Cleaning the bilge

telekitr · Post by **telekitr** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:29 am

Hi everyone......we are new to the site and hope to be able to gain some new ideas as well as contribute some of our own tips and tricks. We have a 1984 Passport that is in the process of a refit. She's inside of a shelter that we constructed behind my shop here in Vermont.
On the slate is removal of the teak decks and replacement with something else, redo of the plumbing and electrical systems and rigging.
Having ripped out all of the old plumbing (yuck) , we are getting close to wanting to clean the bilges completely so that we can prep for a new coating of paint.
Question for the day ....has anyone had good success with a product and method of cleaning out 24 years worth of 3 prior owners bilge grunge? What type of paint would be good for this job?
Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.
Ernie

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:04 am

Hi Ernie, and Welcome to the Forum!

Ernie wrote:

Question for the day ....has anyone had good success with a product and method of cleaning out 24 years worth of 3 prior owners bilge grunge? What type of paint would be good for this job?

In addition to any new info that might crop up in this thread, here are links to a couple of prior threads on bilge cleaning that Suntreader started (his bilge was super-oily when he started his project).

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... ilge+clean

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... ilge+clean

Here are a couple related to bilge painting:

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... ilge+paint

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... ilge+paint

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... ilge+paint

I'm sure everyone will be very interested to hear more about your boat and your other projects. And your shelter!

Again, welcome.

Rachel

telekitr · Post by **telekitr** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:28 pm

Rachel.....thanks for the links. It sounds like this is an ongoing problem which is why I thought you all might have some good answers. Here is a link to our ship shed, which I know from reading other posts here, is a very interesting topic.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Iemaventure/TheShipShed

Post by **Tim** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:33 am

Nice shelter...big boat!

telekitr wrote:On the slate is removal of the teak decks

Do you think your knees are going to wish you'd left some room outside the boat for staging for this project?

telekitr · Post by **telekitr** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:22 am

Hi Tim....yes...you are correct in that after the fact we wish that we had left some additional space along the sides. This was a monster to put up and we were pretty tight on beam space in the first place so making it wider also would have meant that we would have wanted to make it taller...As you can see, it was a stretch to get up there as it was.
The teak came up well but our backs did talk to us a bit!
We will be following some of your great tips in filling holes and refairing the deck in the months to come. Your site has certainly been great to look through....its stimulateing lots of questions to come!
Regarding the size of Iemanja....yep.....she is all there. We are hopeing to do some extensive offshore cruising if all the stars line up and we really wanted to have a solid blue water boat that would take good care of us. It was a bit of a stretch $$ wise but being that I am in the marine business ( I own a canvas shop here on Lake Champlain), and Bette and I are able to to many of the projects ourselves, it makes it affordable for us.
Thanks again for the great site and I look forward to lots of info to come.

Maine Sail · Post by **Maine Sail** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:54 am

If I'm not mistaken Passports have gelcoated bilges? If so I would NOT recommend painting. Even the best bilge paints will eventually begin to peel, chip and flake off, as NONE of them are impervious to moisture penetration even Bilge Kote, and they will potentially & eventually begin to clog your bilge pumps with paint flakes.

If it's gelcoat it CAN, in most cases, be made to look as good as new!!

Here's a photo of my 30 year old factory gelcoat bilge! It took me about 8 hours of hands and knees cleaning with On/Off (acid based cleaner to remove rust stains), Acetone, MEK, 3M Sharps Shooter industrial floor cleaner and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers but it literally looks better than new..

I have painted bilges in the past and will NEVER do it again. If I needed to protect a bilge I think I'd use Interprotect 2000E (once the substrate was totally dry) or gelcoat..

Liberty28 · Post by **Liberty28** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:45 am

You realize of course that a little indentation in the floor under the floorboards bears little resemblence to the bilge on a full keel boat. Our bilge is approximately three feet deep and five feet long. Cleaning the bilge requires long handled mops and lots of elbow grease! I only wish our bilge was only a couple inches deep!!!

Ceasar Choppy · Post by **Ceasar Choppy** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:45 am

Liberty28 wrote:I only wish our bilge was only a couple inches deep!!!

No you don't. No, really, you don't.

While it might look pretty, if you have the most minor of leaks, your bilge will be full. Water has no where to go but out of the bilge.

Bilge pumps are a pain because a pump of the proper capacity for the boat doesn't always fit in such a shallow area-- you need to use a remote pump.

I miss my big, deep bilge!

Plastic Classic Forum

Cleaning the bilge

Cleaning the bilge

Iemanja's ship shed

Consider not painting!