Holding Tank Disaster, Where was Peggy Hall when I needed her?!?!

[sean9c]

Take the top plate off, make a new one out of G-10 or other fiberglass sheet, use Sea-Land Dip Tube kits for your 1-1/2" connections, put in a maralon thru hull (hose barb up) for your vent connection. Easy and done in a day.
Replace all your waste hoses. See if its practical to replace long runs of hose with pvc pipe. Sea Land makes a nice pvc pipe to 1-1/2" hose connector.

 

[Art]

Due to other reasons than long pipe-lines. We always have forward head used for BM and pee with rear head for occasional pee only.

 

[Comodave]

Good plan to increase the hose diameter on the vent. Go as large as you can. Also if possible add a vent to the other side of the boat. That way which ever side the wind is blowing in will add fresh air to the tank which will promote aerobic bacteria which is what you want. Anerobic bacteria is what causes the smell.

 

[Xsbank]

Nobody has specifically mentioned it in this thread but NO filter in the vent line! If you have a stinky vent/tank you have other problems that need to be solved. The bigger the vent the better and NO restrictions.

 

[koliver]

In my house the line from the farthest toilet to the septic tank is at least 100 ft horizontally. All of that is plumbed with ABS pipe on a drop of 1/4" / ft. In my boat, I replumbed the line running from the aft head to the holding tank, a run of <20 ft, with ABS. After the initial rise from the head to the underside of the saloon floor, I have a consistent drop of >1/2" per ft.
In your GB you should be able to accomplish the same drop as I did, so will have a clean pipe no matter what is flushed, so long as you pump an adequate volume of water along with the bowl contents. Preference should be given to the closer head for serious business, as your tank will fill too quickly otherwise.

 

[dhays]

Nobody has specifically mentioned it in this thread but NO filter in the vent line! If you have a stinky vent/tank you have other problems that need to be solved. The bigger the vent the better and NO restrictions.

Agreed. I always felt a filter in the vent line was just an attempt to avoid solving the underlying problem.

 

[Peter B]

There is another potential solution to many of our toilet issues. Yesterday, my wife and I had the first opportunity to use the new and recently installed camping/portable toilet, which I installed after removing our previously installed, from new, electric TMC boat toilet about 12 years ago, after the original manual TMC that came with the boat, broke down .

The trouble I had to go to to install that, plus the now required holding tank, in a boat never designed for such, I will not bore you with - suffice to say it gave me the most grief any boat system...ever..! When recently the motors seized on both holding tank pump and toilet, and even when replaced something was still seriously blocked, I had had enough, because even if I got it all going, the dearth of pump-out facilities still means huge issues getting the tanks emptied.

So, I removed the lot, blanked off the hoses and closed the thru-hulls...forever..!

I purchased a good quality portable loo, which is therefore not plumbed, with no pipes to block, Y-valves to worry about, and has its own holding tank, which can be legally disposed of here in the normal sewage system, and it was so simple, easy to use, and virtually silent, I wondered why I did not think of it before. And yes, I have it well secured so it won't 'fly' about in a seaway, don't you worry about that..!

For the length of outings we go out for, (and I suspect many on the forum), the volume held with be plenty, and if further afield the treated contents can be dumped overboard in most areas anyway. Too good to be true..? Time will tell, but I suspect it is going to save me a heap of grief in the meantime, as when I think about it, any time we have had an issue bad enough to spoil any outing in the boat, it has been toilet related. Funny that...

 

[FF]

Composting toilets are a good legal long term solution for many.

IF you don't have beer busts or too many guests on board .

When the posturing politicos turn everywhere into a Zero discharge zone , composting or burning toilets will be only choices.

Incinolet.

 

[garrobito]

Your best friend on this type of case are bleach and patience.. a lot of patience...

 

[HeadMistress]

I purchased a good quality portable loo, which is therefore not plumbed, with no pipes to block, Y-valves to worry about, and has its own holding tank, which can be legally disposed of here in the normal sewage system, and it was so simple, easy to use, and virtually silent, I wondered why I did not think of it before. And yes, I have it well secured so it won't 'fly' about in a seaway, don't you worry about that..!

I'm a big fan of "MSD" version portapotties, which have fittings for a pumpout line and a vent line, allowing them to be pumped out OR taken off the boat if necessary. No other plumbing or pumps needed unless you also want to be able to dump it at sea...in which case you'd add a y-valve and pump to the pumpout line. No maintenance except a bucket of water into the tank during pumpout to rinse it out. The ability to pump out the smaller 2-3 gallon tank may not matter much, but a full tank on the larger 5-6 gallon portapotty weighs about 50 pounds, which is a LOT to carry off the boat or try to dump over the side at sea if the boat is pitching.

If the head is large enough for the tank footprint (about 20" x 20"), the Dometic/SeaLand 711-M28 is a highly glorified "MSD" portapotty that has a china bowl atop a 9 gallon tank: SeaLand Traveler at Defender (showing it on Defender's site only because they have the most complete description of it).

 

[FF]

Also most of these toilets are RV units , so parts are rarely needed , and cheep.

The biggest advantage is the low water use to flush could make pump outs needed 1/5 or 1/10 as often, as a "marine" setup.

They also have an almost zero learning curve , if your guests are lubbers.

If NA and boat builders could be convinced to locate a holding tank below an RV toilet the days of stinky boats and expensive repairs would be gone.

Nice to dream,

 

[MurrayM]

Well...since Pete brought it up...

We're a family of three (our daughter sometimes brings a friend on trips) but in a couple years it'll just be my wife and I. I'm leaning towards a C-Head 'composting' toilet.

That will get rid of one through hull (toilet outlet) as Pete suggests because the one for the toilet intake could be kept for a watermaker. The deck pumpout components will be gone. The holding tank can come out, and maybe a generator or a Hurricane heater can go in its place.

Getting rid of the usual marine toilet components frees up quite a bit of square footage in an already tight engine room. That, and no more complications which end up with you head down in the head for hours during a cruise through amazing country when you should up in the pilothouse enjoying the view!

Might take some effort and planning to occasionally deal with the accumulated #1's and #2's, but sure beats a regular marine toilet when things go awry.

 

[Art]

OMG - Port-A-Poop! By the 50 ++ lb. Lot.... Please, Please Not THAT!!!!!!

 

[Peter B]

Good advice Peggie. Others with toilet issues take note. However, the height of the plinth the thing had to sit on, limited us to a 11litre holding tanks Peggie, or the wife's legs woulda been a danglin', so we opted for that compromise as the smaller volume will not be an issue for us.