Gray water holding tank? Oi 28

[GrowleyMonster]

The only horse I ever owned, came with the farm I bought in Belize. He had to be the meanest horse in the world. His favorite trick when I rode the perimeter (2/3 of the freehold land was still bush, but there were survey "roads" about 2 feet wide chopped clear but partly grown over, and barb wire fence) was to rub my leg against the barb wire and if I lifted that leg or fought him back away from the fence, he would try his darndest to buck me off, and if he succeeded, I could count on a couple of kicks being aimed my way. I asked neighbors and they all said he was just plain evil, and nobody would ride him on a dare. I even tried feeding him carrots and stuff by hand and immediately learned that even with an open hand, he would go for the fingers. He almost got me a couple of times. He would tolerate a blanket and a Mayan style saddle and would take bit or hackamore either one without complaint, but it was just a sucker play. He WANTED me to mount. Oh yeah, low hanging branches. He loved that trick, too. I even had a vet come out and look him over. His only comments were that was one ugly horse, and I should be careful walking very close to him or passing behind him,(I had already figured that out) and his hooves could use a trim and his teeth were badly worn from eating the grass there, but otherwise he was in pretty decent shape. I ended up giving him to a guy who had other horses and good riddance. I had ridden a little, but never owned a horse. Never will again if I can help it. I like them, in general, but I would rather ride one I don't own LOL. Maybe if I had asked online (this was before internet was a thing) about him, I might have gotten good advice that sounded high handed, too. I might have been told I had no business owning a horse. (I didn't, actually, but I was sort of stuck with him and at least he got better care from me than from his last owner.)



Anyway that is a common reaction from newbies here, thinking that all the stock answers are simply arrogant or elitist. Not so. And I suspect you are starting to catch on to that.



One of the things you need to do before buying a boat without a survey (obviously you don't want to pay $600 for a survey on a $700 vintage boat) is to either get the seller to haul the boat out, or take a dive under the boat, inspect strut, shaft, prop, zincs, rudder, keel, skeg, and particularly any through hulls or keel coolers or any other potential ingress points for water. If not before you buy, then at least shortly thereafter. Many insurance companies will insist on a survey before insuring the boat, as well. Most U.S. marinas insist on as a minimum, liability and salvage&removal coverage, so insurance is something you will need to learn to live with, and therefore a survey might well be something you got to get, anyway. You will want a haulout if for no other reason, to refresh the bottom paint. Shaft zincs you can change in the water, but it is easy to do it on the hard. Anyhow, there is your perfect opportunity to locate every single opening through your hull, particularly below the waterline. At the same time you should make or buy plugs sized for those holes, for emergencies.



I would have been very surprised if you had found a gray water tank though I cannot profess to have much familiarity with that particular boat. A 1976 built 28 footer would only have one if an owner was highly motivated to eliminate all discharges. And there would be the question of where exactly to put it.



A willingness to hand-over-hand wiring and piping is essential for owning a boat of a certain vintage. 43 years is a long time, plenty long enough for her owners to have made a lot of changes from the original drawings.



The good news is you probably have a very solid hull. In the 70's, nobody really knew how thin or flimsy they could lay up a fiberglass boat and still not have lawsuits or market reaction. So, they were pretty much overbuilt. For a sailboat or a trawler, that is of course usually a good thing. Watch for mast corrosion, deck core rot and water ingress, and replace all the wires. Rigging, not electrical. If the mast is deck stepped, check that the compression post is sound. Check chain plates. Don't assume that stainless steel won't corrode. It WILL, but you might not notice it. With good maintenance and a few upgrades, your 43 y.o. boat might well be good for another 43 years. First step is to learn the boat's systems thoroughly. I own TWO 70's boats so I feel your pain.

