2004 270 FV - lets talk about the anchor locker..

J3ff

My rear bilge STINKS! Like a serious nasty as heck stink. Rotten eggs, manure, sulfur, the worst smell you could ever think of...that's it! 

I've tried bilge cleaner ( a GALLON of it )....the only thing in the holding tank is chemical (I've pumped it out and put JUST chemical in there).  I've removed the hot water heater....the front bilge where the a/c is does not smell.

I spent 4 hours replacing batteries today and  at the same time scrubbing the heck out of my rear bilge. From what I can see there is some seriously BLACK water back there and sludge as well. 

These pictures are taken at various stages of cleaning:

https://goo.gl/photos/sNv2jFXmqyq6wMcy9

What you can see is at some point there was some nasty crap down there.  When I hit that stuff with the hose it released  the same smell but 10 times worse then I've ever smelled it. 

I easily put 100 gallons of water down into it today and pumped it out with the bilge pump as well as me manually pumping it out with a manual pump. 

So the question is: Where the heck is all this nasty stuff coming from??

What I'm hoping someone knows is.... If the front anchor locker drain IS NOT WORKING... is there any possibility that all that nasty MUDDY water that comes up on the anchor line could be getting from the front anchor locker to the rear bilge...bypassing the front bilge where the A/C is ? 

I figure maybe there's a channel under everything else??

I plan to empty the anchor locker tomorrow morning at the dock and use a hose and red food coloring to see if this theory might be right... I just don't know where else nasty dirty water would be coming from? 

BellevilleMXZ

I can't see how.......I had all the rope out to measure and clean mine, in the spring, and washed it out good. No water appeared anywhere, and by looking in it, it appears sealed other than the drains.

A/C does drain into rear bilge not front, atleast on my 05. I wonder about using a cleaner with bleach in it. My bilge didn't smell, but I did try to clean it with several cleaners, and wasn't impressed with any of them.....probably because they are for marine use? I'm gonna do a better job this winter on land with the plug out

J3ff

I didn't think it made sense that there's a channel from the front anchor locker to the rear bilge... BUT you can clearly see in the pictures that there is BLACK water and sand/dirt back there in the bilge.. the question is where is it coming from??

Keep in mind this boat has a brand new motor (20 hours on it) and brand new transom mount/housing.. 

MDboater

Did you scrub the bilge while the engine was out or is this old muck?

Michael T

You could try to wash the bilge with normal strength (3%) Hydrogen Peroxide. Two 500ml bottles should do. The HP will get rid of any biological remnants and slimy smells. Also check your waste hoses for permeability. A previous leak/spill can hang around for years. Good luck!

J3ff

MDboater said:

Did you scrub the bilge while the engine was out or is this old muck?

I actually wanted to do this, but they would not let me access the boat when the motor was out... so you'll love this... they charged me 200 bucks to "clean the bilge" obviously it must have been forgotten about. 

Michael T said:

You could try to wash the bilge with normal strength (3%) Hydrogen Peroxide. Two 500ml bottles should do. The HP will get rid of any biological remnants and slimy smells. Also check your waste hoses for permeability. A previous leak/spill can hang around for years. Good luck!

I put some bilge cleaner down there and scrubbed with a brush, seemed to get rid of the smell for the rest of the day, just concerned about where it came from to begin with.  the hoses all look new and the tank has something written on it with a date from 2010. 

Trashman

@j3ff , i used bleach in a spray bottle. It brought the fiberglass walls, transom and bilge sparkling white.   Heres what you need to be careful of, fumes! Run the blower while in there and wear clothes you don't care for. Rinse carefully.    DO NOT spray metal parts with bleach.  My fresh/waste tanks  and hoses sparkle.  You can eat off my engine compartment, not to brag. Lol.  Also, my waste tank fitting( the lower one going to the pump out fitting closest to transom) was slightly dripping and making a puddle under tank and behind trim pump. You may want to check yours.   Your rode locker does not drain to front bilge below steps. .... Thats another area that could use the bleach treatment, imo

J3ff

Thanks very much.  Went down today and even though there was some rain water in there (left the cover off and it poured all night and day) there was no smell... even after an hour running around in the rain... I think the smell problem is solved..for now going to create a new thread on another problem now.. sigh. 

Dream_Inn

If you leave water in there, it will smell within days.  I know someone that used to empty his waste tank every other week cause his wife complained about the smell.  I kept saying, remove your bilge water weekly.  Finally he started doing that and the smell went away.  Stagnant water in your bilge will cause serious stanky issues!   I pump mine out when I get to the boat and when I leave the boat (not just using bilge switch, but getting it completely dry).

Handymans342

Dream, have you ever figured out where that water comes from?

Dream_Inn

Handy, I get some thru the open blower vents when it rains.  That is basically what I get when it's up on the lift.  But, I'll probably need to do the transom seal thing on my stbd engine over the winter.  It's not a bad leak, and it does not get anything wet except the bilge.  Not looking forward to it.

MDboater

Dream_Inn said:
 I pump mine out when I get to the boat and when I leave the boat (not just using bilge switch, but getting it completely dry).

Why don't you simply pull the drain plug while the boat is on the lift to eliminate any pumping, vacuuming, and/or water build-up?  

Handymans342

I do that

Handymans342

Dream, you say you vacuum the water out when you get back. Is that rain as well?

J3ff

I left mine dry as a bone and there was water back in there the next time I went down there... it did rain for 36 hours.. 

I'm going to vacuum it back out again on Wed, cover it and see what happens when I get back to the boat Saturday. 

Dream_Inn

MD, there are several hundred boats in my marina on lifts and not one pulls the plug each weekend.  Just too much of a pain. 

Handy, yes it's rain water in there as well that I vacuum out.

What I did do, is took my raw water pump and disconnected from the seacock (since I don't use the raw water to wash out my cockpit).  Ran a hose down and added a npt fitting on the end and have it right down in the drain plug dip.  Now, I just turn that pump on and drawl all the water out of my bilge any time I need to.  Works like a champ and at the flip of a switch I have a dry bilge!

J3ff

I remember seeing a post about that... will try and duplicate your system this winter for sure!