What Size Holding Tank? (Merged)

[tager]

If you are truly eco friendly and nature loving, you will contribute your ecosystem-entwined poo the natural way! Back into the dirt or water! Consuming resources to move poo around is the big ecological crime. It's poop, you can't keep it out of the world, it's going to go back to the dirt, you can't stop that.

[Sabbatical II]

Originally Posted by lorenzo b

So I'm on Yachtworld looking at a beautiful Beneteau sailboat some 55' long with three staterooms and three bathrooms and a frigging 25 gallon holding tank. All sailboats are built like that?

Wel most production boats seem to be built to impress at the boat shows and by the time you find out that they include many impracticalities, you've already paid your money. Eg. New Bavaria 55 at Sydney boatshow didn't have one proper sized double bed. All of them were narrowed at the foot. In this case the two bedrroms at the stern were narrowed so they could fit a dinghy garage in the stern. It seems typical of the large manufacturers to put in as many "features" as possible (usually multiple bedrooms & bathrooms) but for the long haul cruising couple I think it is more important to have 1 good sized bedroom with a normal sized bed and 1 good sized bathroom with generous tankage capacities. It goes a long way to making the fairer sex feel "at home". If it means that the visitors are a bit more cramped, well, they just go home a bit earlier.

Greg

[Bloodhound]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

...for the long haul cruising couple I think it is more important to have 1 good sized bedroom with a normal sized bed and 1 good sized bathroom with generous tankage capacities. It goes a long way to making the fairer sex feel "at home". If it means that the visitors are a bit more cramped, well, they just go home a bit earlier.

Greg

Couldn't agree more. Visitors being cramped and going home early reminds me of the uncomfortable chairs in the parlour so the do-drop-in minister leaves early, too.

[LakeSuperior]

Imagine a morning swim in Bight in the BVI's with 70 or 80 boats moored (estimate 5 heads per boat). My guess is 1 in 10 even know they even have a 15 gallon holding tank they can switch in and out.

[lorenzo b]

Originally Posted by nv5l

Lorenzo, could you provide your specs for comparison?

We have one toilet plumbed directly to a 250 gallon holding tank and with two adults that lasts us 3 to 4 months.
It is really a pleasure and luxury to have such a large tank and not to have to think about it. Every 3 months we go out to deep water 10 miles offshore and pump out.
There are indeed many places where it's ok to dump out small loads, but we all seem to want to be at that special bay or beach.

[ShaunJ]

Originally Posted by Bloodhound

Hmmm... Overtankage, over eating and over weight? Seriously, there are ways to make a smallish tank work, like following the yellow/mellow and brown/down ditty. Sixty gallons is a helluvalotta crap me thinks!!! You have to stop acting like you're connected to the city sewer system.

Tell that to the wife.......
It sounds big enough to me

[rebel heart]

I have a composting head. Sitting mighty high on my non-polluting high horse over here.

[rebel heart]

However the fishing boat I work on only does direct discharge, but we don't let anyone use it until we're out of the harbor.

[Tingum]

I agree! The small holding tank size is most production boats is absurd!

[Sam Plan B]

Lorenzo, what do you use to pump out the holding tank? Did your boat come with some sort of sewage ejector?

[senormechanico]

There was a thread here recently in which someone said that it's worse for a holding tank to sit and multiply the bacteria than to do direct discharge.

Not taking sides, just reporting what was posted.

Where's Peg Hall when you need her?

[sdowney717]

if it gets clogged, just take a hose and fill tank with sea water.
have an inspection port hole in the top and stir it , mix it with a stick and force it out the thru hull. I wonder if you could pressurize the holding tank as an aid to force waste out of the tank. Disconnect the vent line or have a ball valve arrangement and pressurize the tank by using a small air or bicycle foot pump. But if the thru hull was shut or blocked and the tank pressure keeps building, then somehow somewhere its going to blow out. Good tank test.
OR completely fill tank and use a positive displacement piston pump (think of car hydraulic brakes) That means since fluid cant compress, that waste fluid must go out the thru hull. Regarding the inspection port hole cover, you will need to hold down to keep a good seal and let the air pressure blow out the waste. a full tank might get some leakage around that plate.

If you had a leaf blower that has pretty decent air output. perhaps you could pressure the system with that using the pump out fitting. close off vent and place output of blower on pumpout and turn it on. Instant easy pressure to force the waste out.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by dskira

The probleme with the gravity dumping is the solid and paper can clog easely the system. A manual pump help by pressure to reduce the solid.
It is my own experinece. the gravity dumping works with a valve with a large diameter, 4" will be the minimum. But the cost is quite prohibitive.
On a small boat I will go for 20 gallons. More start to be a probleme on space.

i had no problem with gravity and 1.5 diamter on 2 boats. If you,re sailing at all, there seem to be no chunks left at all...a lot of bounci.g around like a washing machine!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

There was a thread here recently in which someone said that it's worse for a holding tank to sit and multiply the bacteria than to do direct discharge.

Not taking sides, just reporting what was posted.

Where's Peg Hall when you need her?

Not arguing with there being a difference, but "better" can imply that either option is in anyway okay. Like saying it's better to get shot in the knees than in the stomach.

[sck5]

Good luck finding a pump out in most of the Caribbean. They simply dont exist. No choice but to pump it overboard. But what is the big deal? Its organic isnt it? Far better than some of the nasty stuff people put in their holding tanks to sterilize everything.