Stinky Bilge

Glassguy54

Does anyone know of a good product/method for de-odorizing the bilge? It smells bad. Not like some critter crawled in there & died bad, but pretty bad. I don't want to use any thing that might cause harm to the fiberglass, but it would have to be strong enough to eliminate the smell. Is chlorine bleach a no-no?

bat32

I wouldn't use chlorine in an enclosed area and around sparks. I bought hull cleaner from West Marine. You just dump a couple ounces in and it gets mixed around with the existing water while under way. Then the bilge pump just pumps it all out. Seems to have reduced the musty smell.

 

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=11151&partNumber=10108710&langId=-1&searchKeyword=CLEANER-BILGE+PURO+DFE+GA

mvn

I had a situation this spring where water got into the bilge from the swim deck. There was black mildew everywhere. I used a mild bleach solution, wiped everything down then followed up with a healthy dose of Aerospace 303 to shine everything up. So far, no mildew or odour has returned. The bilge has been very dry, except for that speedo tube issue recently!

Mark

Dream_Inn

The trick is to keep the water out and the smell will go with it.  Last year I had the smelly bilge thing and found out i was getting rain water in the bilge.  I know where it is coming from (still hard to prevent), but i now just vacuum it out as needed.  Once in a while I'll give a squirt of enviro friendly dish soap after I clean it out.

mvn

Funny how water is a boat's worst enemy.

Mark

bat32

I have no choice on getting water in the bilge.  The mooring cover is actually designed not to be water tight and it channels water into the bilge.  So I'm stuck just treating what I get and turning on the bilge manually right when I get to the boat to evacuate what the automatic switch didn't get ( which is usually a few gallons.