Lucky escape...

capnsensible said:
A lot of blocked pipe problems are easily solved by never putting tissue down the head. Try Using a bag and dispose of ashore regularly.

:encouragement:
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I should add that whilst I document the incident here in a light-hearted fashion I am strongly against anyone using the heads at an inappropriate time and I was not happy at having to pump out. However I do draw the line at leaving it swilling around the bowl until I am further out at sea.
 
Many years ago we chartered a boat in the USA. Family of five, we were. The boat had a flexible holding tank. I was not very expert or interested in it as I was told it would all be taken care of on returning the boat. Two heads. Loads of big dinners, mountainous breakfasts...

About 6 days in I noticed the pumping was becoming a little harder, assumed we were getting full . . . .and luckily we were in a harbour where a mobile pump out boat operated. Cheerfully I called the pumper up and as he approached our mooring I stepped on deck, in my pyjamas as it was a leisurely start, to open the cap in the side deck, ready for a clear out.

The breather had been blocked all week. When I unscrewed the cap it took off skywards on a jet of sewage, joyfully unbound. The pump boat did a smart 180 and disapperaed. All around us people dropped their moorings like hot potatoes as we sat in a vile slick, me in my PJs alone on deck like a cartoon character wh's been dragged out of the swamp.

The clean up was miserable.
 
capnsensible said:
Another top tip based on nearly twenty years of liveaboard.

The discharge hose is subject to clogging up with calcium. In Spain there is a product called Aguafuerte or strong water. This is something like a 26% solution of hydrochloride acid. Believe you can get similar in UK as 'brick cleaner'.

This is excellent at keeping the full diameter of the hose open with routine dosing.

Lavac heads are completely unaffected by this. Got that on my liveaboard boat.

Can possibly, after a while, affect Jabsco. The o ring in the pump may get a bit sticky if you don't flush the cleaner through. Temporary fix olive oil down head to stop squeaky. Long term replace o ring. But the benefits on our school yachts were great compared to having to unblock outlet hoses. Now that's a real yuk.

Even worse, unblocking holding tanks.........
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I've often wondered about using aguafuerte on my electric Matro Marine bog but I've been scared of damaging the electric pump and/or seals. What d'yer reckon?
 
gdallas said:
Many years ago we chartered a boat in the USA. Family of five, we were. The boat had a flexible holding tank. I was not very expert or interested in it as I was told it would all be taken care of on returning the boat. Two heads. Loads of big dinners, mountainous breakfasts...

About 6 days in I noticed the pumping was becoming a little harder, assumed we were getting full . . . .and luckily we were in a harbour where a mobile pump out boat operated. Cheerfully I called the pumper up and as he approached our mooring I stepped on deck, in my pyjamas as it was a leisurely start, to open the cap in the side deck, ready for a clear out.

The breather had been blocked all week. When I unscrewed the cap it took off skywards on a jet of sewage, joyfully unbound. The pump boat did a smart 180 and disapperaed. All around us people dropped their moorings like hot potatoes as we sat in a vile slick, me in my PJs alone on deck like a cartoon character wh's been dragged out of the swamp.

The clean up was miserable.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that one that made me laugh.
 
colind3782 said:
I've often wondered about using aguafuerte on my electric Matro Marine bog but I've been scared of damaging the electric pump and/or seals. What d'yer reckon?
Click to expand...

Might be worth a mail to the makers? If you can use it, it's well worth it.

I found with Jabsco it needs a lot of flushing and not leaving too long.

Also used in S European yards for cleaning propellor shafts when lifted. It's so cheap and widely available.
 
Another amazing heads tale. A long time ago I was on a liveabord charter diving vessel with several other divers. At some point during the weeks charter the bog was blocked and the skipper called. After sometime messing with valves and pumping hard in an effort to dislodge whatever was the cause he decided on the inevitable, a strip down of pump and hoses. Unbeknown to him and many others one of the party had the idea that if he went over the side with a spare cylinder and pushed the high pressure hose up the relevant orifice and then turned on the air supply it would dislodge whatever was blocking the system. He was correct, unfortunately it blew the entire contents back into the heads cabin which was quite small and largely occupied by the skipper. It also became apparent that there was more than one evacuation in the system at least two people it seemed had not owned up to the problem.
The net result was that the skipper emerged from the heads looking a little like the famous Fran Cotton photograph but it wasn't mud in this case, he walked through the saloon onto the deck and simply stepped off into the ogin where he proceeded to take of most of his clothes. The inventive diver was given the job of cleaning the heads and was advised to stay clear of the skipper for the rest of the week. Everyone else was given refresher training on the use of the heads with most opting to seek relief ashore at every opportunity afterwards.
 
Sea-Fever said:
My artistic licence apart....it did seem as though there was significant pressure built up before I opened the outlet. Whether in reality this was near a pressure that would cause the pipes to let go I'm unsure....but I would hazard a guess that if it was single clipped it may have popped off....with the resultant mess. One benefit of no tank is that there is little unpleasant odour to deal with...but the pros out weight cons for me and I'll be looking to fit a tank at the earliest opportunity.
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I see no particular reason to instal a tank unless you are going to use it, but there is no need to put up with odours. After use, it is desirable to flush out the tank, especially if it is steel and thus liable to be damaged by urine. The only possible source of odour is the vent, and this can easily be outboard, such as ours which is high on the topsides.
 
