The first headache...

Filling the tank was naturally the easy part. In what seem like no time at all there came a foul smell on the vent side of the boat? The tank was so full that water dripped out the vent tube when the toilet pump pumped. "Oh crap!" So lets go pump out as soon as possible right? We were glad to get to the pump out dock. Man, I was so tired of dumping that damn portable chemical toilet, the worst job on the boat and for some reason it’s all mine!

The dock attendant walked up holding a big 3 inch cam-lock hose wanting to know where my pump-out fitting was? The problem was I had installed a nice chrome flush mounted unit that used a inch and a half thread in. "Well that will never fit" he said and off to the shop he went. Some time later he and his boss came back with some wacky modified looking thing and proceeded to try and extract the waste from our boat. This turned out to be quite a fiasco! Seems all the pumps at my marina are of a "diaphragm" type pump. They need to be primed and hold a vacuum, the hose needs to be held just so. The pump we pulled into I understand was the worst one of the bunch. Pumping out turned out to be one of the biggest pains in the ass! It seems we kept breaking suction and losing our prim. The attendant asked if we wanted to stick a hose in the toilet and suck it out that way? Clearly he was used to pumping out rental houseboats with a straight drop into the tank like an out house. (The simplest of designs work best I guess.) We finely felt we were empty enough and completed the operation. We tipped our dock attendant a five and headed back to our dock with our very first pump-out behind us.

By the next pump-out, witch came all to soon I might add I was ready with new ideas and equipment. This time by god I was going to be better prepared! I had a friend at the hose shop make me a "interface cupeling." One that fit perfectly in my deck port and had a two foot clear thick walled hose to a male cam-lock fitting. I had greased the threads in the deck fitting for a nice air tight connection. The clear hose may seem gross and it is, but this way you can monitor the flow of waste. I had the new adapter all hooked up and ready to rock and roll before I even pulled away from my slip. I also had made it a point to drive down and ask the dock hands just which pump worked best so as not to get stuck with a bum pump this time. I’m happy to report that subsequent pump-outs went very well. This lends truth to the old adage... "With repetition comes ease."

We had used a pump out station closer to town a couple of times that used a vacuum system. I liked that! Man it was a good sucker! The unit worked in a fraction of the time and seemed to give a more complete evacuation. One thing I did realize was that my vent hose was way too small. (1/4 inch. I D.) I was worried about that old tank cracking under the stress of the vacuum and had to go easy on the control valve from then on.

With most of the kinks worked out of the system and pump out process, we enjoyed a short respite from "Holding tank Hell."

The worst happened:

We were coming back from a long 4^th of July weekend. Good times were had by all. The boat worked perfectly. The ice lasted. The food and drinks lasted too. Nothing broke, nobody was killed or hurt. Truly a good trip all round. It was late Sunday heading back and had a strong cross wind as we approached the service dock. Holiday traffic around the marina and launch ramp was high so instead of dealing with all the hub-bub of people and pumping out then and there I opted to head straight in to our home dock and call it a trip. It would be easier to come back later in the week after work when traffic was light and things were more back to normal. Well it ended up being the next Friday before I managed to make it back out to the boat.

When I opened the door that Friday afternoon and stepped inside I was immediately hit with the most foul smell! Oh God! The worst had happened. There is only one thing that can smell like that. I had left the holding tank full all last week. This is the point that proves the difference between men and boys. The boys ran, I stayed and went looking for the source of the evil smell. And I found it. Under the holding tank where the we had spun in the drain fitting it was a split and leaking. Who would have thought a slow drip could cause such a stink! The tank was still mostly full thank god. Needless to say my wife and I spent most of Saturday de-installing the old tank after a good pumping out. It went fairly fast but oh I had to be brave and crawl down in the bilges! It was then and there I swore I would never install another holding tank with plumbing in the sides or bottom! Never!

This was going to be a big "Do over" and I was going to do it right this time. It was going to cost me money and time, sweat and more money but I didn’t care! I was going to re-vamp the complete system. Install a new tank to my specifications. A big tank this time. With all the plumbing through the top for greater integrity.

