Thinking of Yanking the Holding Tank

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by EzzyD

Rebel... you are based in San Diego.. and you claim you discharge on an outgoing tide? That is disgusting.... and illegal.... how can you say something like that? You are implicating yourself in an illegal act.. And you are a USCG licensed captain ?

What gives?

San Diego is a no discharge zone.... Not even 'treated' lectarsan sewage... But Raw Sewage....

Keep the holding tank, as you will be in other places and it will be most nasty and disrespectful to just dump raw sewage in a harbor...

You may not have a problem with stuff floating about... but... it is not nice for others.... I believe that it is even against the 'rules' to discharge into the harbor in Ensenada... I suspect that it is similar in other areas....

You didn't really read the whole post to the point where RH said he was no longer in the US (San Diego being in the US , that means he is no longer in San Diego either) and wasn't coming back anytime soon did you?

[capngeo]

Oddly enough there is no law against direct deposit of human waste in the water. I know of a person with a cat that has a large circular port in the head. One sits on the open port, and does their thing... closing and dogging the port when through. It is one Catamaran that one doesn't want to swim between the hulls!

[Dockhead]

I never use my holding tank. There's little to no swimming in the cold water here, and no rules against direct discharge of black water other than inside of marinas -- and even these rules are universally ignored. We have big tides here which flush everything out every six hours. Besides that, both toilets are electric macerating so we don't discharge anything which would be visibly disgusting.

That being said, I would never consider ripping out my holding tank. Rules against discharging black water are getting stricter everywhere, and not more liberal. You never know when you might end up somewhere where they put dye in your toilets to enforce these rules. Why in the world would you just rip out such an expensive piece of equipment, which you cannot be sure you will never need?

Besides that, I can imagine being anchored near a nice beach or in an anchorage where people are swimming -- would you just discharge overboard, even if it is allowed legally? I wouldn't.

I would go for the Y-valve, in your case, so that you don't have to put everything through the tank when you're in a place where you can direct discharge.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Well then in solitude for my sailing community and being a cool neighbor it will stay in. I really just have no idea how it works out there in places I've never been before. This whole big departure thing is blowing my mind.

I'll freely admit, that with our little 8 gallon gravity dump holding tank we kept it closed to collect when in the company of others, and let it go at night on the tide or when outside. I only encountered one two functional pump out stations, one in Isla Mujeres Mexico and the other I never saw with my own eyes, rumored to be on the Rio Dulce.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I would never consider ripping out my holding tank.

Print out that advice. Laminate it, and stick it on your holding tank in case you are ever tempted again.

[Sumner]

Originally Posted by Auzzee

Back in older times before holding tanks were in general use on recreational boats, I used to buy bags which were made from a thick paper and which were designed for camp toilets. They could be placed within a small container (such as a boat's toilet bowl) and while their use required you to empty your bladder separately, the bags would hold solid effluent. As they were paper, they could then be sealed and disposed of in toilets on land or at the marina, with no unusually negative environmental side effects.

I imagine such bags are still available from larger camping and adventure style stores and the carriage of these bags to the nearest purpose designed repository, was not unduly distasteful...

I haven't seen exactly what you are talking about here, but they do now have Wag Bags and Double Doodie Bags now. They are a double plastic bag with....



... the inner bag being quite large and .....



....when you are done you fold it down into the outer bag and it zips up like a zip-lock bag.



We use those on our MacGregor and were able to carry all of our solid waste for 7+ weeks in two 5 gallon buckets and disposed of those when the trip was over. This is in a small 26 foot trailer sailboat. We did collect the liquid in 1 gallon containers and dumped those when well away from anyone.

We will keep the same system on the Endeavour and used the bags when we moved the boat from where we bought it. At that time the on-board head seemed to barely work as the lines were getting plugged up.

We have installed a new holding tank in the Endeavor and will put in new lines when we return and will use that tank most of the time. Still if we are in areas like Charlotte Harbor or the Keys and the holding tank becomes full we will switch to the bag system until we get to a place where we can legally dump the holding tank or have it pumped.

