Hi,
My wife and I are
buying a 1970 Tartan 34c. This is our first "real"
boat (we've had some sailing dinghies), and this is also my first post on the formum. We had the
marine survey done today and the
boat checked out in great shape. Whoever had her before us fit her out for some serious sailing, and evidently did a fantastic job on every
installation. My only concern was the
head, which is a Wilcox model, possibly original. The
current owner has been
living aboard for some time, and probably has not used the
head in 3 years. When I operated the lever to run
flushing water into the bowl, all kinds of weird green gunk came out. Would that just be algae or some other kind of build up in the raw seawater line that would go away if I pumped long enough? The whole set up just seemed kind of delicate compared to everything else on board and I don't know how to feel about that. My concern is that if anything goes wrong with the
current head, not only will it be disgusting, but it will be a flooding hazard.
We live in
Hawaii, so in time we will be cruising this boat in
bluewater to distant paradises. However, for the next couple of years, we will probably be cruising around
Oahu and to neighbor islands. It seems to me that it might be a good idea to just have the head and
holding tank removed, to seal off the associated thru-hulls, and to install a good portapotti. When the day comes to start making longer passages, I could put a new head and
holding tank in.
I don't have the slightest idea where to start with removing the current system and how big an undertaking this would actually be. Do I have to
haul out the boat to do this, or can it be done in the
water? Is this a
DIY project I could do without
buying a haz-mat suit? Would I potentially screw up something that works nicely?
Any
advice or war story would be much appreciated.
Mahalo,
Jon