dirty bilge- best way to clean?

[colrhino]

hello all, I just bought a 2000 GTX. The seller said he recently had the oil filter changed, and the service dept spilled some oil down in the bilge. what is the best way to clean this out? some kind of degreaser and then drive around and let it slosh around? thanks

 

[Rampage]

Boat stores sell bilge cleaner...but I use dawn dish soap if its not real bad.:cheers:

 

[djredman99]

I would not drive with your hull full of water and "slosh" it around. Bad idea.

You can ingest water into the engine that way, and that is not good. Also, your bilge siphons will be extracting the degreaser/soap/oil and dumping it out into the water in which you are riding, and environmentally speaking, that is not good either.

Just buy a bilge cleaner product, a degreaser, or try dishwashing soap and scrub where you can. Don't expect to get it spotless unless you are willing to spend lots of time repeatedly cleaning.

 

[WAJetboating]

I would not drive with your hull full of water and "slosh" it around. Bad idea. You can ingest water into the engine that way, and that is not good. Also, your bilge siphons will be extracting the degreaser/soap/oil

Actually, that is a very reliable way to regularly clean your bilge. We do that every year on the way to the lake as we take each of our watercraft out of storage. A couple of pickle buckets full of very warm, sudsy water is not going to rise high enough to reach the engine air intakes, so no worries there. The bilge pump is easily defeated by leaving the battery's negative cable disconnected, or by removing the pump's inline fuse. Use an environmentally friendly dish soap and all will be well.

 

[djredman99]

Ok, when he said drive it around, I took that to mean driving the ski on the lake, river, etc.

Didn't read that as driving it on the trailer with his tow vehicle. That, I can see as the engine will not be running and will not be sucking air/water in to the engine.Just don't put too much water in or it could get in through the air intake.

 

[WAJetboating]

Ok, when he said drive it around, I took that to mean driving the ski on the lake, river, etc.

No, the idea is that while trailering it around, with starts and stops and curves and such, the warm sudsy water sloshes around and generally cleans things up. Using dishwashing soap gives you a good surfactant which breaks down oils and greases.

 

[colrhino]

thanks for all the suggestions- actually you both were right- in my boating experience, I have used the "sudsy water in the bilge" technique both on my trailer AND in the water... didn't think about the SeaDoo specifics (ie. the engine intakes in the close proximity of the water in the bilge); this is why I joined the forum- to ask when not sure, look, listen and learn- Thank you.

 

[RFoster130]

Best product i have found is castrol super clean. It is the best for cutting greasy stuff. Just be careful, when full strength it will strip paint.

 

[Rampage]

Best product i have found is castrol super clean. It is the best for cutting greasy stuff. Just be careful, when full strength it will strip paint.

Very very good stuff...but dont breath it either LOL!!!

 

[RFoster130]

Very true. the fumes from it are quite nasty and strong.