Sailboat renovation

Draining and cleaning the bilge

November 2018

One thing we really wanted to do when the engine was lifted out from the boat was to do a proper draining and cleaning of the bilge. We also had to move Anne-Mon to her winter location, at a more sheltered place in the harbour. She will stay in the water during the winter. We didn’t get a spot on land (to a reasonable price, at least) and the marina is very sheltered so it will probably be fine. We will take her up on land to do some cleaning and painting of the hull in the spring, when all other boats are in the water.

Since we didn’t have an engine in the boat we used oars to get to our new spot. It was a very calm day, and that was fortunate, otherwise it would not have been possible to row the boat.

Anne-Mon at her winter location
Anne-Mon at her winter location. We have also added a tarpaulin over the cockpit. There are some leakage at the hatch door, and the wood inside gets really wet when it is raining/snowing.

Since we were at the boat we decided to drain and clean the bilge. We thought it would be nice to have it done before winter, so that we would get rid of some of the “old boat”- smell and install our new bilge pump.

Lots of dirty bilge water
Under the engine. As you can see there is a lot of yummy stuff here, old water, oil, coolant etc. The water probably comes from 10 years of leakages in hatches above the waterline. When the snow melts or during heavy rain the water finds its way inside the boat and it all end up in the bilge eventually.
Lots of dirty bilge water
Under the engine looking backwards towards the stern.
Lots of dirty bilgewater
Between the fuel tanks looking forward towards the bow.
After draining the bilge
Under the engine after draining the bilge. In the picture the external oil sump can be seen. It has some holes, which we will fix. Our marina has a really good recycling station, where you can dump bilge water, old diesel, gasoline etc.
Removing the external oil sump
Removal of the external oil sump.
Removing the external oil sump
The external oil sump removed. Under the oil sump we noticed that there is a mysterious hatch. We will probably open this later on.
After draining the bilge
The bilge when drained and external oil sump removed. Now it was cleaning time…
After draining and cleaning the bilge
After draining and cleaning the bilge! 🙂
After cleaning and draining the bilge
The clean part of the bilge seen from the stern.

Now we will hopefully get rid of some of the “old boat” smell. It is still a lot more cleaning that needs to be done, but this is a really good start. Now we can continue to focus on our service of the Engine.

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