importance of drip pan under engine

[falcon]

I am installing a beta diesel in my Cheoy lee and am not happy with the metal drip pan that originally came with the atomic 4. I am concerned that it may oil can and act to amplify engine noise.This is probably a stupid question, but how important is the drip pan under an engine anyway? Is it a legal requirement? If its required/important, would building something out of epoxy coated marine plywood be a better materiel? Thank you in advance for your input.

[ILikeRust]

I don't know that it's a legal requirement, but it sure seems like a good idea, given that it's generally illegal to discharge oily bilge water. You want some way to keep oil and other engine fluids out of your bilge.

And yeah, a fiberglass pan would be quieter than a sheet-metal one.

[Quetzalsailor]

Drip pans are dandy, particularly if you have a never-neverland under the engine like I do. Things you drop are gone forever. There's a nice new arrival in mine: a roll of electrical tape last Saturday. There's also a coil for an Atomic 4; there have been two diesels in the boat since there was an A4.

Neither are magnetic.

I'd be happy to have a drip pan. Not only to catch what I drop, but what the engine occasionally drops. I judge it totally impossible to build a useful one in Quetzal. I doubt your metal pan would make that much noise, but if it did, you'd probably already know it. If it's really 'oilcanning', hit it with a hammer and dent/deform it.

My ex and I once had a '73 Plymouth Scamp. It used to make oilcanning noises from somewhere in the back of the car on the country roads outside Wilmington DE. I had her lock me in the trunk and drive over some known noise-producing bumps. I found the offending panel. She let me out(!) and I whanged the offending place with a ball pein hammer. Cured!

[Rachel]

I can't remember about requirements, but I like to have one. I've made one on the past by just tabbing in a flat piece of fiberglass board from side-to-side of the bilge "walls" and then putting fiddle-like ends on fore and aft. That depends on shape/access needs though.

On the metal one: I would imagine you would keep a "diaper" on there most of the time anyway - I wonder if that would help to eliminate sound problems? I'm not sure as they've obviously not very heavy/dense.

[falcon]

Thank you all for your helpful input. My plan now is to build a pan out of marine plywood and fiberglass. "Never never land" is an apt description of the area below the engine mounts. Thanks again for your help!