Ted,
Totally agree. Our fwd black water tank is 204 gal capacity. Toilet Shower and head sink used to go into it. Now shower pumps overboard. Sink still goes into tank. We can go for a LONG time on that!
Aft holding tank is 140 gallons, similar deal, Toilet, Shower, Sink, but with the addition of washing machine go into it. Washing machine is 13 gallons/load. we re-plumbed to pump shower overboard, and plan on plumbing the washing machine for overboard as well eventually . . .
Easy to design in large holding tanks, but much more difficult to retro fit older boats. . . .
One frustration is that now some municipalities and/or states are adding legislation that requires holding tanks to be pumped out periodically, time limits vary, but every 10 days appears to be a common time limit. No specific requirements for documenting the pump-outs either. Some say you must have receipts, some just say "records". Personally, we just note in our underway log book if we pump out >legal distance offshore (no receipts), and I say "legal distance" because in some areas, the legal distance is > 3 miles. In the case of pump out boats that come to us, we just note in our last "underway" date logsheet, under "Black Water tank status" the date pumped out.
For us, a pump out every 10 days is ludicrous, especially if we have to pay for it, even in the 140 gallon aft tank. Say we do 5 laundry loads at 13 gallons/load (one every TWO days) that only adds 65 gallons, and sink and toilet, even if we used the aft head exclusively, which we don't, probably not more than another 40 gallons or so, and that's being REALLY over the top on usage, we'd only have used 105 gallons aft, and we'd still have 35 gallons to go aft, which is more than the size of most peoples black water holding tanks! That doesn't even take into account the 204 gallons unused fwd.
It's no wonder we have so many screwed up laws, when lawmakers aren't required to be knowledgeable about anything they pass laws about. . . .
