Fitting a holding tank

jimi

jimi

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Dec 2001
Messages
28,660
Location
St Neots
Visit site
We're off to the Baltic (hopefully) this year so need to fit one! Any experience of fitting an S38 with one would be appreciated. Is this easily done by oneself or safest to get someone else to do it?
 
Have a look on the Tek Tanks website as they may well have made a custom tank for your boat. There are different ways of installing tanks and the site also has useful guidance on designing and installing tanks. The tendency now is to go for a simple gravity tank, but often on an existing boat this is difficult or limits the size you can fit. a pumped system is more complex to fit and inevitably more expensive. Worth also asking on the MOA as likely somebody has already done it, and there may well have been a factory fit that you can replicate.

Whether you want to fit it yourself depends on whether you like hanging upside down fighting with recalcitrant piping, and have a good stock of expletives to use as appropriate.
 
jimi said:
We're off to the Baltic (hopefully) this year so need to fit one!
Click to expand...

You probably know already, but if going to Finland or Sweden you need a system that has a deck fitting for quay side pump out, as discharge to the sea is no longer lawful.
 
matthewriches said:
My favourite boat building job lol. We use Tek Tanks exclusively as they are a fit and forget. They make one for your boat http://tektankslimited.com/moody-s38-waste-tank-mdys38wastecomstps-996-p.asp

A little dear but it is the proper job. Nice boat so keep it nice with a proper install :)
Click to expand...

That's the one for under the floor boards at the bottom of the companionway steps. Would need manual pump instead of gravity to sea. In that location you'd not be able to fit a short shore pump outlet for suction...
 
Pavalijo from this forum is the one with the aft hanging wardrobe for the tank.. He just has the two aft cabins though so the outlet house can take a simpler route...

Hope he doesn't mind but he may have posted photos here.... http://calypsocapers.co.uk/

I don't want to lose that wardrobe and think the pipework to the aft locker is rather long... I'm still thinking that if a tank were to be installed above/behind the forward head then it would be easy to have a short vertical pump out and the outlet would take the route the current outlet takes.

Sorry can't be of more help.
 
No problem Martin.
If Jimi wants more happy to oblige.
The tank was templated by Osmotech and fabricated by Tek Tanks who should now have the plans in their archive - but may not be suitable for the 2 cabin version and you need to check that your kick through panel is big enough to allow the tank to be passed from starboard to port cabin (door of port cabin is too narrow.
The design has deck pump out.
It worked with no hitches this year - although we haven’t used the pump out - just let it go off shore under gravity.
I would say that this is a DIY job for someone with reasonable skills, including fitting new through hull. There was very little joinery work required, but if you do do down the diy route maybe I should send more photos ( not back to the boat until April unfortunately but I can see if I have more than posted on the blog).
Apparently sourcing a short length of 2” outlet/waste pipe was not easy but all other parts should be readily available.

Regards
Paul
 
jimi said:
That is daylight robbery!! Looks as if its designed to fit the hanging locker in the aft cabin. Might be cheaper to fit a standard one in the cockpit locker.
Click to expand...

The tank is only part of the cost and expect once you investigate thoroughly you will find there is no "cheap" effective solution. Moreover, you need to fit the "best" as the last thing you want is problems with a system in your boat that holds anything up to 70 or 80 litres of human waste!
 
Tranona said:
The tank is only part of the cost and expect once you investigate thoroughly you will find there is no "cheap" effective solution. Moreover, you need to fit the "best" as the last thing you want is problems with a system in your boat that holds anything up to 70 or 80 litres of human waste!
Click to expand...
The best is not necessarily the most expensive, sometimes it’s the simplest and cheapest.
 
jimi said:
The best is not necessarily the most expensive, sometimes it’s the simplest and cheapest.
Click to expand...

I am only passing on my experience of holding tanks having fitted two to existing boats and been through the options and the ways of trying to use a standard size tank. The Tek Tanks are the very best and having a custom tank made enables you to get the maximum volume with the minimum disruption to the rest of the boat. Retrofitting is invariably difficult with a boat that was never designed to have a holding tank.
 
jimi said:
Many thanks, lots of food for thought. Need to start measuring and explore routing options.
Click to expand...
Not only do they seem to cost a lot to fit but once installed can lead to all sorts of issues with routing so if you can you might see if you can look at some actual intalations. Our last boat didn't have one and was simple but with an integrated one on our new boat it just seems to be a liability as the design seems to be created to cause blockages so it's not just the tanks to worry about. One of the improvement jobs is to fit a bypass so the tank can be avoided where permitted.
 
Tranona said:
I am only passing on my experience of holding tanks having fitted two to existing boats and been through the options and the ways of trying to use a standard size tank. The Tek Tanks are the very best and having a custom tank made enables you to get the maximum volume with the minimum disruption to the rest of the boat. Retrofitting is invariably difficult with a boat that was never designed to have a holding tank.
Click to expand...

+ 1

Tek Tanks designed a tank for us and it just works without any problems at all and with the CA discount it was a very reasonable price.
 
BabaYaga said:
The planned discharge ban discussed in that link concerns Baltic international water and is primarily aimed at cruise ships.
Finland has had a toilet sewage discharge ban within the 12 mile zone since 2005 and Sweden adopted the same kind of regulations 2015.
Click to expand...

Are those bans all encompassing, eg older boats etc etc?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Halo
Cuuting a 115mm hole for Wema tank hatch
Replies
9
Views
363
pete
pete

Share this page

Top