One More Harbor Dropping Dye Markers in Holding Tanks

[Feral Cement]

This isn't MY water to do with as I please, it is OUR water and we owe it to each other, and the next guy and the next gal, to obey the rules. There are a half dozen ways to do it right (porta-potty, pump-out, sail off-shore, compost, etc.) and we all are free to choose the solution that makes sense to us. We are NOT free to choose to dump-and-run so that we are not inconvenienced.

There is no excuse for dumping waste in a confined marina, harbor, cove, or bay - period.

John

[Lazycat]

Hello Tellie

You have once given your input - concerning the toilet/holding tank possibilities in the Athena 38.
From the post to "rebel heart" - I now understand, that you have actually taken action and done the installation of a Composing Head in your Athena 38.

I am sincerely considering, to upgrade our Athena 38 - for this season, why I am very interested in getting your experiences from the installation - and as well you choise of hardware.

Hope to get your input - on this thread - or eventually direct to my e-mail: nocvind@mail.dk.

Thanks in advance.
Niels

[joey69]

what is a COMPOSING head?

[Cotemar]

Nature's Head Dry Composting Toilet

It is a user friendly toilet that is more economical and aesthetically pleasing. How it works: This composting toilet is self-contained and waterless, using 1.5-2 gallons of peat moss in the base for your composting matter. There is no holding tank and no pumpouts. Because of the waterless urine separating design, this unit has extraordinary holding capacity. This toilet features a molded design with a gray granite color and incorporates stainless steel components and hardware. It measures 13 in. wide at the base, 17.75 in. front to rear, and is just under 20 in. tall. There is a hand crank agitator in the base for fast composting, a slip hinge for easy seat removal and a trap door operating lever. Easy installation in most applications, simply mount brackets to floor, vent unit to outside, and hook to 12V power source! Toilet includes: 5' vent hose Bottle cap Vent to wall adapter 12V power plug

[joey69]

Lazycat said a "composing" head.I just wondered if it played music when you flush.

[Mark Johnson]

Our marina basin remains waste free, because the management does what ALL marinas should do. All liveaboards pay a small liveaboard fee, get a free pumpout once a week, and the staff takes care of it by bringing the "poop cart" to your boat and doing the chore themselves. There is no need to even BE there. If your boat was anchored out for the weekend, you just let the staff know that you need a pumpout. If you are NOT normally a liveaboard, and don't pay the modest liveaboard fee, their is a $5 charge on your monthly bill...

Since the holding tank system has to be plumbed in anyway, the above practice removes any excuse not to use it. There are no state or federal subsidies used here that cover this, nor is the liveaboard fee enough to cover the cost. The marina covers it! The goodwill that this creates with the local powers that be, "the "heat" that they DON'T have to deal with, as well as the good will from the local land based community, makes this money VERY WELL SPENT! This isn't just my opinion, it is that of the marina owner as well... (the guy who pays for it!)

YOU MARINA MANAGERS OUT THERE, ARE YOU LISTENING?

Mark

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by sarafina

3 miles = 6 to 8 hours sailing or motoring...

Sara--If that's the best your Cal will do, you're in need of a bottom job. When we had a 1976 Cal 2-29 in SoCal in the 70's-80's, our Sunday day-sails routinely involved a loop out past the 3 mile limit to discharge our tank and it rarely took even an hour. Further, we always used an enzyme tank addative that broke down the waste material so that the process had as little adverse impact as possible.

FWIW...

[Bash]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Sara--If that's the best your Cal will do, you're in need of a bottom job. When we had a 1976 Cal 2-29 in SoCal in the 70's-80's, our Sunday day-sails routinely involved a loop out past the 3 mile limit to discharge our tank and it rarely took even an hour. Further, we always used an enzyme tank addative that broke down the waste material so that the process had as little adverse impact as possible.

FWIW...

Jump on Google Earth and check out what it takes to get from Oyster Point to the Golden Gate. Sarafina will have about 20nm to sail before she's technically offshore. Add three miles out and three miles back from that point, and she'll have roughly a 46nm round trip to dump legally.

