Holding Tank Removal

[Portobello]

I think you should just proceed undeterred!!! :-)

[Charlie]

Good Luck Ocean Girl. Just got thru with that job but the holding tank was sound so I didn not replace it. I was amazed at how little spillage there was. I removed the tank and then examined it and it was fine. I was able to pass the tank thru the front hatch. One thing that really helped to decrease spillage was to have a big box of those shop towels around. Besides the precautions that yo are talking about (bleach, flushing etc.) I would take some of those shop towels and stuff a few in the end of each hose. I packed them in at the begining and then was more casual toward the end. This stopped alot of the leakage. The 4" wide duct tape was also really helpful to seal the ends of the hoses that were sitting for awhile. This was a case where the thought of doing the refit was worse than the actual doing it.

[Ocean Girl]

Thanks Charlie, now got some duct tape. I'm sure it will go smooth. I am adding some cat litter to the tank after it is pumped out today, it will add weight but lessen the spillage. I just bought this boat and the PO did some rather interesting plumbing solutions to this tank, it has 5 holes and lots of 5200! so there will be no way to carry it without a hole pointing down. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but its a good distraction from the work at hand
Erika

[captain58sailin]

Good luck OG!
Has anyone tried using a bio-digesting toilet on board a vessel?

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

I am adding some cat litter to the tank after it is pumped out today, it will add weight but lessen the spillage. I just bought this boat and the PO did some rather interesting plumbing solutions to this tank,

I really like the kitty litter idea. Good thinking. PO are a nightmare. What about putting him in the holding tank? lol

[Ocean Girl]

Its funny, all the work I've done so far, sometimes I can actually feel the boat breath a deep satisfying sigh like "thank God thats off of me". This time both Ocean Girls (Boat and woman) will be breathing a sigh.
I let you know if the cat litter worked,
Erika

[Chief Engineer]

You could always send him the old tank

"Hey you left something aboard!!!!!!"

[Ocean Girl]

Can't ship BIO-hazards

Don't be too hard on the guy, he sold her to me-I'm grateful for that

She is a beauty, leaky holding tank and all.

[captain58sailin]

It is these experiences that makes her your own.

[Randy]

Clearly Ocean Girl(the boat) could not become a live-a-board without this being taken care of. Who's going to be breathing a sigh of relief???

[boden36]

Pumping out is only a problem when there are a lot of boats close together. I have seen the fish go into a feeding frenzy and grow fat and healthy on the proceeds of one permanently moored boat. Regards, Richard.

[Ocean Girl]

Ding dong the witch is dead!
holding tank out. The cat litter did not work, mabe didn't put enough in? but the double plastic garbage bags held up and it came out with ease. thanks again for the pep talk and advice, its funny how a little holding tank can be such a daunting task.

Boden36-You are absolutly right, in our neck of the woods we have a large concentration of boats, My marina has 8-900 boats and we have over a dozen marinas in the clear lake area. If we all dumped overboard....Yuk! We are near a ship channel and the big guys dump everything I wish we'd take better care of our waterways but thats another thread

Erika

[Charlie]

Good job OG. worse thinking about it then actually doing it. Well that is not quite right. Its a shitty job (pun intended) but if you think about it too much it makes it worse. Two sayings /jokes come to mind:

1) If you have to eat S#%t take big bites.

2) Never do a shitty job well.

[Randy]

Congrats OG!

Are the commecial ships really dumping in the bay?? I didn't think they were allowed to even dump ballast water in inland waterways.

[Mule]

Hey OG,

Couldn't you smuggle some of that activated charcoal out of the ER and put it in the tank...trouble is it stains everything really bad as you well know. I bet that would have worked.

I guess I am not squimnish but perhaps a full body condum like they used on SN Live...

Congrads on your sucess and it is obvious you are a woman of true grit.