oil in bilge

[yearround]

the oil sending unit appears to have been leaking oil, and according to my dealer, that was recently a notice/recall from indmar. my dealer currently has no service department.

so i can tighten the sending unit and see if the oil leak stops, but i have a few quarts of oil in the bilge. how do i get that out? besides having oil in the bilge, i also have oil in the front ski locker and the balast bag is covered in oil.

I have been told to lift the front of the boat up, drain the out of the bilge. then get bilge cleaner and put int he bilge, fill the bilge with water, drive the boat around for a while and drain, repeat this process several times.

how do i turn off the auto bilge pump so i can flood the bilge and not immediately start pumping? or does anyone have other suggestions to get this cleaned up?

thanks
td

[deafgoose]

the oil sending unit appears to have been leaking oil, and according to my dealer, that was recently a notice/recall from indmar. my dealer currently has no service department.

so i can tighten the sending unit and see if the oil leak stops, but i have a few quarts of oil in the bilge. how do i get that out? besides having oil in the bilge, i also have oil in the front ski locker and the balast bag is covered in oil.

I have been told to lift the front of the boat up, drain the out of the bilge. then get bilge cleaner and put int he bilge, fill the bilge with water, drive the boat around for a while and drain, repeat this process several times.

how do i turn off the auto bilge pump so i can flood the bilge and not immediately start pumping? or does anyone have other suggestions to get this cleaned up?

thanks
td

You can disconnect the negative battery terminal or disengage the breaker switch.

[04OUTBACK]

Yearround,
One thing you can do long term, is squirt a little dish soap in the bilge.. make sure it is one of the biodegradeble nature and preferably one that touts it's degreasing properties.

I have read over the years that squirting a little dish soap in there is good maintenance for keeping it oil free.. I did some on my last boat but have managed to keep my LSV pretty oil free and clean.. yeah, better go ahead and put some in now...

[zabooda]

Do an Exxon Valdez cleanup. Pressure wash with hot soapy water. Go to the car wash and raise the boat to drain. My old ski boat I used to drain the oil into the bilge and out the drain hole and wash out with soap water.

[zegm]

As bad as what zabooda said I kind of rather like that idea! If there is no water in the bilge you can try to drain the oil into a container first, then later use the soap and carwash idea. However, if there is a water / oil mix you might have trouble getting rid of that mixture if you drain it in something. I think I would be heading to the car wash with a couple of bottles of Palmolive, a Bottle of Simple green and a pocket full of quarters!

[teamctl]

I usually raise the front of the boat so that the oil drains to the rear drain hole. I then use my trusty "Suck-It-Up" container (available at SkiDim.com) that I use to change my oil with and suck out all of the oil. I then throw in some Dawn dish soap and run a garden hose into drain in the front ballast and flush for about 2 minutes. Comes out clean as a whistle :)

[yearround]

thanks for the suggestions, will try them and see what works.

deafgoose, is there a separate breaker for the bilge?

[deafgoose]

thanks for the suggestions, will try them and see what works.

deafgoose, is there a separate breaker for the bilge?

Not sure.

There is a breaker that turns off all power to the boat though. Saves you from disconnecting the negative terminal on the battery.