Cleaning the Bilge

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Apr 28th, '18, 20:14

Spring cleaning in preparation for sailing. We are almost there. It’s been three years since we launched the Far Reach...after her many year rebuild. It seemed like a good time to clean the bilge.

When I rebuilt the FR I made sure everything could be removed. It took an hour and 10 min to pull up the floor boards, remove the saloon table and stanchions, tank braces, and all three water tanks. There was some mildew in the bilge and a little mildew on the outside of the water tanks. But with complete acccess I was able to wash the bilge and tanks with warm slightly soapy water in no time. Then, I set up a box fan and let the boat air out and the bilge dry. It took another 90 minutes to put it all back together.

When I bought the FR she was 20 years old. There was no way to get access to the bilge. When I gutted her it was stunning how much grime, mildew, and other detritus was in the bilge and under the floor boards. Boat builders don’t think about access to the hidden spaces. Seems to me like they should.