Holding tanks - where have you put them???

Hi, we are in the process of looking at fitting a holding tank.* We'd be interested where other members have fitted their holding tanks and where they routed the pipe runs.

We have a 38'er - so generally plenty of space - but once you move out of the area in/above the engine bay it's a major project to fit the pipes.

At the moment we're looking at fitting the tank under one of the seats in the main saloon.* We will be fitting electric heads.

Thoughts??

Under the saloon seats sounds fine if you use electric toilets..then you can gravity drain the tank for*overboard discharge.

Mine is deep in the bilge so I use a 3rd macerator to pump overboard.

Yes the gravity discharge is an attraction - we have less regulation in the UK - so we can discharge overboard once a few miles out to sea

I would rethink that main saloon location. After a few (or less) years, tanks and hoses can become permeated with sewage odors. You or your guests might find this objectionable. Another consideration would be - can your head pump sewage uphill (to a tank that's above the head) ?

I would try to keep the hoses or lines as short as possible, but have the tank and as much plumbing as possible in the bilge or other spaces that are sealed off from the living areas.

To answer the original question, my holding tank is under a step near the head compartment.


-- Edited by rwidman on Monday 16th of January 2012 08:07:22 AM

Mine has a fiberglass tank that is built into the*bilge.

As already suggested, the shorter the hose runs the better. And although your cruising habits may not require this, I would go for the largest tank that your budget & space allow.*

jleonard wrote:
Mine has a fiberglass tank that is built into the*bilge.

Click to expand...

* * * I have about the same situation. Utilizing the hull as one surface of the tank, four sides and the underside of the floor were glassed in. It works pretty well, but only gave us about twenty five gallon capacity.

Conrad wrote:
As already suggested, the shorter the hose runs the better. And although your cruising habits may not require this, I would go for the largest tank that your budget & space allow.*

Click to expand...

*I don't know... It's enough to have to cary that stuff around on the boat. I would just as soon head out 3 miles and pump her out 3 miles 7.5 knts**30 min run.* rather than cary 30 or 40 gallons of poo around. About*6 gallons is enough for me to tote around.*

Thats a little better than a 5 gallon bucket. That alot.

I also think most NDZ's are carrying things a bit to far. Not a fan of zero tollerance.

SD


-- Edited by skipperdude on Monday 16th of January 2012 02:36:37 PM

The tanks should lower the heads, other wise the waste water could/will back flow and over flow.* Then you have a big stinking mess.* Therefore in the bilge and/or engine room best and let/have gravity do its thing.* Its the size of the holding tank and fitting/getting the tank in a area/space with out cutting/tearing the boat apart.*
The hose are 1 of 1 ½ and not that hard to run and drill holes for.* Instead of one tank you might look at two smaller tanks manifold together for the large capacity and they might./will be easier to fit and handle.* *Anyway I would not install them above the floor/deck level and certainly not in a living area.

skipperdude wrote:Conrad wrote:
As already suggested, the shorter the hose runs the better. And although your cruising habits may not require this, I would go for the largest tank that your budget & space allow.*

Click to expand...

*I don't know... It's enough to have to cary that stuff around on the boat. I would just as soon head out 3 miles and pump her out 3 miles 7.5 knts**30 min run.* rather than cary 30 or 40 gallons of poo around. About*6 gallons is enough for me to tote around.*

Thats a little better than a 5 gallon bucket. That alot.

I also think most NDZ's are carrying things a bit to far. Not a fan of zero tollerance.

SD



-- Edited by skipperdude on Monday 16th of January 2012 02:36:37 PM

Not everyone will find it convenient to head out three miles to dump a few gallons of poop. If you're not directly on the ocean already, you might have to travel many miles to a suitable inlet.

The marina fees I'm familiar with don't take into account the number of gallons, it's just $XX for a "pumpout" of any volume.

As for the NDZs, I'm with you on that one.* Fish, dolphins, whales, birds, etc. are already pooping in the water and they're doing it 24/7.* We don't want the QE II dumping its holding tank in the*local harbor, but what's a little poop among friends?

