Cleaned the bilge today.....

[Maine Sail]

Well, it was that time of year, time for the annual bilge clean, a job I really don't like much. Until it's done!

We bought this boat last spring and it had been impeccably maintained to the highest, and cleanest, standards but being the OCD boat freak that I am it was still not good enough and it had to be "my" clean.

Today I went to town, cleaning scrubbing and yes polishing the keel bolts. She's now ready for me to install the freshly re-finished cabin sole and new interior (Ultra-Suede) cushions. NO MORE boat odor!!

I must say she cleans up very well for a 29 year old 1979! The keel bolts CS used are clearly top quality and the gel-coated bilge, very nice feature, made cleaning a breeze!!!

So what's your weekend project????

Looking towards the bow:

Looking Aft:

29 Year Old keel Bolts!:

[artbyjody]

Looking good there Hal Very smart looking and nice hiding that ozone scrubber you have

I'll certainly have plenty of new projects for the weekend shortly....to many to list but luckily the threads lately have been oriented around things I have to deal with:

1. Determine cause of excessive smoking of the diesel. Sounds like the tank needs cleaned and racor filters examined.

2. Re-bed chainplates and rid of leak.

3. get my electronics on board

4. get the teak cleaned up and gold again (I hate the look of weathered teak personally)...

thats the short list...

[jrd22]

Halekai- I think I can see a small speck of something in the lower right corner of the first pic. Might want to go over that one more time.

Cleanest bilge I've ever seen in a used boat, nice job! We'll be installing the new propane system, engine room auto fire extinguisher and display, maybe install the new batteries, dry fitting the new chainplates and removing the hoses and seacocks from the deck scuppers that we eliminated. Just another fun filled boating weekend, but at least the end is in sight, hull gets painted next week (yeah!)

John

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by jrd22

removing the hoses and seacocks from the deck scuppers that we eliminated.

John

Where did you redirect the rain and sea water from the deck too? Did you cut slots in the toe rail?

[jrd22]

Yep, three on each side, app. 1.25" by 3.5" glassed in. The original scuppers were 1.5" hose, two on each side, plumbed to one 2" seacock below water line. Glassed them in as well as two other holes for unused transducers. I like to get rid of the water on deck asap. and I like the look and simplicity of them. Should be able to post some pics soon when the plastic comes off after painting.

John

[saurav16]

what did you use to clean the bilge with, what chemicals did u use a rotary drill too i see?

[sailingdog]

Halekai-

You missed a couple of spots... Nice job... How'd you polish the keelbolts??

[brak]

Originally Posted by jrd22

Yep, three on each side, app. 1.25" by 3.5" glassed in. The original scuppers were 1.5" hose, two on each side, plumbed to one 2" seacock below water line. Glassed them in as well as two other holes for unused transducers. I like to get rid of the water on deck asap. and I like the look and simplicity of them. Should be able to post some pics soon when the plastic comes off after painting.

John

This is exactly what I am planning to do on my boat (same design of drains now and I am planning to cut through toerail and get rid of the drain-hose-thru-hull mess).

Did you do the work yourself? How did you go about cutting the holes etc. Any advice on the process would be appreciated.

[Rockter]

The bilge on my ship is very deep by comparison. I repainted it in 1997, and since then my specs have fallen in there, not to be retrieved. Two bilge pumps hide in there. The bilge is known as the "pit".

That's a neat job there Halek.

[sander06]

I think cleaning stuff on the boat is half the fun.