The boatyard where we keep the boat doesn't have a pumpout station, but you can call the guy that does the portable johns. When we are ready to return to the yard we will empty the tank out past the 3 mile mark and then use the bags for the remaining days on our way to the yard.

There is more on how we use them here down the page a ways....

08-09 Sailing Lake Powell page 16

In the Endeavour we have two 5 gallon buckets. One with the screw on lid that we keep the bag in use in. We unscrew the lid, pull the large bag out and then put a toilet seat on the bucket and use it. When done fold the bag in and screw the lid back on. When the bag is full we move it to the other bucket with a snap-on lid (from Home Depot). Once on shore the full bucket is disposed of.

To help with the smell in the bag that is in use we use some of the liquid for tanks from West Marine. It only smells when in use, about the same as a porta-pottie and ....



.... once the screw on lid goes back on there is no smell.

We don't like scheduling a trip about visits to facilities for ice, water, fuel or pump-outs and don't stay in marinas so the above along with a fridge works really well for us,

Sum

[knothead]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Regarding the composting head, we ditched it because we got a huge invasion of bugs from it. Was gross and am trying to purge it from my memory. When it worked it was awesome, but when it went bad it was horrible.

I'll keep the existing holding tank in operation then. It's gravity drained so it's really not that bad. When the valve is opened it really acts like nothing more than a vented loop.

Thanks for your input everyone. I'm happy to bring such wonderful topics to the forefront such as money and sewage management.

Operator error.

[Sailormantx]

As mentioned by others, holding tanks are useful even when not legally required. RE "Y" valves, all the plastic ones are junk, most leak and none ever have the connection pointed in the right direction. A T fitting with a couple of ball valves is much more versatile and will never leak. There are also bronze 3 way valves available but they too can be difficult to get oriented to the hose runs.

[rtbates]

Just be sure to not swim around your boat right after meals are served...Or at least be real sure to keep your mouth just while doing so...

Yea, I think it's stupid. Use a pump to empty the holding tank off shore..

[EzzyD]

Originally Posted by Adelie

You didn't really read the whole post to the point where RH said he was no longer in the US (San Diego being in the US , that means he is no longer in San Diego either) and wasn't coming back anytime soon did you?

I guess my comprehension is different from yours.. According to his blog and posts I gathered he was IN San Diego, trying to get to Mexico (Ensenada) and at the moment just goes to local California islands (Catalina) (Based off his blog), where he did the pump out on evening exiting tide.

Regardless, I think he has come round to the idea shall keep a holding tank and not pump it around his neighbors...

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by EzzyD

I guess my comprehension is different from yours.. According to his blog and posts I gathered he was IN San Diego, trying to get to Mexico (Ensenada) and at the moment just goes to local California islands (Catalina) (Based off his blog), where he did the pump out on evening exiting tide.

Regardless, I think he has come round to the idea shall keep a holding tank and not pump it around his neighbors...

Apologies, I don't follow their blog and I recalled a post from them about 2 months ago saying they had left San Diego and were hitting the road out of the country at the end of the summer. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ess-87721.html

It being a month into the fall I thought they were long gone.

Once again apologies.

[sailorboy1]

pooping in a bucket, man isn't that the cruising dream

doesn't matter if you cover the bucket is a fancy looking seat

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by knothead

Operator error.

Guess so but head was in use 2 years. Facts I recall: There are two adults and a toddler. All used baby wipes instead of tp.

What do you think went wrong?

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Sailormantx

As mentioned by others, holding tanks are useful even when not legally required. RE "Y" valves, all the plastic ones are junk, most leak and none ever have the connection pointed in the right direction. A T fitting with a couple of ball valves is much more versatile and will never leak. There are also bronze 3 way valves available but they too can be difficult to get oriented to the hose runs.

Sharp suggestion to replace Y valves with a T and some ball valves. I'm redoing my plumbing this winter with a new holding tank, and I think I'll be stealing that idea. Thanks.

[EzzyD]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Apologies, I don't follow their blog and I recalled a post from them about 2 months ago saying they had left San Diego and were hitting the road out of the country at the end of the summer. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ess-87721.html

It being a month into the fall I thought they were long gone.

Once again apologies.

No need for apologies, and glad we have that sorted, as I was wondering what I missed.....