Aboard Astraea

Amazing the difference a little scrubbing can do!

When’s the last time Airborne’s bilge was scrubbed?  It looks like she has never been cleaned up like I did a while ago.  Using a bucket full of Simple Green all purpose cleaner and a scrub brush I attacked the black bilge hoping to make it white again.  Simple Green is a non-toxic, biodegradable, non-hazardous, non-flammable, non-corrosive.  It’s the perfect cleaning solution to use in a marine environment inside or outside.  I was first introduced to Simple Green when I joined the navy.  We use it to clean everything because it can be discharged over the side through the gray waste water system.

As you can see from the picture with scrub brush it does an excellent job removing almost 40 years of dirt and grime from the inside of the bilge.

A clear piece of plastic tubing taped on to the regular shop vac hose let me see if there was anything nasty coming out of the tanks. Luckily the water came out clear.

The next step for spring commissioning was to fill the water tanks.  I left them empty at the end of the season so I wanted to sterilize them to start this year.  After putting about a cupof bleach in each tank I carefully filled the tanks with water and closed the caps.  Filling the tanks with water after putting the bleach in let the bleach water mix well.  I let the water set overnight to kill anything that may have been trying to grow inside over the winter.  The next day I came back to the boat and worked the fresh water pump from both tanks to sterilize the water in the hoses.  Then I sucked all the extra water out using our shop vac and a clear section of hose duct taped on to the regular hose.  This way I didn’t need to operate the foot pump for a long time to suck each tank dry.

After refilling the tanks and pumping remaining bleach water from the hoses there was no bleach taste left behind.  Now the tanks are full and I’m one step closer to cruising.