Not sure on local rules but you SHOULD have a thru hull valve on the 'discharge to sea' line, this is the one that needs to be shut in my system (and per my local regs). A below water thru hull with no way to close it would be a bad idea from a safety/survey/insurance point of view anyways?

All waters in US jurisdiction within 3 miles (I'm not sure if that's nautical miles or statute miles) of any US land are No Discharge areas.

Any hose leading black water to the open sea must not only be closed, but must be SECURED closed - otherwise you risk a citation if boarded by law enforcement or the USCG. I use plastic tie wraps for this purpose. Some boats may need to cement (using 3M 5200) to the hull near the sea cock a small wooden block to have something to pass the tie wrap through.

The hose leading from your macerator to the thru-hull SHOULD have a seacock that allows you to open and close this to the open sea. This is important for several reasons: 1) for safety as Jason explained above; 2) for legal compliance with the No Discharge rule; and 3) because on some Catalina 36s, the Mk II for sure, you need to close the seacock IMMEDIATELY after macerating (where legal to do so) to prevent outside water from backfilling part of the holding tank. On the Mk II, if allowed to backfill, you'll lose a lot of holding tank capacity.

[QUOTE=LCBrandt;14367]All waters in US jurisdiction within 3 miles (I'm not sure if that's nautical miles or statute miles) of any US land are No Discharge areas.

Any hose leading black water to the open sea must not only be closed, [B]but must be SECURED closed - otherwise you risk a citation if boarded by law enforcement or the USCG. [/B]I use plastic tie wraps for this purpose. Some boats may need to cement (using 3M 5200) to the hull near the sea cock a small wooden block to have something to pass the tie wrap through.

The hose leading from your macerator to the thru-hull SHOULD have a seacock that allows you to open and close this to the open sea. This is important for several reasons: 1) for safety as Jason explained above; 2) for legal compliance with the No Discharge rule; and 3) because on some Catalina 36s, the Mk II for sure, you need to close the seacock IMMEDIATELY after macerating (where legal to do so) to prevent outside water from backfilling part of the holding tank. On the Mk II, if allowed to backfill, you'll lose a lot of holding tank capacity.[/QUOTE]

Are you sure? I've been boarded and this has been checked and I don't have it secured. In fact I DO discharge to the sea via mascerator when I get about 10 miles offshore.

Yes, I am sure. Coasties in the Pacific Northwest have been for years busting boaters who have not secured their black water seacocks. If you haven't been warned before, then maybe your boarding crew were not attentive, too busy, or whatever on the particular days they were on your boat. It's only a matter of time...

It's easy to tie wrap the seacocks closed. Takes only a minute, and doesn't seriously impede macerating in legal waters.

I don't know where you sail, Phil, but it's easy also to create an automated signature for this Forum. Just click on User CP, upper left corner of this page and go from there. An automated signature will help us to help you. Use my signature below as a guide to what kind of info to include.

Per Peggy Hall on the C34 Forum...

Federal law (33 CFR 159.7) lists the acceptable ways of securing the sanitation system in "no discharge" waters" (note that the acceptable means of securing Type I and II MSDs (treatment devices) are not acceptable means of securing a holding tank (Type III).

(b) When operating a vessel on a body of water where the discharge of treated or untreated sewage is prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR 140.3 or 140.4, the operator must secure each Type I or Type II device in a manner which prevents discharge of treated or untreated sewage. Acceptable methods of securing the device include—

(1) Closing the seacock and removing the handle;

(2) Padlocking the seacock in the closed position;

(3) Using a non-releasable wire-tie to hold the seacock in the closed position; or

(4) Locking the door to the space enclosing the toilets with a padlock or door handle key lock.

(c) When operating a vessel on a body of water where the discharge of untreated sewage is prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR 140.3, the operator must secure each Type III device in a manner which prevents discharge of sewage. Acceptable methods of securing the device include—

(1) Closing each valve leading to an overboard discharge and removing the handle;

(2) Padlocking each valve leading to an overboard discharge in the closed position; or

(3) Using a non-releasable wire-tie to hold each valve leading to an overboard discharge in the closed position.

All of the above is acceptable on all the Great Lakes in both US and Canadian waters...but NOT on Lake Champlain. NY state marine sanitation law for Champlain requires that there be no plumbing connected to any overboard discharge pump or thru-hull.

[QUOTE=LCBrandt;14372]Per Peggy Hall on the C34 Forum...

Federal law (33 CFR 159.7) lists the acceptable ways of securing the sanitation system in "no discharge" waters" (note that the acceptable means of securing Type I and II MSDs (treatment devices) are not acceptable means of securing a holding tank (Type III).

(b) When operating a vessel on a body of water where the discharge of treated or untreated sewage is prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR 140.3 or 140.4, the operator must secure each Type I or Type II device in a manner which prevents discharge of treated or untreated sewage. Acceptable methods of securing the device include—

(1) Closing the seacock and removing the handle;

(2) Padlocking the seacock in the closed position;

(3) Using a non-releasable wire-tie to hold the seacock in the closed position; or

(4) Locking the door to the space enclosing the toilets with a padlock or door handle key lock.

(c) When operating a vessel on a body of water where the discharge of untreated sewage is prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR 140.3, the operator must secure each Type III device in a manner which prevents discharge of sewage. Acceptable methods of securing the device include—

(1) Closing each valve leading to an overboard discharge and removing the handle;

(2) Padlocking each valve leading to an overboard discharge in the closed position; or

(3) Using a non-releasable wire-tie to hold each valve leading to an overboard discharge in the closed position.

All of the above is acceptable on all the Great Lakes in both US and Canadian waters...but NOT on Lake Champlain. NY state marine sanitation law for Champlain requires that there be no plumbing connected to any overboard discharge pump or thru-hull.[/QUOTE]
I could be wrong, but I believe the Great Lakes prohibit ANY plumbing to a thru-hull as well. On our boat there is NO way to discharge the holding tank into the Lake. We can only pump out.

That can't be right about the Great Lakes, we have bought two boats from the US side of the Great Lakes and both had macerators. And I can tell you that both those boats were or had been using the macerators.

I left it in because we were going south but I put a padlock on the sea cock to keep it shut. There is very little enforcement of this up here at least in the areas were we have been (Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay), we've never been checked in almost 30 years of boating. Saw an MOE boat once a couple of years ago but he, as with most government boats, went by us at maximum speed and seemed hell bent to get somewhere else. Which is fine with me.

All that said, there is some serious hypocrisy going on at the government level with this. Given what they allow sewage treatment plants to do going after boaters seems to be a bit of a public relations show.