning. Mechanic came because I was at wit's end. He looked and said that he could not do the repair because this would be warranty work and the boat builder would have to pre-authorize. I said do not bother as the boat was well past warranty. (He based his comment on the cleanliness of the bilges.) He did the work, and made no mess. Boat smelled good, Admiral happy, and with regular and easy washing, the bilges stayed that way until I sold the boat. Cleaning bilges is a lot of work. Once cleaned, keeping them clean is easy. I chose to bite that bullet early, and never regreted it, once the ache in the bones went away! Lee After that On Sep 5, 2007, at 7:00 AM, trawlers-and-trawlering- request@lists.samurai.com wrote: Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:04:31 -0500 From: Peggie <peggie.hall@gmail.com> Subject: T&T: re Stinky Bilge To: trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com Message-ID: <46DCE75F.1060304@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pkcs7-signature which had a name of smime.p7s]