[Gkusaj]

Every cow kid has owned that horse. That's how you learn. It's usually a Shetland pony. Mine would run full speed towards that barbed wire and then either stopped dead or do a 90-degree turn and try to throw me into it. If I hung onto the turn he went right for the low branches. Perfect example. I didn't say you're an idiot for not knowing that before you got the horse. A few people did act that way towards me but I'm sure they realized it when I called them out on it, and nothing escalated. I'd never heard of a gray water holding tanks yeah, but I've never heard of through holes in the bottom of the boat either. I have actually learned a ton here and from this boat. I wasn't a rookie per se but also no nowhere close to expert. I would almost consider myself an expert on through hulls now :-) I don't know what zincs are. My other Boats were much smaller, and had no Plumbing. They may have had zinc though since I don't know what that is. Better learn. I have no intention of taking this load anywhere dangerous before I know enough about it. I live in a giant playground for sailboats. Big bays with an average water depth of about 10 ft, and no where you can't see the shore. Kind of hard to get into too much trouble. I'm going to go over that list you wrote. Some of those things seem pretty important:-) thank you

[a64pilot]

My first was a black Shetland, they are by nature mean little Pony’s and mine was to everyone else but me, to me he was as tame as a dog.
Any one else but me he would bite and kick, if they got on him he would rub them off run under a low limb etc.
if they could hang on and wear him down his next trick was to act as if they had broken him, then out of the blue he would turn around and bite into their leg. A Horse, even a Pony has a very powerful mouth, they crush corn of course and once they get ahold of you it’s a crushing bite.

But yes people are a little tough on people who display a level of ignorance, it’s human nature, they weren’t mean to you though, we don’t allow that here.
Asking what you did would be the same as asking on a horse web site how do you “steer” a horse. Once people understood you weren’t kidding but were actually that uninformed, they would be up in arms about how no one with your level of understanding should own a horse etc.
However people came around and did help you, but in actual truth it would help you greatly to do some reading on boats systems, cause learning the hard way is expensive and can even be dangerous

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Gkusaj

Every cow kid has owned that horse. That's how you learn. It's usually a Shetland pony. Mine would run full speed towards that barbed wire and then either stopped dead or do a 90-degree turn and try to throw me into it. If I hung onto the turn he went right for the low branches. Perfect example. I didn't say you're an idiot for not knowing that before you got the horse. A few people did act that way towards me but I'm sure they realized it when I called them out on it, and nothing escalated. I'd never heard of a gray water holding tanks yeah, but I've never heard of through holes in the bottom of the boat either. I have actually learned a ton here and from this boat. I wasn't a rookie per se but also no nowhere close to expert. I would almost consider myself an expert on through hulls now :-) I don't know what zincs are. My other Boats were much smaller, and had no Plumbing. They may have had zinc though since I don't know what that is. Better learn. I have no intention of taking this load anywhere dangerous before I know enough about it. I live in a giant playground for sailboats. Big bays with an average water depth of about 10 ft, and no where you can't see the shore. Kind of hard to get into too much trouble. I'm going to go over that list you wrote. Some of those things seem pretty important:-) thank you

Zincs function as sacrificial anodes to protect the underwater metal parts of your boat. There may be zincs on your rudder. Your hull if it is metal. But almost universally on your prop shaft. They are cheap, easy to change, and very important if you want to keep your bronze shaft and prop in good shape. Get the right size for your shaft. Shaft zincs come in two parts that bolt together to form an egg shaped mass around your shaft. They are important enough that you should ASAP get in the water and do an inspection. You don't need SCUBA or hookah gear. A mask is nice though, and a snorkel. A couple pounds of weight can help but be sure you can separate you from your weight at will. Most marinas have very nasty water so be sure to shower immediately after coming out. Or anchor out in clean water to do this. You can measure your shaft diameter where it goes into the stuffing box and pre-emptively buy a couple, and if the old ones are gone or nearly gone, change them. Usually you will need an allen key for the screws. The old zinc you can just pound off with a small hammer, It will be almost like chalk. Two zincs are better than one.


A bronze prop or prop shaft that has been attacked by electrolysys or galvanic corrosion will often display a telltale red color caused by base metals being pulled out of the alloy, leaving essentially a copper sponge.



Nigel Calder probably has much to say on the subject. His books should be required reading. I have his Marine Diesel Engines book, and two editions of his Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. The latter, I really ought to one day read cover to cover. I did, his diesel book and it has been immensely useful over the years.