Where do you dump?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

however there are international agreements regarding waste disposal at sea

Does that cover yacht sized vessels or just over 400T or vessels carrying over 15 pax?

Pete

[Tayana42]

I replied that I always dump beyond the 3 mile limit. I live and boat in Southern California so I mostly have access to legal pump out facilities which I use, but when I do dump overboard it is always beyond the 3 mile limit.

[peghall]

If you want to know how many people who mostly cruise "enclosed" waters like LIS, SF Bay and the Chesapeake Bay that make access to open sea so impractical as to be impossible, try polling 'em to find out how many have overboard discharge pumps installed.



--Peggie

[Group9]

I guess I'm lucky in that we have a free pump out, about 100 yards from where we keep our boat.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by dannc

Another missing answer is "Always dump/pump at the legal limit." or "Always pump/dump legally"

The poll assumes that one does not travel to places with different regulations.

I have been on a boat in NDZs, locations where the limit is 3NM and places were there are no rules.

Later,
Dan

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

You mean you always dump exactly at the line? Cool... that fits with the first option.

If you always follow the law, whatever it is, then that's the first option, or the pump out option.

No, the first option is, " Always dump further out to sea, beyond the legal line" which does not fully apply to us.

One could pump out and be legal, or pump out at or passed the legal limit, or there is no limit/regulations. Only one of those applies to the first option, which implies, to me at least, that one pumps well off shore past whatever is the legal line, which is NOT what we have done.

I can't answer the poll because there are not options that apply to where we have traveled by boat.

We have used pump outs. We have dumped off shore. We have also been in places where there are no regulations. We have always obeyed the regulations for the places we have been. Which should be an option.

I do not see in the poll, an answer that allows for what we have done.

Later,
Dan

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by dannc

I do not see in the poll, an answer that allows for what we have done.

Noted. Thanks.

[JPA Cate]

Mike, you might want to ask for this thread to be closed, and make your new poll according to the suggestions, in order that the answers you receive better reflect what practices actually are. This may turn out to be as touchy as an STD survey, in that you really need some kind of an honesty filter. As was remarked above, the atmosphere of the net, with shaming, would lead away from honesty from those who discharge, or pee off the stern of the boat, etc. in areas that are NDZs.

As to editing the existing poll, so far as I know, it isn't doable. But using the "Contact us" button to describe what you'd like to do will probably get you the help you're asking for, if it can be done.

Ann

[dougweibel]

'Dump where I think it is OK' appears a popular choice.

I'm not sure how enlightening that is. One person might think it is OK to dump two miles offshore when there is a 12 foot tide ebbing out. Someone else may think it is OK to dump in a nearly land-locked anchorage with little tidal action.

One of those actions pretty well meets the intent of the 3NM rule. The other obviously does not.

[Nicholson58]

Mike,

Not a way to answer this. There are too many options including things not covered. You also assume ones cruising grounds never change. In a marina, always take the long walk to the can. In the US, Canada, it’s easy to follow the rules and we do.

Great Lakes, no options. Zero discharge zone. Air composter or holding tank. Pump outs are plentiful and cheap. My ports are padlocked and logged into the logbook there. Airhead went to the deep woods with a trenching spade, usually behind my home. Marinas don’t want your composter.

Same response for the St Lawrence Seaway and much of the east coast. We never dumped. The Airhead was a godsend. We emptied the Airhead well at sea. Fortunately, service was only needed 2-3 weeks.

Many east coast marinas provide a mandatory, (included free) pumper boat. In my opinion the very best way any place can manage waste. No boats wandering around and only one vessel need go to sea to discharge.

Offshore Hampton Va. to Virgin Gorda, direct out.

Things are different in the third world

In the eastern Caribbean, there are no pump outs. Windwards & Leewards. It is rare that anyone sails out to dump tanks. The water is warm and bio-action extremely fast, tides move the water. Even in LaMarin, Martinique where over a thousand boats anchor in the large dead end harbor The water is crystal clear, people swim. The shore sanitary systems are notably fragile. Many places provide a receptacle for ALL paper. Nowhere to dump the airhead.

Road Town, BVI and St John, Antigua have the only ugly water we’ve seen in the Caribbean. Both are the direct dumps for the towns sewage and street runoff. Most eastern Caribbean towns have zero treatment and dump directly. If there was a pump out, you could watch the stuff circle past. A few boats makes no difference to the metrics.

In Antigua, we joined the yacht club to support youth sailing as well as the struggling club. I hold it for my morning dinghy and shower. Use the various shore facilities as much as feasible. Unfortunately, an occasional mega yacht empties in the dark. It’s quite a mess. The marina has added waste pumping for the big guys and mostly they go to sea once in a while.

In Bonaire, there are 45 perpetually occupied moorings. You may not save a mooring. You may not anchor anywhere including your dinghy. Rules require far at sea dumping. The wind is daily 20-30. There is no pump out or pump boat. In the 10 weeks we were there nobody dropped their precious mooring to go dump. Current past the moorings is appreciable to big. The town of Kralendijk has primary sewage treatment only. The effluent is discharged into the mooring field. Water is famously beautiful.

