FWIW.....Only fix what breaks is the most expensive way to maintain a boat and the need for a fix never makes itself known when it's a convenient time to do it. Preventive maintenance otoh can almost always be done when it is convenient and usually costs a lot less.
Examples:
Sea water toilets: a weekly cupful--2 at most--of distilled white vinegar flushed all the way through through the system, followed after 45-60 minutes with about a quart of clean fresh water will prevent sea water mineral buildup in the hoses and on the joker valve. Contrary to popular opinion, vinegar CAN also dissolve buildup, but it's so labor intensive--the vinegar must be replaced about every 30 minutes--that it's not worth the effort when a couple of doses of muriatic acid will do the job.
Sea water left to sit in toilet intake lines will stagnate and stink. A slight modification to the intake plumbing can prevent it: tee one end of a line into your toilet intake line, the other end into your head sink drain line using a shutoff valve that can close the sink drain. To rinse all the sea water out of the entire system before the boat will sit, close that valve, then fill the sink with CLEAN fresh water...flush the toilet. The toilet will pull the water out of the sink, rinsing all the sea water out of the entire system--intake line, pump, channel in the rim of the bowl and the toilet discharge line (fresh water only added to the bowl will only rinse out the toilet discharge line).
Sink drains and sumps: Raritan only markets their C.P. as a toilet bowl cleaner but it's a bio-active product that's also the best sump and drain cleaner on the planet! Hair, soap scum, body oils etc will clog a sump and cause it to stink. The cure: 2-3 oz of C.P. in a sump about half full of water, left t0o sit at least overnight (the enzymes need time to work) will leave a sump as "clean as a whistle." No manual labor required. Sink drains require plugging the thru-hull, then putting 1-2 oz of C.P in the drain and filling the drain with water...again, when it can stand at least overnight. Reopen the thru-hull and flush the drain with clean water. Done on on a regular schedule, this will keep sumps and drains running freely and odor free.
Holding tanks should be thoroughly flushed out 2-3 x/season, every 2-3 months if you're a live-aboard or use your boat year round, and espcecially when prepping for winter or any other extended layup.
Pump out, then put 5-6" of water into the tank VIA THE DECK PUMPOUT FITTING 'cuz that sends the water into the tank at the bottom to stir up any sludge to hold it in suspension so it can be pumped out. Pump that out, then repeat till you're pumping out clean water. Last step if you have an overboard discharge pump, add water one more time and this time open the plumbing to that pump and turn it on to rinse out that system. Waste is sticky..left to sit in a macerator pump it can crack or even break an impeller vane, can even jam the pump.
Just a few of the ways to PREVENT problems that came to mind as I read through this thread.
--Peggie
