I spent a few hours aboard Wilparina last night. A few days ago, I found that the pump was inoperable and there was a couple of inches of water in the bilge. I monkeyed around with the wiring, and found a loose connection. But once I got the pump going, I went outside to notice a sheen of oil on the water. (Oh +@#$!) I ceased pumping immediately.

So last night, I pulled out the bilge pump, and cleaned out the bilge. This is no easy matter, since the Tayana's bilge is located in a sump about four feet deep, directly under the engine. Using a hand pump, I transferred the oily mess into a couple of plastic jugs. I'm 90% certain that the oil was actually diesel fuel - the smell of my clothes seems to confirm that. Then, I rewired the bilge pump with proper butt-end connectors. So that's working fine now.

I didn't see any signs of new fuel/oil leaks. The best guess is that the fuel leaked during the removal of the gen-set. I'll probably head back out there tonight and do a little more investigating. I want to lay out some sheets of paper towel in various areas to help detect any leaks.

Weird, but there's something satisfying about doing a really dirty job.