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Slight Fuel Odor in Boat

Discussion in 'Viking Yacht' started by jostvandude, Jun 21, 2010.

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  1. jostvandude, Jun 21, 2010
    #1
    jostvandude

    jostvandude Guest

    I just bought a 1977 Viking 43 Aft Cabin Motoryacht and it has an ever present slight smell of Diesel / Bilge odor through out the entire boat. anyone have any suggestions ???
  2. CaptTom, Jun 21, 2010
    #2
    CaptTom

    CaptTom Senior Member

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    Open a window? Just kidding.
    Maybe the boat had a fuel leak into the bilge at one time and all they could clean was the bilge in the engine room. Look for any smell or oily film on the stringers in the forward compartment. I've seen boats that had leaks where the fuel ran into the bilge from stem to stern.
    Take the boat out to the ocean, put some bilge cleaner into the bilge with some added water and run the boat around (shut off the bilge pumps so it all doesn't pump out until done). Start and stop the boat so the cleaner runs forward. After a while dump it out and see if the odor continues. Other thought is that someone spilled some fuel on the carpet during a filter change and didn't clean it up.
  3. NYCAP123, Jun 21, 2010
    #3
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Used to get that in an aft cabin Carver whenever we topped off the aft tanks. When were those fuel filler necks, hoses and fuel lines last changed? Put your nose to those areas, especially after topping off the tanks.
  4. Pascal, Jun 21, 2010
    #4
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    indeed start by cleaning the bilges and make sure that there is no puddle of diesel somewhere.

    usually a noticeable diesel smell indicates a leak... usually, if you had a leak that was fixed or a messy racor change, it will go away. so first i'd make sure there is no leak anywhere.

    is it diesel OR bilge odor? it's not unusual for a 30 year old boat to have smelly bilges.

    something else you need to check is that your air cons dont' pull air from the bilge. back then, it wasn't uncommon for air handlers to be install in cabinetry without sealed ducting for the return air, making them pull bilge air and blowing it inside. check your air handlers and if you have to, build some duct/enclosure with foam to only pull air from a return grille in the room.

    it's an ABYC standard now, but it wasn't back then...
  5. K1W1, Jun 22, 2010
    #5
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    I guess if he does this somewhere in the GOM no one will notice a bit more Oil and dispersant in the water.