While sailing down the Mexican Riviera onboard our 56FT Sailing Ketch Lost Soul we had a transmission problem, again. We had completely rebuilt the transmission in Cabo San Lucas just a couple weeks before, so needless to say we were screaming, “I hate boats.”
When the tranny blew we turned off the engine, loosened our sails and went to the engine room. In our engine room the bilge is visible underneath the engine, so it’s easy to check for leaks. There is always a bit of seawater floating in the bottom and this time the water was bright red. The tranny fluid had completely filled our upper engine bilge, and would soon be working it’s way through the boat. I scrambled to turn off the bilges and grabbed the bottle of Clean Water Solutions Microbial Powder. This powder when sprinkled on contaminants will eat them. However, you need to make sure that there are no other cleaning chemicals in the bilge that could kill them. I sprinkled a good amount of these MAGIC MICROBES in the bilge and added a bit more water. They need to have water to do their job. I then shut the door and went to bed.
In the morning I opened up the engine room door and to my amazement the water was clear. There was a small residue of grey foam in a few areas, but the water was clean. I then could turn on the bilges and not worry about putting harmful oils into the ocean. You see these Microbes eat contaminates and poop out a biodegradable residue (carbon dioxide, water and essential fatty acids.)
I had been using these for a while on small jobs but was so exited to find out they work for really big spills too!
Jody Lipkin, Director, Cruising Outpost Magazine,
April 2016