The short of it is, “when in Rome”.
Be as respectful of others as possible and don’t pump out paper.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Mike, you might want to ask for this thread to be closed, and make your new poll according to the suggestions, in order that the answers you receive better reflect what practices actually are. This may turn out to be as touchy as an STD survey, in that you really need some kind of an honesty filter. As was remarked above, the atmosphere of the net, with shaming, would lead away from honesty from those who discharge, or pee off the stern of the boat, etc. in areas that are NDZs.

As to editing the existing poll, so far as I know, it isn't doable. But using the "Contact us" button to describe what you'd like to do will probably get you the help you're asking for, if it can be done.

Ann

In retrospect, instead of trying to cover the range of possibilities, what I should have asked was simply: Do you follow the laws/rules in your cruising area: YES, NO or SOMETIMES (it depends).

Pete7 did help with some edits. Still... can't please everyone all the time .

BTW, I wasn't trying to instigate another chat about the right or wrongness of this. We've already just gone through that in the previous thread. But one of the clear assertions from many there was that most people pay little or no attention to the law as written. I was just trying to find out to what extent this may be true.

[Trvlmedic]

Oh Goody, another Poop thread. The last one was only 49 pages long.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ng-253183.html

Well at least it's not politics, guns or lithium.

[toddster8]

We have lots of convenient pump-out stations, paid for by boat taxes.

...all of which are closed from October to April.

Hmm....

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Mike,

Not a way to answer this. There are too many options including things not covered. You also assume ones cruising grounds never change. In a marina, always take the long walk to the can. In the US, Canada, it’s easy to follow the rules and we do.

Great Lakes, no options. Zero discharge zone. Air composter or holding tank. Pump outs are plentiful and cheap. My ports are padlocked and logged into the logbook there. Airhead went to the deep woods with a trenching spade, usually behind my home. Marinas don’t want your composter.

Same response for the St Lawrence Seaway and much of the east coast. We never dumped. The Airhead was a godsend. We emptied the Airhead well at sea. Fortunately, service was only needed 2-3 weeks.

Many east coast marinas provide a mandatory, (included free) pumper boat. In my opinion the very best way any place can manage waste. No boats wandering around and only one vessel need go to sea to discharge.

Offshore Hampton Va. to Virgin Gorda, direct out.

Things are different in the third world

In the eastern Caribbean, there are no pump outs. Windwards & Leewards. It is rare that anyone sails out to dump tanks. The water is warm and bio-action extremely fast, tides move the water. Even in LaMarin, Martinique where over a thousand boats anchor in the large dead end harbor The water is crystal clear, people swim. The shore sanitary systems are notably fragile. Many places provide a receptacle for ALL paper. Nowhere to dump the airhead.

Road Town, BVI and St John, Antigua have the only ugly water we’ve seen in the Caribbean. Both are the direct dumps for the towns sewage and street runoff. Most eastern Caribbean towns have zero treatment and dump directly. If there was a pump out, you could watch the stuff circle past. A few boats makes no difference to the metrics.

In Antigua, we joined the yacht club to support youth sailing as well as the struggling club. I hold it for my morning dinghy and shower. Use the various shore facilities as much as feasible. Unfortunately, an occasional mega yacht empties in the dark. It’s quite a mess. The marina has added waste pumping for the big guys and mostly they go to sea once in a while.

In Bonaire, there are 45 perpetually occupied moorings. You may not save a mooring. You may not anchor anywhere including your dinghy. Rules require far at sea dumping. The wind is daily 20-30. There is no pump out or pump boat. In the 10 weeks we were there nobody dropped their precious mooring to go dump. Current past the moorings is appreciable to big. The town of Kralendijk has primary sewage treatment only. The effluent is discharged into the mooring field. Water is famously beautiful.

The short of it is, “when in Rome”.
Be as respectful of others as possible and don’t pump out paper.

Even in LaMarin,*Martinique*where over a thousand boats*anchor*in the large dead end harbor The water is crystal clear, people swim.

Not true. For 10 days in 2020 we anchored at a favorite spot near a reef close to the resort way to the back of the anchorage and away from the masses. The water was not crystal clear and we picked up so much orange sponge*on our hull from the nutrient load that Petitt refunded us for the failure of a new coat of Trinidad Pro with Irgarol.

In Bonaire, there are 45 perpetually occupied moorings. You may not save a*mooring. You may not anchor anywhere including your dinghy. Rules require far at sea dumping. The wind is daily 20-30. There is no pump out or pump boat. In the 10 weeks we were there nobody dropped their precious mooring to go dump.

Not true. We spent two weeks in the Marina and 9 more weeks on a mooring in Bonaire ending March 22, 2021. We often got off the ball to sail and fish and dump our tank. Several others did, too. Winds were often much less than 20-30 knots,*we were mostly full sail. It is not a drama to leave your mooring. Just put a fender on showing it's taken and you are good all day. Some even pushed it to being gone for days.*

[C420sailor]

Many many years ago, our first boat had a very small holding tank, and pumpout facilities weren’t as numerous. Our rule was to flush urine directly overboard when you flushed, retain feces for pumpout.

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by C420sailor

Many many years ago, our first boat had a very small holding tank, and pumpout facilities weren’t as numerous. Our rule was to flush urine directly overboard when you flushed, retain feces for pumpout.

Yes. I actually came equipped with a special valve for that.