Motoring in a dead calm last Sunday. Bosun went below to fetch a cold one and found a huge puddle of engine oil at the foot of the ladder. Discovered the coolant hose wire reinforcement had broken and poked a hole in the oil filter. Shut the engine down in time but now I've got at least 2 quarts of oil on top of a couple of gallons of water in the bilge. Any ideas for clean-up. Bilge pump is disconnected.
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Fred & Joanne Norton
Araminta 3, C-36 #150
Lake Travis Texas
West Marine etc. carry a couple things that may help
Oil boom - [url]http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?produ...
Oil absorbent cloth - [url]http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?produ...
I keep the cloths under the engine and Racor fuel filter to catch any drips. The boom goes in the bilge tied to a keel bolt.
You DO NOT want to let it pump out via the bilge pump or trouble may find you.
PS. Lucky you caught it when you did before it did engine damage.!
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
Great that you caught this, the oil absorbant pads will pull the oil out of the water. Many Marinas hand these out for free, keeps there marina cleaner.
Kitty Litter too does a reasonable job, you could pump the bilge water into a bucket of kitty litter after you get out all you can with bilge pads.
Cepheus dream
C36 MK I # 825
MK I Tech Editor No Mas
When our alternator bracket broke in 1999, it slammed the alternator into the oil filter and ripped one of the coolant hoses. Yuck!
We pumped the mess into a few empty plastic jugs with a hand pump. The rest is elbow grease and cleaner for the bilge cleanup. Trying to "sop" up the mess with cushions or kitty litter would seem to me, based on my experience, to only create a bigger mess to clean up. It's all liquid, so pump it out and clean what's left.
Stu Jackson, C34IA Secretary, C34 #224, 1986, SR/FK, M25 engine, Rocna 10 (22#)
Fred
I spelled about a quart or two of oil in my bilge about a year ago. (Don't ask how.) I cleaned it up by scooping it up with a paper cup then wiping it up with those oil absorbing towels. Then I poured water into the bildge, pumped it out and wiped it dry with more oil absorbring towels. I used one of those Oil absorbing booms and it worked for most of the oil. Now it is a year later and I still see oil floating on top of my bildge water. I pump out the water every so often them wipe up the bildge with an oil absorbing towel. My advice is buy the absorbing towels by the five pack because you will be using them for a while.
__/)__/)__/)__Capt Mike__/)__/)__/)__
Punta Gorda Florida
1990 Std WK M35 Hull #1050
Thanks for sharing your experiences and recommendations. My marina has agreed to take the water/oil mix in a bucket. Then comes the clean-up - pads and detergent I guess. Nothing through the bilge pump or I'll join BP in the fine department. The engine cover had two layers of foam rubber as insulation so now I get to replace that with more modern stuff. West Marine sells noise reducing panels that my son added to his boat. Decisions.
Fred & Joanne Norton
Araminta 3, C-36 #150
Lake Travis Texas
regarding the noise reduction; I installed the sound insulation foam panels similar to this http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|302333&id=96141 . It made a considerable reduction in engine noise, both down below and in the cockpit. One of the better mods I've made to my boat.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay