DIY Oil Absorbent Pads ?

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Glue can very easily be made by boiling the bones and skin of any fish you catch. Should your aboard horse die the skin and hooves work well for this purpose. Collect toe lint for a wonderful source of paper. Energy can be saved by combining your morning yoga routine with bag making. Place the bag under your head while doing head stands. There is not a better clamp available.

Now we're getting somewhere. My only concern with the concept of making this more "frugal" would be in the heating source of the water required to boil the bones. Could the pampers be used as a good source of kindling if rolled up tightly and banged over the head of whoever through $1 for an oil absorbent pad is expensive?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Now we're getting somewhere. My only concern with the concept of making this more "frugal" would be in the heating source of the water required to boil the bones. Could the pampers be used as a good source of kindling if rolled up tightly and banged over the head of whoever through $1 for an oil absorbent pad is expensive?

Hey guys, pay attention --

The point of many of the posts is that outside of the US, the proper oil absorbing pads, etc, are much more expensive (like many other things).

While there may be inexpensive ones that we have not yet discovered, the ones offered by chandleries here in Australia are roughly an order of magnitude more expensive, ie around 10 dollars each. They make up for this price by being of very low quality, so that if you try to wring them out they disintegrate in your hands. Grump.

I will admit that Aussie yotties do tend to be, uhhh... frugal! KNowing this, and knowing the cost of hay here (drought, ya know), keeping the horse on board will raise the cost of the glue to astromical levels, and we will have to figure another way to save money. Hey! I know! Think GOATS... they'll eat anything and probably will make adequate glue. Don't smell so good, though, but for the multihull contingent, one could devote one of the extra hulls to a goaterie and always keep that hull to leeward (sorta like a proa). The rest of us will have to suffer... yet another disadvantage of meing a monohuller.

Cheers,

Jim

[nautical62]

Jim, I appreciate your point about oil absorbent pad not being as cheap in Aus as they are in the U.S. I also agree knowing alternative back ups can come in very handy.

However, when it comes to frugality, trust me I'm about as frugal as it gets. My first cruising boat had a 30-year old diesel in it. I had no oil absorbent pads at first and often ended up with fuel or oil mixing with water in the bilge. I learned the hard way that using cheaper items which must soak up both bilge water and oil is very cost ineffective, causes all sorts of disposal issues and still leaves a residue. Add the bilge pump going off and all of a sudden you may be discharging oil or fuel overboard which can be a very difficult or expensive clean up or at the very least not very environmentally friendly. All because you were too frugal to spend a few bucks on a pad.

A pack of 100 oil only aborbant pads costs less than US$100. Shipping from the U.S. and splitting the cost with 5-10 other cruisers is probably much more frugal than most of the options mentioned here. I imagine the same is true if buying locally. How would even a $15 absorber to soak the oil out of 2 gallons of water compare to the cost of enough maxi pads required to soak up 2 gallons of water and oil? - not to mention you then have gallons worth of soaking, oil filled maxi pads to dispose of. (And how will you female crew feel not having any more maxi-pads?)

I'm frugal, but compared to most any maintenance item on a boat, this is cheap. Even at 20 times the prices I pay, an oil absorber would still be cheaper than a dingy repair kit, cheaper than a sail sewing kit, cheaper than a roll of sail tape, about as cheap as a tube of 5200, and about the same as the oil for a single oil change. It seems to me there are better ways to keep the costs down than trying to eliminate the need to buy an oil absorbing bilge pad.

Is it good to know some alternatives? - yes, absolutely, but I think the comparatively inexpensive price of a oil/fuel absorbing pad for the bilge is money well frugally spent. it's a responsible thing to do to protect the environment and could save you a world of headache and mess.

[crunchoilusa]

did you fix it?

[ahnutts!]

Good to see an old thread revived

If you're really cheap you can wash them in gasoline, hang to dry and reuse. You can get a couple of uses that way.

[benGT]

I spoke to company that supply spillage products and asked if bilge pads were a special type of product and their response amazed me. I thought that because the high price for a couple of these pads at a chandlers there had to be something 'special' about them. He told me that they are exactly the same product that is used in spill kits or supplied by the case.

I asked if he supply them in small quantities as 100 was just far too much for any small boat owner. After pleading my case he agreed to supply them in packs of 5, providing that I or my friends didn't need any special packaging.

And the price for this --- just £5 and that includes carriage to the UK and NI. Amazingly cheap compared to other prices i've seen and paid in the past! I will admit that they don't come with ringlests or an eye to thread string through... but who cares.

He's put them on as a special product on their site at 5 Oil Only Absorbent Bilge Pads

[jenfour6]

Originally Posted by svstrider

Basically being a cheapskate, I was wondering why oil absorbing bilge pads cost so much. Does anyone ine know what they are made of?

Can I make my own by buying larger amounts of these pads from somewhere industrial that does not have "marine" over their shop door.

They are probably made so really thick with cotton or something so that the oil doesn't leak. I'm sure if you just layered some of the cheaper ones they would work just as well. Experiment a little and see what happens.

[hellosailor]

It is a small market and a specialized need, so prices are stiff.

They are made of fibers that attract oil and repel water. Look it up and you an probably buy it online in bulk. But I'm told that hair (any kind of air) does a very similar job, so you can buy a bag of hair sweepings from the local barber, stuff 'em in a mesh bag or stocking, and DIY on the cheap as well.

Might have to change them more often but I'd expect barber clippings are cheap.