The problem of using perfumed nappy bags is that these are adding yet more unnecessary and harmful plastic into our environment. Best to use a holding tank, or flush well offshore
 
On a charter boat in the Caribbean we were under strict orders that nothing goes down the heads which hasn't been eaten. Simple plastic bin for the paper which was delicately emptied over the side each morning once well clear of shore.
 
johnalison said:
I see no particular reason to instal a tank unless you are going to use it, but there is no need to put up with odours. After use, it is desirable to flush out the tank, especially if it is steel and thus liable to be damaged by urine. The only possible source of odour is the vent, and this can easily be outboard, such as ours which is high on the topsides.
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My cruising over the next few years is likely to be mainly coastal with short hops. As such I think a tank would benefit. Volume and positioning in a 33ft hull is another discussion altogether.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Tell us more.:D and perhaps you can get that submariner A1 to join the party.
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Just the one. Many tides ago I was a young trainee on HMSM Dreadnought. Learning the trade.

Submarines routinely return to periscope depth for a number of reasons and again, routinely, that opportunity is taken to discharge the slop drain and sewage tanks to sea. On that class, it involved isolating the various inlets and vents fitted to the tanks, pressurising to just above sea pressure thus blowing the tanks empty.

On a notable occasion, an incorrect valve line up led to serious quantities of raw sewage being blown back into the Senior Rates heads, fairly adjacent to mess decks, bunk spaces and the galley. Yuk. I was in the Control Room at the time, the smell was awful. Anyway, a great clean up proceeded but it was very unpleasant.

Some hours later, however, an engine room chap wandered fwd coming off watch to get changed etc. In order to clean his hands, he routinely stuck one hand into the tin of swarfega provided. Guess what.......:nonchalance:
 
We have a holding tank in each heads which is just what you want in a marina or anchorage if you are leaving in a couple of days. No paper down the loo just plastic bag lined pedal bins which is the norm on n land too where we sail.

Works really well and no blockages in 8 seasons although we do have to remind guests to pump a lot if we are out at sea but the minimum to clear the bile if we are not on the move.
 
Jabsco recommend a minimum of seven strokes of the pump per metre of hose. Having had a choke, some years ago, which was difficult to clear, we now pump plenty.
 
A month ago we had a demonstration of how problematic holding tanks can be.
We were a crew of four, very used to Greek plumbing and the "nothing not eaten" rule and the use of nappy sacks for toilet paper.

The operation of the holding tank was explained to us at the flotilla briefing and was as normal for a gravity discharge. So the first day out we emptied it on passage since you never know what has happened to the tank before you take the boat over.
The sea cock operated very easily and smoothly, much more so than we are accustomed to. And we did not see any evidence of discharge in our wake. But, hey-ho, the control panel had a gauge which showed the tank to be empty, so we were not concerned.

However in the small hours of the morning a crew member wishing to use the loo found that the bowl was full to overflowing with sewage and the shower duck-boards had some spillage below. We bailed the bowl into the bucket and emptied that overboard, being careful, in the dark, not to attract attention or leave any evidence. We had to repeat that process several more times, eventually in day-light!

I won't detail the efforts made by the supplying companies to remedy the situation. But it was determined that the sea-cock could not be made to work correctly without lifting the yacht out of the water. A properly working holding tank is particularly important when a flotilla of yachts is rafting up and people wish to swim, so for the second week of the fortnight we were given a fresh yacht.

We were partly amused, partly insulted, when we returned the replacement yacht and the discharging of the holding tank was thoroughly checked by the maintenance crew...
 
mjcoon said:
A month ago we had a demonstration of how problematic holding tanks can be.
We were a crew of four, very used to Greek plumbing and the "nothing not eaten" rule and the use of nappy sacks for toilet paper.

The operation of the holding tank was explained to us at the flotilla briefing and was as normal for a gravity discharge. So the first day out we emptied it on passage since you never know what has happened to the tank before you take the boat over.
The sea cock operated very easily and smoothly, much more so than we are accustomed to. And we did not see any evidence of discharge in our wake. But, hey-ho, the control panel had a gauge which showed the tank to be empty, so we were not concerned.

However in the small hours of the morning a crew member wishing to use the loo found that the bowl was full to overflowing with sewage and the shower duck-boards had some spillage below. We bailed the bowl into the bucket and emptied that overboard, being careful, in the dark, not to attract attention or leave any evidence. We had to repeat that process several more times, eventually in day-light!

I won't detail the efforts made by the supplying companies to remedy the situation. But it was determined that the sea-cock could not be made to work correctly without lifting the yacht out of the water. A properly working holding tank is particularly important when a flotilla of yachts is rafting up and people wish to swim, so for the second week of the fortnight we were given a fresh yacht.

We were partly amused, partly insulted, when we returned the replacement yacht and the discharging of the holding tank was thoroughly checked by the maintenance crew...
Click to expand...

We had a similar experience with a charter boat in the BVIs. From the moment we left the marina and started to use the toilet we found that the pump was really stiff and most of what you had pumped came back into the bowl again by the time the next person went to use it. The seacock outlet was open so I deduced that not only was the outlet blocked somewhere but the holding tank was completely full before we even left the marina and had clearly not been checked after the last charter.

I phoned the company on the second day and they said bring the boat back. The next day after we got back they sent down a diver and cleared the blockage but we effectively lost 2 days of our holiday by having to retrace our steps. However, the charter company gave us a very sizeable refund so I have no complaints.

Richard
 
I'm sorry, but the whole idea of storing dirty toilet paper in plastic bags, so that they can then go to landfill, gives me the horrors. Yes, I'm willing to accept that that's what they do in some foreign parts, but that doesn't make it right.

It's like all these thoroughly disgusting people who carefully collect their dog's droppings in plastic bags, and then for some unfathomable reason, hang them on branches. Hang the lot of them. :disgust:
 
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