Locking the Head Overboard Valve

[sailorboy1]

What's the real requirement for locking the overboard valve? My head is lined up to always pump to the holding tank via a Y-valve. To pump it overboard you have to then open the thur hull and pump the tank (this isn't going to "just" happen). The Y-valve even has to be in the holding tank position to have a pump out done. My overboard valve is hard to get to if having to "lock" it with a wire or lock and I only can get 1 arm in to it from the access cover. But the Y-valve is easy to wire lock. Is just wiring the Y so that the head has to go to the holding enough? Or does the overboard from the tank HAVE to be locked?

[Astrid]

I should imagine that if you have a way to lock or wire the access cover to the discharge valve, you will be in compliance, plus locking or using wire tie to lock your Y valve.

[Vasco]

I have been boarded by Fish and Wildlife in FL and all they did was put dye in the head and pump. They weren't interested wire ties or locks or looking at the hoses and plumbing.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Astrid

I should imagine that if you have a way to lock or wire the access cover to the discharge valve, you will be in compliance, plus locking or using wire tie to lock your Y valve.

Hadn't thought of locking the access cover. This would then be something new catch my leg on, nut is worth a thought!

[clausont]

We were boarded by the CG here in Oregon in 2008. They said we needed to "secure" the y valve. They were quite satisfied when we tied a cord around the handle to the body of the valve keeping it in the holding tank position. They said a zip tie would have worked as well.

[DWT]

I just took the nut off of the handle and then removed the handle. That should keep everybody happy.

[bstreep]

Wire tie.

[sailorboy1]

so are we saying that locking the y-valve in the holding tank position is good enough?

[Astrid]

That is the normal procedure for compliance with the USCG and the Canadian authorities as well.

[SeaBungalow]

We were boarded in FL as well and they sail we needed to have it secured, a zip lock wire tie was sufficient. They gave us a warning for not having it "secured", though it was in the tank position.

[TrevC]

Sounds like some crazy regulations just for a bit of poo. The dye thing is interesting. What colour does it make the output?

[DWT]

Originally Posted by TrevC

Sounds like some crazy regulations just for a bit of poo. The dye thing is interesting. What colour does it make the output?

The color I have seen used was blue.

[Captain Bill]

This locking the overboard valve rule is just an example of bureaucracy run stupid. My heads pump directly into the holding tank so I have no Y valve. To dump the holding tank overboard I have to open an access panel, crawl into the hole to open a valve in front of the macerator pump, open the through hull, crawl out, throw the breaker on the macerator and wait 30 or more seconds for the pump to prime and begin dumping. The least troublesome thing I have to do is clip off the wire tie holding the handle of the through hull in position. I bought 600 wire ties for $15 so the cost is not going to inhibit me. My guess is that this rule never stopped anyone from dumping their sewage overboard that wanted to. What is more likely is that it was created to give law enforcement an excuse to wander through your boat and look in places they weren't allowed to look before the rule was created.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

My guess is that this rule never stopped anyone from dumping their sewage overboard that wanted to.

...wire our buckets to our masts.

[Watercolor]

Unless Transport Canada, the agency that sets the overboard discharge rules, has reversed their regulations, the requirement in the Great lakes and many designated bays is that the overboard line be completely disconnected from the through-hull.

This is also the case on Lake Champlain.