A Question from a Newbie- Please

Hello- I just bought my first boat, a 34ft 1994 Marine Trader Trawler Double Cabin. I love it already but it does have some 'issues'

Diesel Smell- I have read some posts and learned that a dye is the best way to find some weeping so I;ll be doing that.

So my question is- if the weeping is from old hoses and/or filter etc, where is the best place to order such parts?

Thanks in advance if anyone has a suggestion

Jonah

Type of engine? Lehman 120 maybe?

would help to have details about the engine maker and model.


Diesel smell may come from sloppy maintenance by pervious owner or something worse. Start by using a good bilge cleaner and adding lots of water and sloshing it around for a while. When dry add oil diapers under everything to locate any drips.

TSP and a scrub brush, also some Simple Green with a box of disposable towels are the first step. After things are squeaky clean and dry toilet tissue and talcum powder are my go to tools for detecting even the smallest of leaks on any liquid.

Where to purchase parts depends entirely upon what's leaking. You may only have to tighten a nut or something silly simple. If it's a fuel tank,,, well...

bilge53 said:

Type of engine? Lehman 120 maybe?

Click to expand...

Are there fuel leak issues with the Lehman 120?

Not really. They are great engines. You asked about "parts" if necessary. There are good places to go for Lehman parts and other stuff is sourced elsewhere.

Super Clean available at parts stores and probably online. Spray everywhere on the engine, wash off. Also a good brand of dish soap works well. A bilge cleaner or more dish soap. I do mine when I'm at sea so I am not violating the law on using soap to dissipate oil.
Having an engine room powered vent helps. I have a wood boat so have positive venting on all bilge spaces to eliminate the boat smell. Mine run all the time.

Unless you run it through an OWS, you're breaking the law.....

Hopefully it's not a leak and is just an old spill.
But the smell of oil and diesel will permeate all fabrics, cushions etc. so clean walls too and spray soft goods with Pure Ayre. It worked really well on our boat.

Newbie

Thank you all- Very kind of you

Yes, it is a Ford Lehman 120 hp engine. I have not yet been down there with it. I just opened the two floor panels and looked down.

Getting ready to do that. I just bout six 1 OZ bottles of dye from AutoZone and a UV light- but before I do that I am going to take all of your suggestions and clean everything I see down there- and the entire cabin too.

The engine starts- but it appears that the boat was sitting for a few years, all closed-up and not vented- so I will start at the beginning with a great clean-up and see where I am after.

Perhaps I will not need hose or a fuel filter but I still need to know what that outlet would be.

Thanks / Jonah

"Getting ready to do that. I just bout six 1 OZ bottles of dye from AutoZone and a UV light-"

Save it for later , boats use fuel that is died red as it has no road tax.

After a super bilge clean up if diesel is found floating on the surface of bilge water too thin to pump, its time for strips of paper towels round all fuel fittings from the deck tank fill to the injectors.

Dye comes way later in the leak finding process,

"Perhaps I will not need hose or a fuel filter but I still need to know what that outlet would be".

The local shop that does hydraulics will usually have USCG marked approved fuel line.Many NAPA.

They will create it in 5 min , from your old hose as a guide.

They will also have legal propane hose.

Without first going into your engine room and cleaning everything, there will be no way for you to know if the odor is spilled diesel or a leak. First thing is to clean everything. And unless you plan on having a mechanic perform all maintenance for you, the sooner you get introduced to your engine the better.

Ken

I agree with the others, you need to first clean up all trace of the oil in your ER. This will not only help with the odor, but then you will be able to track down where any new leaks are coming from.

I have used this product from Oil Solutions. I have had occasion to use it a couple times for some small spills (that I created) in my boat. It really does work great and takes out all the odor. The other advantage is that unlike a standard bilge cleaner, you aren't doing something illegal in the process.