:eek:

To each his own, but nobody craps on my boat at the dock. And I empty the tank on my way into the harbor when it's been used offshore. You might want to institute such a policy. You'll also find that when you go sailing with a partially full tank, the waste (even if just a couple of pee-pees and flush water) slopping around will cause great odiferous venting from that same stanchion, which is upwind from where you'll be sitting. Keep that tank empty!

Blair after you have had a tank overflow like that through
your holding tank vent make sure you flush the vent line out so air can vent. Waste will often plug up the vent hose.

You might also want to check the "dry" storage just forward of the holding tank. On my boat, if the holding tank is full the vent line will back up with liquid that will drain into this storage.

I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen (does anybody else have this problem?) but I know that it can.

We have a tank monitoring system on our boats. I always check it to see how both the water tanks are going, and the black water tank.
We also add some oxygen powder to the tank to help any poo break down between emptying.

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Blair, here are the facts: Your holding tank has a usable capacity of 14 US gallons. If you have 'civilians' - non-sailors - staying on your boat they will know nothing about how to use a marine head. It is very easy for civilians to fill a 14 gallon tank, even just two persons, if one or more of them is unknowing or careless about how to use the head. Do a search on this forum for past discussions on this topic. Beware that the Mk I and Mk II holding tanks are entirely different shapes and locations.

If you use a shoreside pump out, pump frequently.

Whenever anyone comes on your boat, do a walk-around and safety briefing, and take some time to brief your passengers on proper head usage. Some of the things you'll tell them might not be pretty, but they must be said. For example, among my rules on the boat are these: 1) No toilet paper used-or-unused goes down the head. It goes in the wastebasket placed in the compartment. 2) Whoever uses the toilet MUST use it sitting down. Do NOT stand up to pee. Given the motion of the vessel the stream may look like it is targeted ok, but by the time the liquid nears the basin, the basin will have moved.

The Mk II holding tank resides partly below the waterline of the boat. Therefore, if you macerate, you must open the macerator thru hull, grind out the tank, and when the macerator shuts off you should IMMEDIATELY close the thru hull. If you don't do this, the outside water will backfill the tank, causing you to lose usable capacity.

Do a search for "holding tank" and "head", and read through some of the threads therein.

Your holding tank vents at the base of a stanchion portside. Consider yourself lucky that the overflow came out that stanchion rather than blowing the vent line off the tank and letting it spew into your bilge.

I went to a electro scan system that treats the waste no pump out and no smells . I love it ,service it once a year and its good to go.I know of 6 friends that have installed the system and they love it . There was a article in Norwesting about 6 months ago that explained the system

'Grind out the tank" is my way of saying a) go more than 3 miles offshore, b) open the thru hull and macerate to empty the holding tank, and c) close the thru-hull immediately after macerating.

A macerator is simply a motorized grinder, like the garbage disposal in your kitchen sink, that grinds whatever is in the holding tank and spews it overboard via the thru-hull.

[QUOTE=Rockman;14647]We have a tank monitoring system on our boats. I always check it to see how both the water tanks are going, and the black water tank.
We also add some oxygen powder to the tank to help any poo break down between emptying.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD[/QUOTE]

Hi Simon

Can you tell me what sort of tank monitoring system you have and which tanks it is fitted to?

Have just fitted an electric toilet and am thinking of installing a Gobius system.

Thanks

Robert

I have a monitor on both fresh water tanks and the black water tank. It's a profile brand. The manual is on the association website. It works well, but the black water tank does not show anything until its 30% full. Which is ok, I know how much poop is there.

Cheers

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