So one of my duties, as first mate and occasional admiral, is to clean this old grimy, oil, dirt, water filled thing down deep in the boat. I can barely reach this section of our boat. I know it's there because I regularly fill the water tank and see it, but it's like that black hole where no one dares to go, except me.
A picture of the black hole.
I started inspecting this black hole, and gripped a lot! Initially, I demanded I need this, and that, even before I start this sort of project, hubby looked at me like she'll get over it. I devised a plan, learn how to do this, ask around, stall some, and then do it when I'm done complaining. Hubby knows me well.
So for the past week I have gathered some of those absorbent pads, for oil spills, and placed a few down there in the black hole. I used our stick to grab the dock, it extends, to get it down there. When I pulled the first one out it was black, ewwww, I was done! Hubby, promptly sprayed simple green around and inspected, then told me its not that bad.
I read some more about cleaning the bilge and the miracle chemicals that say they will do it without any hard work. But I was not born yesterday, and there is no miracle stuff that's gonna clean out this grimy stuff, it's been there for at least a decade. I could barely see our bilge pump, it was black like the water, hence the black hole!
For the past week, I open the hatch and stuff more absorbent pads in the black hole. I believe there were about 6 pads down there today when I decided to get them out because hubby got more from the marina, they give them to us for free, he's gotta keep me on task.
After pulling the pads out I scrubbed the pump and actually saw its colors, then I pulled out a zip tie and old plastic bag. I could hear things swishing around down there, so who knows what else lurks there. I did manage to figure out a neato way to clean the grim using the pad and the stick. I wrapped the stick hook with the pad, then placed a rubber band on it so it won't come loose while I scrub, this worked really well at releasing the grim.
I used up all the pads, now I've got to get more. We flushed the hole with some water and ran the pump, now we can actually see there is more than just black down there. Oh an we pulled out our sensor that was disconnected, it's supposed to be a safety feature that turns the pump on when the water level gets to high. It was so old n grimy who knows when the last time it worked, now we've got to get a new one.
And while down there in the black hole, guess what? I noticed a leak of water from the engine room. The other day we had to squeeze the motor battery into a compartment near the plumbing and I think we hit a hose cause water started to spray out from a bulging hose. We tightened them down, but they are still leaking. We may have to replace all the hoses sooner than later, as we had planned to get this project done later, time will tell if a quick fix will work.
I started inspecting this black hole, and gripped a lot! Initially, I demanded I need this, and that, even before I start this sort of project, hubby looked at me like she'll get over it. I devised a plan, learn how to do this, ask around, stall some, and then do it when I'm done complaining. Hubby knows me well.
So for the past week I have gathered some of those absorbent pads, for oil spills, and placed a few down there in the black hole. I used our stick to grab the dock, it extends, to get it down there. When I pulled the first one out it was black, ewwww, I was done! Hubby, promptly sprayed simple green around and inspected, then told me its not that bad.
I read some more about cleaning the bilge and the miracle chemicals that say they will do it without any hard work. But I was not born yesterday, and there is no miracle stuff that's gonna clean out this grimy stuff, it's been there for at least a decade. I could barely see our bilge pump, it was black like the water, hence the black hole!
For the past week, I open the hatch and stuff more absorbent pads in the black hole. I believe there were about 6 pads down there today when I decided to get them out because hubby got more from the marina, they give them to us for free, he's gotta keep me on task.
After pulling the pads out I scrubbed the pump and actually saw its colors, then I pulled out a zip tie and old plastic bag. I could hear things swishing around down there, so who knows what else lurks there. I did manage to figure out a neato way to clean the grim using the pad and the stick. I wrapped the stick hook with the pad, then placed a rubber band on it so it won't come loose while I scrub, this worked really well at releasing the grim.
I used up all the pads, now I've got to get more. We flushed the hole with some water and ran the pump, now we can actually see there is more than just black down there. Oh an we pulled out our sensor that was disconnected, it's supposed to be a safety feature that turns the pump on when the water level gets to high. It was so old n grimy who knows when the last time it worked, now we've got to get a new one.
And while down there in the black hole, guess what? I noticed a leak of water from the engine room. The other day we had to squeeze the motor battery into a compartment near the plumbing and I think we hit a hose cause water started to spray out from a bulging hose. We tightened them down, but they are still leaking. We may have to replace all the hoses sooner than later, as we had planned to get this project done later, time will tell if a quick fix will work.
Here is picture after I've cleaned out quite a lot, but as you can see there is a lot more to go. And the leak just keeps going, darn hose!
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