*

Phil Fill wrote:The tanks should lower the heads, other wise the waste water could/will back flow and over flow.* Then you have a big stinking mess.* Therefore in the bilge and/or engine room best and let/have gravity do its thing.* Its the size of the holding tank and fitting/getting the tank in a area/space with out cutting/tearing the boat apart.*
The hose are 1 of 1 ½ and not that hard to run and drill holes for.* Instead of one tank you might look at two smaller tanks manifold together for the large capacity and they might./will be easier to fit and handle.* *Anyway I would not install them above the floor/deck level and certainly not in a living area.

Click to expand...

*Ever own a sailboat? Many have the tank under your berth or in your living room and are the same level or higher than the head.*Not a problem with the right engineering.


-- Edited by psneeld on Monday 16th of January 2012 03:18:10 PM

The Coot's holding tank is under the*port deck, outboard*the hanging closet.* The bottom of the tank is about six inches above waterline.

skipperdude wrote:Conrad wrote:
As already suggested, the shorter the hose runs the better. And although your cruising habits may not require this, I would go for the largest tank that your budget & space allow.*

Click to expand...

*I don't know... It's enough to have to cary that stuff around on the boat. I would just as soon head out 3 miles and pump her out 3 miles 7.5 knts**30 min run.* rather than cary 30 or 40 gallons of poo around. About*6 gallons is enough for me to tote around.*

Thats a little better than a 5 gallon bucket. That alot.

I also think most NDZ's are carrying things a bit to far. Not a fan of zero tollerance.

SD



-- Edited by skipperdude on Monday 16th of January 2012 02:36:37 PM

*If you have 3-4 folks on board in a popular anchorage, and *you want to keep your spot for more than a day you'll need reasonable holding tank capacity. *We had a small (10 gal.) holding tank that was ludicrous and have just upgraded to 35 gallons which will make life much better. And having the capacity doesn't mean that you always have to use it.

Estimates vary, but I've heard that you typically use 1 gallon per flush, which can add up pretty quickly.*

The other thing to consider (if you haven't already) is direct discharge for use when allowed.*

I believe it's the Raritan Marine Elegance head that can be had with a computerized flushing system. I has an internal vacuum generator to empty the bowl with a minimum of water. This not only saves on water (it can be had in a fesh water or sea water version), but of course, it means more uses before a given size holding tank is filled.

I had a chance to buy a slightly used one at a pretty good (but not great) price but I wasn't sure it would fit the space available and the opportunity passed.

British Mark wrote:
We'd be interested where other members have fitted their holding tanks and where they routed the pipe runs.

Click to expand...

*Our GB36 has a 25 gallon molded plastic holding tank in the lazarette for the aft head.* The forward head is plumbed to a 40 gallon fiberglass holding tank that sits in the engine room bilge between the engines (and forms part of the "floor" between them).* We wish it was the other way round, however, with the 40 gallon tank plumbed to the aft head since that's the head that gets used the most.

Plumbing from the aft head goes from the toilet to a Y-valve in a cabinet behind the toilet*to select holding tank or direct overboard discharge. From the Y-valve the plumbing run aft to the holding tank passes along the turn of the bilge*under the queen berth in the aft cabin, and*once it's in the lazarette it turns inboard to the holding tank.

The plumbing for the forward head is somewhat similar--- from the toilet to a Y-valve behind the toilet*for direct disccharge or the holding tank, and then aft through the bulkhead into the engine room and then*inboard to the holding tank between the engines.

The toilets are electric Groco EBs (very old but pretty bomb-proof) that we operate manually.* Each holding tank can be pumped directly overboard via its own*discharge through-hull*using a macerator pump or pumped out using a shoreside vacuum system.


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 16th of January 2012 08:03:16 PM

Yes, I could cheerfully strangle (figuratively speaking of course), the people who pass these laws, make them retrospective, and have no idea how hard it is going to be for people with vessels built in the days before holding tanks were born or thought of to comply. Who on top of that, did not legislate to make marinas have to have pump out facilities ready by the same time, (too political and too hard - we individuals are easy pickings), and to legally pump out over the side it is a days steaming for me. Our marine belatedly got a mobile machine, recently...but get this...it is too big to go through the marine finger gates, so instead of being able to just ring up and book a pump out, which could be just billed to us and not even need our presence to do it, we have to try and time it for when we are not only at the fuel berth, but there has to be male marine staff available to do it, and it has to be in business hours, so it's useless.
To do my bit and comply, I had to use a collapsible bladder (Turtle Pack) type of tank, and the only place I could put it was in the bilge, and to accommodate some expansion, so I could install a 100litre capacity tank, I had to make it so part of the engine room floor rises mysteriously as the tank passes half full. Still, it does double as a crude sort of gauge as to when to empty it, and provides a funny talking point. However, the installation job was the worst ever to do....never again...

