Advice for cleaning a lot of oil out of engine bay

[CraigAR]

So took the boat out yesterday 14 NM to our sandbar spot, had a great time and when we went to leave and start the boat we get an engine warning. Shut her down and open the the hatch to find oil all over. Luckily there was a marina nearby and I limp over on 1 engine going about 2 mph mind you it just started to rain as we were docking. So I bring the 4 girls up to the restaurant to order food and go back down to the boat to investigate. I keep 2 gallons of oil on board so I added roughly 3.8 qts to bring it halfway between the holes. Already checked all hoses and connections to see if anything was loose and it was not. Fire up the boat to inspect for leaks and sure as shit find a pin hole in the oil filter where I crushed it when giving it its final 1/4 turn with the filter wrench at my last oil change. So that was good news. Bad news was everything was closed to get a new filter so I paid for the girls to take an uber home (50 miles by land) thinking the storm was going to fire back up and only limping home on 1 motor would have made for a long ride for them. As I pull out of the slow zone I was worried about such a long ride back to the ramp so I started to look around the boat for things to try to patch the pin hole enough to get home at speed. Well, what I tried ended up working and got back to the ramp before the girls uber even picked them up for their hour and a half ride lol. I took a microfiber towel, folded it down to about 3" wide and wrapped it around the oil filter and secured it with zip ties. Leave the hatch open and fire up the engine and I was good to go. No rain, smooth water and cruising 35 mph back the 14 nm to the ramp with no issues. Check the oil at the ramp and was still just about halfway between the holes. Now before changing the oil and filters I need to get all that oil off the engines, engine bay and the foam on the hatch. When shutting the hatch, the oil in the foam leaks out onto the floor when closed. 2017 ar240. What's the best way to go about this?

 

[VitaminSea]

I have never had to clean up a large volume of oil before, so I am spitballing.
Maybe some kitty litter or check with the local auto parts store (as they have a similar porduct that absorbs oil spills).
Then scoop up what you can and leverage a bagged shop vac for the rest.
I would spray the hatch and engine compartment down with a degreaser (purple power, simple green, etc.), let it sit and then wipe down what you can & hose down the balance.
That would be my approach.

Glad you were able to make it back safely and that you were prepared with extra oil and Macgyver thinking.

 

[tdonoughue]

Also spitballing...

I like the kitty litter idea. I carry both oil absorbing booms (two) and several oil absorbing sheets that I put in the area below/next to the engines. I learned during some oil changes that oil always winds up down there, so now those are just permanent fixtures in case of an oil mess. If you can lay hands on some of those sheets, they attract the oil like a magnet and are much easier to get up than the litter.

The engine is supposed to waterproof, but I would avoid spraying anything up on the ECU's. There have been water infiltration issues with those reported occasionally.

I would also look at the auto parts store for engine cleaner--that would probably have good degreasers...

 

[buckbuck]

Just a suggestion but I keep duct tape on board for taping hoses, filling holes in the hull and other emergencies. Glad you made it back ok.

 

[feziwig]

As a lot of that oil probably made it the lower bilge, you will probably need to pull the clean out tray to get to that part. If it were me I’d wipe up as much as you can with oil absorbent pads, and then raise the bow as much as possible, position a oil pan or large bucket under the drain plug and spray very liberally with degreased and hose it out to drain out the drain plug and then dispose of that properly.

 

[Babin Farms]

Use the pump that you use for oil changes to get most of it & then rags to get the rest. When finished dump simple green in the engine bay & let sit, rinse & repeat. Test bilge pump after all is done.