Please can you help. We are new to boating and have a 40ft sailboat – recently the fuel tank was overfilled and as a result a valve in the gage popped and allowed a considerable amt of fuel into the bilge. I had just cleaned, polished etc the entire inside of the boat to make it smell OK after being closed up for some time and now it smells like the inside of a diesel tank!! Do you have any suggestion what we can do to help eliminate the smell – we are at Hastings, Victoria Australia and everyone here says we just have to live with it and it will diminish in time – I want to try anything – I get sea sick. Your comments will be appreciated. Thanks Bev
Hi Bev: Tough problem. The first thing I would do is find a company that cleans up after fires and toxic spills and see what they suggest. There are some soaps which work better than others. You will probably have to soak the areas as diesel will get into tiny crevices, much smaller than what you can wipe with a rag. The other thing to try is an ozone generator. These work well with odors. Good Luck – Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
