Cleaning nasty greasy bilges?

[Zogumwesterly]

Does any one have suggestion on how to deal with greasy bilges? or does any one Know the ill effects of steam cleaning fiberglass?
thanks

[kale]

Steam Cleaning Dosnt Have Any Effect On Fiberglass That I Know Of But Thee Question Of Cleaning A Bilge Im Interested In As I Got One Scummy Bilge Id Like To Know Of Any Short Cuts But Probly Arnt Any But Good Ol Elbo Grease

[merc2dogs]

Purple power or super clean. (one's by castrol and comes in a white jug with purplish label, and the other is in a purple jug) Both work about the same.

Very good on grease and oil, first tried it on a realy trashed sailboat I bought a few years ago. The boat had water over the berths, that I pumped out a few weeks before I brought it home, and the oil in the engine had floated out and covered everything with a nasty oily crusty stuff that resisted scraping pretty well. Threw a 1:4 mix of castrol and water into a garden sprayer, and sprayed everythng down, then went on deck to grab my scrub brush, when I came back in all the oil and crusty stuff was flowing into the bilge. Only had a few small spots that needed scrubbing, the rest was clean enough that it only took a hose to get rid of the residue.

The purple jug stuff comes in either a square jug (anti-freeze type) or a round jug that's a bit cheaper, but the round jug is 'ready to use' and prediluted.

Normally not so happy with cleaning stuff as they're all the same for the most part, but the purple stuf is great, use gloves, or rinse your hands right away though as it's will de-fat your skin. I do use some (highly diluted) in a spray bottle for washing my hands when I work on engines. Don't leave it on aluminum too long as it will stain it. (but beats the crap out of any 'purpose made' cleaner I've ever used for getting the varnish out of carburettors)

Ken.

Edit: Just checked, it used to be castrol super clean, now it's just 'super clean' and purple power by clean-rite
Ken

[Omatako]

Have a nice big net handy.

Then you gather up all the fish that float to the surface after you've pumped the resultant bilge water over the side.

[merc2dogs]

Actual both claim to be non-toxic, with rapid break down.

Realy wouldn't expect anyone to pump oily bilge water overboard anyway.

Ken

[timebandit]

Johnson's SCRUBBING BUBBLES works wonders.

Works on car engines, motorcycles, outboards, inboards.

The best part is that you don't need high pressure to rinse the gunk away so no splashing on every thing.

Rick

[knothead]

Originally Posted by merc2dogs

Edit: Just checked, it used to be castrol super clean, now it's just 'super clean' and purple power by clean-rite
Ken

I like this stuff too but I've seen it remove paint.

[eMKay]

Originally Posted by knothead

I like this stuff too but I've seen it remove paint.

It must be diluted, I used to work with the stuff every day. It's nasty straight but properly diluted it can work miracles.

[Brezzin]

The folks at Mack Boring told me that Dawn dishwashing liq is the best thing removing oil and other resulting engine muck. They actually use it in the employee wash rooms. It's cheap, smells nice and you can use the remainder to wash your dinner plates

[sailingdog]

Dawn dishwashing liquid is also used by wildlife rescue officials during oil spills to clean off wildlife, mainly birds, that are coated with oil. So, it does work quite well.