So what’s next?

Locate a proper tank I would think would be the first order of business. So of course I went to all the local RV stores and looked at all of there catalogs. I was wrong to do this. This is a marine application, you just got to suck it up and spend the bucks for the real deal and buy a thick walled marine rated tank. So off onto the internet I went. I surfed as I had never surfed before!

Ranting...

We are all people here, not machines. I think we (as a customer) deserve to be treated as human beings. In today’s market place where the margins are too tight for bottom line business. I’m sorry to say service suffers greatly. So many companies now cut back so far that it’s all the low paid over worked lowly employee can do is run there ass’s off to keep up. The CEO’s sit on top and collect the bounty to feather there nests. They shout down new cost effecting directives as the workers get more and more un happy with there job. Know body wants too hear my shaggy dog story or talk like real people. It’s "Take it or leave it... Next please." Too damn bad I say.

I think this is the main reason I received mostly 4 and 5 word responses from most all the company’s that I solicited for information. That’s if they bothered to answer me at all...

There’s a happy ending to this part of the story. I received a response from Walt Wilson at "Ardemco Inc." in southern California. He took the time to write paragraph or two and even sounded like he had a personality when he wrote. "Shock" A real person! He answered all my questions completely then beat the competition hands down in pricing. After three or four e-mails back and forth it was time for a phone call or two. Like I said before, I’m a pain in the ass customer and need to know everything. I blame that partly on the fact the I write about it. Walt had no problems taking the time too talk about design changes, engineering and holding tank logic. I learned many new things from Walt and yes, I’ll share some...

When it cones to a black water holding tank’s on a boat it’s usually best to install a "Stand pipe" or "Dip tube" to remove waste from the top of the tank. Not only dose it help maintain the integrity of the walls and bottom of the tank, but it keeps waste from standing in the pump out hose. As you might know bad smells can permeate some hose and smell up the boat or even worse, leak!

I learned the hard way that when you have someone install a "Spin in" tank fitting, it had better be done by someone who knows how and dose it every day. If they say "Ah, I think I can do that." You don’t want them to even try. Not when it comes to holding back gallons upon gallons of shit!

Another thing Walt told me that made sense is the danger of installing metal fittings in a poly tank. The two different materials will expand and contract at two different rates do to there different density’s. This can cause cracking and leaking over time. Faster in more extreme weather.

I asked him about the deference’s between the fluid level sensors and how there installed. Walt preferred the installed in tank sensors over the kind that attaches to the outside of the tank do the fact that sometimes it’s hard to keep things adhered to a poly tank. Stick-on Sensors have been known to fall off from time to time and have to be reinstalled.

We also talked about holding tank chemicals. I hear so much from so many it’s hard to get the strait poop. (Sorry) I always thought the bio type with active enzymes that actually eat the bacteria was the best way to go. Well it is if you give the little bugger’s time to do there work. As in, you have a large holding tank and only a small number of people and time between pump outs. But if your loading up with company for a long weekend and plan to pump out when you return then maybe the chemical based product may work best and be more cost effective.

It took awhile and some head scratching to determine the size and shape tank I wanted too use. The list of tanks Walt provided to choose from was large and varied. One was sure to fit just right. I chose a 95" long, 33" wide and 9"flat tank. To fit crossways under the galley sole. 110 gallons. That should hold a turd or two... Wile I was in "tank buying mode" my wife Deborah insisted we go ahead and get two new freshwater holding tanks as well. So we also bought two 70 gallon tanks to go up front under the helm. (23"x23"x34")

All in all I would say I spent close to a thousand dollars on the whole project.

Toilet rebuild kit, holding tank and monitor as well as parts and materials. But oh what a nice set up and so worth the peace of mind. I figure that means my first crap cost me $1000. The next one will only cost me $500. So on and so forth. I may just keep track till I’m down to under $1.00 a dump. Doing the math, in 10 uses I’ll be down to .97 cents a flush. Worth it I’d say... Now all I need to do is install a good sized magazine rack and exhaust fan...