I had no idea that changing the location of the Oil Changer would be that complicated. One phone call, and two visits to the local rubber and gasket company netted the extensions I needed to move the changer. For those that are not familiar with the 480DB set up, the oil changer is mounted horizontally on the inboard stringer with the hoses mounted into the center passageway down in the bilge. The valves get accidentally opened and the hoses take up room in the aisle way. So I decided it needed to be moved to a more convenient location. It looked like it would fit on the bulkhead behind the transmission, but the sea strainer for the generator was mounted there. So I decided to swap the locations and mount the oil changer in a vertical orientation so that the hoses were straight down and no longer in the aisle. I had to extend two of the four hoses by adding a 1.5ft of oil resistant hose. After I tightened ALL of the connections, the oil stopped leaking into the bilge.
The sea strainer was a little complicated as the stringer is not a straight vertical surface, so I had to cut a spacer for the top of the strainer and I could only get one screw in the bottom bracket, but it is in securely now.
I have since continued on my quest for a clean bilge. There is 12 years of oily, smelly and dirty grime everywhere. I am using the best degreaser in the world, which is called Tuff Enough. This is the best stuff I have ever used when it comes to degreasing. It has my executive seal of approval for this, but I can only find it in Florida so I use it sparingly. Even with the overhead of the bilge up and out of the way, I cannot get into all of the spaces outboard of the main engines, so I hires one of my neighbors to help me clean. His name is Parker. He is about 13 and probably does not weigh 80 pounds. He came over with no shoes and a clean outfit. He left with grease literally from the balls of his feet to the top of his head. He can really fit into some small spaces. He helped immensely.
I have since repainted my motors and tomorrow I plan on more cleaning and painting of the bilge itself. Someday I will get it to my standards of cleanliness. Until then, that is where I will be. My turbos are not expected until at least Wednesday, so I get 2-3 more days cleaning the bilge. That is all for now.