65 gal. rotomolded tank in the center of the boat. *Mounted low between the stringers, and lower than the head. *Overboard discharge is accomplished through a macerator pump and vented loop.

IF you have room a gravity tank directly under an RV head will have the least maint and use the least water.Sealand is good.

Use a house current (not 12 or 24) powered waste pump to discharge .

With age hoses (but not plastic pipe) will ooze stink , and the vent for a tank under a setee will be in the area of the boat that is most in use.

Peter B wrote:

Our marine belatedly got a mobile machine, recently........... but there has to be male marine staff available to do it, and it has to be in business hours, so it's useless.

Why a "male" staff person to operate the pumpout?* What happened to equal opportunity?* Do the males get paid more because they can operate the pumpout?

Click to expand...

*

Conrad wrote:
*

Click to expand...

If you have 3-4 folks on board in a popular anchorage, and *you want to keep your spot for more than a day you'll need reasonable holding tank capacity. *We had a small (10 gal.) holding tank that was ludicrous and have just upgraded to 35 gallons which will make life much better. And having the capacity doesn't mean that you always have to use it.

Estimates vary, but I've heard that you typically use 1 gallon per flush, which can add up pretty quickly.*

The other thing to consider (if you haven't already) is direct discharge for use when allowed.*

*I've been out in the woods to long. I can't seem to get my mind around the*idea that most folks have boating down in the lower 48.**It seems where ever you go someone is already there.

When I go out I sometimes don't even see another boat. I don't mean coming or going. Just when I decide where to anchor.

SD

skipperdude wrote:Conrad wrote:
*

Click to expand...

If you have 3-4 folks on board in a popular anchorage, and *you want to keep your spot for more than a day you'll need reasonable holding tank capacity. *We had a small (10 gal.) holding tank that was ludicrous and have just upgraded to 35 gallons which will make life much better. And having the capacity doesn't mean that you always have to use it.

Estimates vary, but I've heard that you typically use 1 gallon per flush, which can add up pretty quickly.*

The other thing to consider (if you haven't already) is direct discharge for use when allowed.*

*I've been out in the woods to long. I can't seem to get my mind around the*idea that most folks have boating down in the lower 48.**It seems where ever you go someone is already there.

When I go out I sometimes don't even see another boat. I don't mean coming or going. Just when I decide where to anchor.

SD

*The quiet serenity that you experience, weather permitting , must be very nice indeed!*

Although I have to say that when in a crowded anchorage I do enjoy checking out the myriad of interesting boats around me.

rwidman wrote:

Why a "male" staff person to operate the pumpout?* What happened to equal opportunity?* Do the males get paid more because they can operate the pumpout?

Click to expand...

*

*Who knows?* All I know is the ladies in the marina office will not do it I am told, and we had the same experience at a different marina over new year weekend as well.* It seems to be a sort of 'special' inequality of the sexes thing, they invoke when equality is not so neat.* It's not hard to do though, so it's a mystery to me.

Peter B wrote:rwidman wrote:

Why a "male" staff person to operate the pumpout?* What happened to equal opportunity?* Do the males get paid more because they can operate the pumpout?

Click to expand...

*

*Who knows?* All I know is the ladies in the marina office will not do it I am told, and we had the same experience at a different marina over new year weekend as well.* It seems to be a sort of 'special' inequality of the sexes thing, they invoke when equality is not so neat.* It's not hard to do though, so it's a mystery to me.

If they get paid the same and have the same job description, they should be doing the same work.* I would not expect an office worker to pump out holding tanks, but dock hands, etc. should do it, male or female, young or old.*

Just tell them that if they won't pump the tank, you'll just use your own macerator to empty it.**


-- Edited by rwidman on Thursday 19th of January 2012 07:19:32 AM