Fort Lauderdale: contain the fin oil before you report it

Florida Yacht Stabilizers · Updated 8 October 2026

The answer at a New River or 17th Street yard

Crack a fin actuator in Broward and the oil is a marine-facility rule, not a bilge you pump overboard. Broward County’s Best Management Practices for Marine Facilities, revised 1 August 1999, still posted by the county, names hydraulic oil with engine oil, transmission fluid, and gear oil. Petroleum products shall not be discharged to a storm drain, a sanitary sewer, open ground, or surface water. Spills greater than 10 gallons or 80 pounds are the report line in that sheet.

• A weep below that line is still contained used oil. It is not “too small to matter.”
• A Seakeeper vacuum alarm does not open this rule unless oil is actually out.
• The Miami River permit and the Palm Beach noise table do not apply on this dock.

The rule in this yard

The county BMP, accessed 8 October 2026, applies to commercial boat docking and to any facility where boat repair or maintenance occurs, and to recreational docks of 10 slips or more. Lauderdale Marine Center and a Rybovich-corridor refit are that kind of facility. BMP 004 requires secondary containment for storage containers, absorbents on hand, and a written spill plan. BMP 002 makes the boat owner liable for oily bilge water and requires the facility to keep absorbents and a written action plan. The sheet cites Chapter 27-356 as the 1999 code section. Confirm the current numbering before you quote a section to an inspector. The prohibition itself is still in Chapter 27, Article V: discharges that violate water-quality standards are barred, with a narrow exception for certain ballast and scrubber water on vessels 79 feet and longer. Stabilizer hydraulic oil is not that exception.

The yard’s operating license is listed at § 27-342. A house dock sits outside the BMP’s repair-facility and 10-slip gates.

If you skip the containment

Pump the bilge because the alarm is “just a stabilizer,” and BMP 002 is already behind you: oily bilge water is a prohibited discharge, and the boat owner is the party the sheet names. Leave used hydraulic oil in an open pan on the dock and rain takes it to the storm system the BMP forbids. Miss a release over 10 gallons or 80 pounds and the sheet’s report duty is missed; the 1999 text names a county environmental number and the National Response Center at 800-424-8802 for spills on land that are an immediate threat. Confirm the county desk before an emergency.

Who signs, who pays, how long

How the next zone differs

Checklist for this yard

1. Photograph the rod, the sight glass, and any oil on deck or in the bilge.
2. Estimate volume before you call it under or over 10 gallons or 80 pounds.
3. Put used hydraulic oil in a marked container on an impermeable, covered pad.
4. Do not discharge the bilge if it carries that oil.
5. Keep the transporter record. Do not open the gyro unless the display history says vacuum.

Fee or timeline the document actually prints

The BMP does not publish a price for stabilizer diagnosis. It publishes a threshold and a piece of equipment: report above 10 gallons or 80 pounds, and keep at least 40 feet of boom where a spill can reach the water. Sewage language elsewhere in the same sheet mentions fines up to $15,000 per day. That sentence is about sewage, not hydraulic oil. Do not paste it onto a seal job. Current license fees, if the county charges them for § 27-342, are not in the 1999 BMP. Verify the fee schedule with the county. There is nothing honest to invent.

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