Give Your Boat a Bilge Makeover
A longtime boat broker once shared the key to selling a used boat. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a purring engine or spotless upholstery. It was the bilge. Specifically, a clean bilge. He knew that a dirty bilge, rightly or wrongly, reflected the boat’s overall maintenance. The bilge matters more than owners think, especially when it comes to resale. While a bilge makeover isn’t glamorous, it can make the space a point of pride and extend the boat’s life.
Signs It’s Time for a Bilge Makeover
The bilge takes more abuse than any other part of the boat. Water, oil, and grime all end up in the boat’s lowest spot. Cracking paint or exposed fiberglass are clear indicators it’s time to repaint.
Most boaters who are willing to get dirty can clean and repaint the bilge as a manageable project. The work is physical and the space is tight, but done right, it can elevate an engine compartment.
“Maintaining this space should be a top priority,” said Sean Reilly, a 30-year shipwright in Southern California. “It’s the life of the mechanical and electrical components of your boat. That can translate to your life as well.”
In a perfect world, Reilly would remove everything from the engine compartment to accommodate a bilge makeover, but that is not always an option. Instead, Reilly suggests you remove any wires or old equipment no longer in use, which may require patching screw and bolt holes. It also presents an opportunity to look for damage to the hull, stringers, and underdeck.
“Leaving only working equipment in the space will make it so much faster and easier to troubleshoot problems when they happen,” Reilly said.
Preparation Is the Key
If you need to perform a full paint job, make the space as clean as possible. Pressure wash the space to remove heavy grime and then scrub it with a degreaser such as Simple Green. Wipe everything down with denatured alcohol and then start sanding. Consider spot cleaning instead of using a pressure washer if the area you plan to paint is small.
The type of material you need will depend on the specific situation. Always wear personal protective equipment while performing the work.
“For a painted surface, the prep would be different than an old factory gelcoat that you wanted to paint,” Reilly said. “Likewise with aluminum, steel, or wood boats, and depending on its condition.”
Pick the Right Paint
Reilly works primarily on megayachts, and his go-to is linear polyurethane paint, such as Awlgrip. It provides a durable, high-gloss topcoat that is easy to clean. Linear polyurethane paint costs four times as much as bilge coat paint, and the prep work is significantly more.
Manufacturers such as Interlux and Pettit offer bilge coat paint that you apply with a brush or a roller. And it requires less prep work. Reilly is not a fan of bilge paint because it doesn’t clean up easily and is not as durable as LP paint.
Reilly encourages owners to paint the bilge white during a bilge makeover, not black or gray to hide the dirt.
“Having a bright and clean bilge, you are going to see that first drip of oil or coolant right when it shows up,” he said.
When to Call the Professionals
Reilly suggests you work with a boatyard on a plan that details what you can do and which complicated tasks you should hand off. That’s especially true if you encounter soft spots, rusty engine mounts, or stringer damage. It’s important to know your limits because the process can be overwhelming.
“You don’t have enough knowledge to know what you don’t know,” Reilly said. “That’s where you can get in trouble.”
Use a Bilge Makeover as an Opportunity
Reilly uses his time painting the bilge to do more. He double-checks hose through-hulls and adds a second clamp if there is enough barb. And he tests the valves.
“Every barbed fitting should have two hose clamps. Don’t depend on one,” Reilly said.
The shipwright checks the waterproof wire connections, fixes heat-shrink crimps, and often adds heat-shrink tubing for greater protection.
“Crimps on bilge pump wires are the most common cause of a pump not powering up,” he said.
He recommends boat owners use the bilge makeover to replace incandescent bulbs on older boats with LED lights. Those draw less power and can enhance a boat’s look.
A Bilge Makeover Is Worth the Effort
The bilge has a dirty job but is a critical component boat owners shouldn’t overlook. When the U.S. Coast Guard performs vessel inspections, they always check the bilge for debris. Reilly told me about a sport boat that sank because a sunflower seed shell got wedged in the float switch. A sunflower seed shell. Think about that.
“The bottom line is a clean bilge is key,” he said. “Something as small as a zip tie or a piece of plastic can cause a bilge to fail.”
With some effort and expense on a bilge makeover, the bilge no longer has to be the boat’s dirty secret.
Gregg Mansfield
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