OK... basic question... poos and wees

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Captain-Avenger

I'm not going to get into the cleanliness issue here...not with you. I remember you from a previous post where you think it is OK to dump raw waste right next to kids swimming past your boat. NO THANKS.

Captain-Avenger,

Are you some sort of poo fighting superhero? Sticking your nose where no nose has gone before?

The OP just wants to learn how to operate his toilet for crying out load...

[steff]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the time everyone has put in to give me lots of answers.

Just to ally some fears - no I don't have sewage spilling out what I now know is the air vent - I just saw the pipe and assumed that's what it might be.

No, I'm not dumping raw sewage into closed waters (I think we call this pooing in your own backyard) . We're in the Pittwater (Sydney), and my understanding is we can dump 2nm out.

No, the toilet isn't always set to 'wet', I just thought there'd have to be an inlet for air, if there was an exit from the macerator (now I understand that the role is fulfilled by the vent)

We do have a waste port on deck for pump out, just getting to pump out facilities is a bit hard when you draft 2.2m.

And yes, we have a rule that nothing that hasn't been through the body first goes into the toilet... including toilet paper. We also have a rule that all visitors have to visit the toilet shoreside before coming aboard! I do like the sign idea though, might have to put one up.

HappyMDSailor, my philosophy is that everyone has a great poo story, it's just some are too embarrassed to share it... ask me one day about a mountaineering trip, a 60 m abseil onto a glacier, and a poo pot :-)

Thanks everyone... I'm off to buy that book!

steff

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by steff

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the time everyone has put in to give me lots of answers.

HappyMDSailor, my philosophy is that everyone has a great poo story, it's just some are too embarrassed to share it... ask me one day about a mountaineering trip, a 60 m abseil onto a glacier, and a poo pot :-)

Thanks everyone... I'm off to buy that book!

steff

Ya got a lot of good people here on the weekend, and a lot more traffic than usual... PLUS... We're all pretty passionate about the one system that can ruin your day...

Yer aces in my book... And I'm definitely going to hit you up for the glacier poo story some day!

[peghall]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Boy... just when you think you've heard it all... Thanks for sharing Hudson!

Years ago when we were distributors/dealers for SeaLand VacuFlush toilets, I had a call from a customer who just HAD to tell me his amazing story: He had two small grandsons who were world class bubble gum chewers. When the came to spend the weekend aboard with him, he gave them strict orders that they were NOT to flush gum down the toilet. They promised. A couple of days later, there was a clog in the vacuum pump...when he took it apart, there were two piece of gum. He hit the roof! The boys swore they were innocent...grandpa didn't believe 'em, but figured they'd learned their lesson and let it go. A day or two after their next visit aboard, the vacuum pump clogged again...and again he found bubble gum in it. This time he wasn't cutting the kids any slack...he would interrogate 'em till he got a confession. And did indeed get to the truth: the kids really hadn't disobeyed his instructions...they didn't know what else to do with it, so they'd SWALLOWED it!

Hey Hudson...adding a pint or more of water from the to the bowl ahead of solids would have prevented that clog.

[Kenomac]

I have a similar story to share. A friend of mine on his brand new Lagoon 450, had his wife accidenally swallow an olive... The olive pit took out the new macerating head the following day.

[HappyMdRSailor]

I honestly didn't think we would get so much entertainment out of the stories....

Steff... remember what your mama told you about hanging with the right crowd of friends???

[rosatte]

Come to canada and its illegal to dump anywhere up to 25 thousand dollar fine if caught doing so....just go to marina and get pumped out and keep our waters clean who the hell wants to swim in sewage...

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by rosatte

Come to canada and its illegal to dump anywhere up to 25 thousand dollar fine if caught doing so....just go to marina and get pumped out and keep our waters clean who the hell wants to swim in sewage...

Looks like we got another "Kung poo Fighter."

[peghall]

Ok...I think you've given the answers I need.



I couldn't find the MSDS for WM Exterminodor (which means WM is private labelng it), but their description of it as a "chemical based" product that isn't formaldehyde makes it a pretty safe bet that the active ingredient is an equally nasty chemical called quaternary amonium compound. Any toxic chemical kills off the aerobic bacteria along with the anaerobic...so it's working against the ventilation.

Your vent lines are long, but they're straight...and since air is "whistling through them" through the tank, obviously that's compensated by larger diameter.

The depth of your tank is the main problem. Passive ventilation above the surface can only keep tank contents aerobic to a depth of about 20 inches...below that, tank contents turn anaerobic by necessity...any rocking of the boat will cause odor at the bottom of the tank to roll toward the surface. Your tank is 32" inches deep, so no way is passive ventilation above the surface alone gonna prevent odor from occurring once the level in the tank rises above 20-24". In fact, I'd bet real money that there isn't much odor when the tank is less than half full...and there wouldn't be any below half full if you were using a bio-active (live bacteria) or nitrate tank product.

There ARE solutions other than just keeping your tank below half full...aeration being one of them. The other--unless you're in the Keys--being adding a USCG Type I MSD (onboard treatment device)...the discharge of TREATED waste is legal in all FL waters except the Keys...the whole Gulf except the Keys and Destin Harbor (except for a few misguided marinas who think that forcing all boats to hold sewage to be pumped out and sent it to sewage treatment plants that dump it UNtreated int the water every time there's a heavy rain is the "right thing to do."

If you'd like to spend some time on the phone discussing all this in more detail that's specific to YOUR boat than is practical in a forum, send me an email. On behalf of your dockmates I'll be glad to help you sort out the best options that will get rid of your odor completely.

[Dave22q]

Just about everything labeled for boating is overpriced but marine grade toilet paper in boating supply stores is a must. As to not having a 'Y valve', that is a bad thing in the US. The coast Guard is strict about no dumping rules and if your Y valve is not physically secured (I used a heavy zip tie) you will be in for a significant fine. I think with your setup you need to prevent an uninformed guest from making those pretty clouds in the water when it is forbidden. I would remove the macerater fuse and attach as sign to the switch says do not use without asking first.

[senormechanico]

I disagree about marine TP.
I watched this youtube video and agree with the findings.
The winner flushes better than anything we've tried and it "works" the best as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-twQoVcZTaw

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by rosatte

Come to canada and its illegal to dump anywhere up to 25 thousand dollar fine if caught doing so....just go to marina and get pumped out and keep our waters clean who the hell wants to swim in sewage...

Not sure where you are in Canada but you are certainly wrong about generalizing for all of Canada. Victoria, BC dumps ALL their sewage into the ocean after screening out larger solids.

[peghall]

I disagree about marine TP.

Me too...ever since I was at the SeaLand plant in the early '90s and watched an employee pull cheap no-name TP of its wrappers and rebag it in SeaLand wrappers. I've been doing the same "water jar" test ever since...included it in my book as the best way to find out whether a TP is ok for use in a marine toilet. Apparently it just took the RV folks a little longer to discover it!

[peghall]

Originally Posted by Jd1

Not sure where you are in Canada but you are certainly wrong about generalizing for all of Canada. Victoria, BC dumps ALL their sewage into the ocean after screening out larger solids.

All the INLAND lakes in Canada, including the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, and I believe the entire St. Lawrence Seaway too, are "no discharge," but very little of Canada's coastal waters on either coast have any marine toilet discharge regulations.

[Mike OReilly]

I believe Canada has now formalized it's regs to conform with the US so that discharge is only permitted 3 nm from shore off the salty coasts. Of course, no discharges are permitted inland, including the Great Lakes.


Why go fast, when you can go slow