Bilge-orama #4… the Conclusion (?)

Howdie folks…. long time no post.

I’ve been kinda busy working weekends, rushing in after work weekdays, running around, kinda pooped and rapping up the bilge saga.

So the whole concept was to make water accumulate in a smaller area so the pumps will leave less than a bucket of water down there which I can just mop out from under the cockpit. And while we’re at it, built an oil pan so leaks won’t end up in the bilge (note… my oil filter is upside-down and is impossible to change without drippin’ a drop). After enough pondering, it was decided to built in two slanting walls out of foam paneling and fiberglass. One slope for the water, one for engine leaks. The sketch below illustrates how it was.

BEFORE

Below illustrates the the “concept”

AFTER

As you can see, the bilge will be alot smaller leaving a void (in which I’ll probably stick a little fixed hose to make sure I can manually pump out anything that accumulates). Oil and what have you can be removed from the front of the engine by… sticking my arm down there. For the next pics, switch your brain cells left to right.

bilge water panel

engine leak panel

both panels!

Now its time to paint. Danboline (aka Bilgekote) seems to be the flavor of the month. The data sheet have specifics on recoat times and the weather was “if-y”, but I managed to get it done on 2 consecutive afternoons last week. This stuff is really fume-y and even though I wore my mask, I came out feeling rather ew-y. But here you have it.

BOOYAH!!

At long last, after days of changing diapers, pumping gook, degreaseing, scrubbing, sanding, smoking epoxy and paint fumes, drying times with if-y weather etc… da bilge is sweet with 2 coats of fresh Danboline.

Stay tuned

Capt. “high as a kite” (in more ways than one) Pete

ps… I didn’t paint under the cockpit and the shelves. Not enough paint and time. But today I did start sanding the old hull antifoul and painted the baby bilge. Moving right along….

pss… the definition of a “happy camper”

before and after!

woof!

tra la la!