Best way to clean the bilge?

joern

The picture shows how the previous owner kept his bilge...!!! I can`t have it like this, and it needs a good cleaning. But how? What detergent to use?  Can I just spray the engines and the compartment with some oil-dissolving detergent and then with water?
PS! Why didn`t Rinker paint the compartment white?

Stodge

Some dawn and maybe a pressure washer.

randy56

I use purple power then hose it out but somebody found something better recently. I'll find thread, or maybe they will chime in, I think it was @Dude_Himself , yanmar's looking good

Ian

Spray 9, purple power and power wash. Usually done on the hard so I let her drain out. If in the water and I want to drain out what the pump won't I have a small hand pump I use into a bucket to then dispose of (correctly).

Cableguy Greg

Star Brite works well. Spray the cleaner in the bilge, let sit, then hose it out. You can also use a long handle brush the get in to awkward places.

Handymans342

The heck with the bilge. I can't keep my eyes off that beautiful engine

reneechris14

That must be diesel soot  gas jobby dont do that.lol spray with purple power let sit and hose off. Toilet brush will be best. Buy 2 so you can throw them  Amway when done.

Michael T

.....best way to clean the bilge - send the kids down!

LaRea

For the hard-to-reach areas between the engines, I use a string mop.  The long handle gives me leverage to scrub hard, and I can push the mop strings under obstructions such as hoses and battery cables.  

I would not be comfortable running a pressure washer in the ER.  One false move and you could find yourself replacing a hose, or worse.  

tk1973

I’ve heard of using some sort of cleaner and a few bags of ice and then going for a run. Never did it myself but always wanted too

raybo3

The ice trick works very well. Soap up the bilge drop a bunch of ice and go have some fun. Come back and hose down the bilge.........

joern

Interesting... The ice keeps the soap/cleaner from evaporating?

thepriceisright

joern said:

Interesting... The ice keeps the soap/cleaner from evaporating?

I think the ice acts as an abradant to loosen up the crud without leaving anything solid behind.

Willhound

Yep. Slides around into all the impossible to reach spots. Use a biodegradable and non phosphate detergent however. Because if your bilge pump kicks in it's going into the water .

Dude_Himself

I bought Home Armor Mildew/Mold cleaner from HD - it's used to pressure wash outsides of houses. Poured into a small 1-gallon pump-style pressure sprayer, saturated everything, let it sit about 30 minutes, then applied again to wet and rinsed with a garden hose. It broke most of the crud free. I applied a second time, rinsed again, then put the plug in and added some eco-friendly laundry detergent and 10# of ice before driving it around on the trailer (back to storage). Pulled the plug there and got even more crap out, then hosed it down again (to get rid of suds) and left the engine hatch cracked open 6" to facilitate drying.

Before:



After:



Didn't get everything obviously, but I'm not nick-picking this year. I'll get a small electric low-powered pressure washer this fall and use that, gently, on the tough spots.

LaRea

Wow, what a difference!  I bet you had your blower on when you were using that Home Armor.