In her boat, the only way she could do that in six hours is to time the tides perfectly.

[SabreKai]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

Our marina basin remains waste free, because the management does what ALL marinas should do. All liveaboards pay a small liveaboard fee, get a free pumpout once a week, and the staff takes care of it by bringing the "poop cart" to your boat and doing the chore themselves. There is no need to even BE there. If your boat was anchored out for the weekend, you just let the staff know that you need a pumpout. If you are NOT normally a liveaboard, and don't pay the modest liveaboard fee, their is a $5 charge on your monthly bill...

Mark

I remember talking to some live aboards in Port Credit Harbour Marina on Lake Ontario in the fall before I went to live aboard myself. (79-80) I was told that PCHM did the same thing. Needless to say I wasn't impressed when they canceled that service to the community and told us to use the facilities in the building. OH and yes, the rates for winter live aboard are increasing X percent. Have a nice day.

Turns out the Doctor, who owns most of Port Credit decided that it cost too much to do so and he wasn't making enough money. He laid off 3 guys who normally worked over the winter.

So instead of using the on board head, you had to bundle up and trudge trough the snow about 175 yards to an barely warm washroom, do you thing and trudge back. Yeh, right. Some of the workarounds were quite ingenious. I lost track of how many portapotty bags got left in front of the Doctors residence or the marina office.


Sabre

[joey69]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

How much extra taxes are you willing to pay so that the major cities can split out the sewer and storm runoff piping?

Most of the water that bypasses the treatment plant is after the start of the storm and most (I didn't say all) sewage in the lines went to the WWTP prior to the by-pass.

The big difference is that during a storm most people aren't out in the bay to see anything. Meanwhile boats are very visable.

Storm drains and Sewer drains are not connected.They are separate systems.

[joey69]

Originally Posted by sarafina

3 miles = 6 to 8 hours sailing or motoring...

Are you dragging your anchor?

[ggray]

Originally Posted by joey69

Storm drains and Sewer drains are not connected.They are separate systems.

Not necessarily. A number of older systems are combined.

[bljones]

Originally Posted by foggysail

It is not the Coast Guard doing the dye test, its the city. Do not mix the Coast Guard's authority with that of some jack booted CITY employee benefiting from the patronage system. And as for "holding the city accountable for maintaining a clean and navigable waterway" goes, no city that I know of has the responsibility of maintaining a navigable water way. Try the Corp of Engineers.

Next, maintaining clean water???? The same citys that have for decades allowed raw sewage into their waterways? This is a good case for American Civil Liberties Union to challenge .......... WOOPS!! I FORGOT, THEY ONLY SUPPORT wild left wing issues.

Foggy

Please feel free to post your location. I'd be happy to come hang my hairy butt off your swim platform and launch a steaming floater into your slip. You know, just so you can actually practice what you anonymously preach.


I really have a hard time understanding why people do not understand the cause and effect here. IF inappropriate dumping was NOT an issue, municipalities wouldn't be pucking holding tanks. The only way this becomes a cash grab is if you get caught dying the waterway... in which case, you are part of the reason that the municipality started dying holding tanks.

I'm not seeing this as a left wing or a right wing issue, just a matter of good manners and respect for others.

[bljones]

Originally Posted by joey69

what is a COMPOSING head?

The place where Mozart composed many of his movements.

*rimshot*

[syoder]

Originally Posted by joey69

Storm drains and Sewer drains are not connected.They are separate systems.

Besides the older combined systems, even the newer separate systems can be influenced by storm water As the ground water table rises, pressure is exerted on the sewer pipes and, quite, often, the ground water finds a weak spot in the joints where the pipe sections meet. The sanitary sewer then becomes, in effect, a giant French drain. It's called I/I (infiltration and inflow) and can be a huge problem as the extra flow of essentially clean water overloads the hydraulic capacity of the wastewater treatment plants resulting in poorer treatment or, in the worst cases, actual bypasses of raw or partially treated wastewater, albeit highly diluted.
\-Steve