Where does the sh$&t go?

Boat, like home jobs, often start with something very small and become enormous projects. So we had been observing a very very small ingress of seawater near the seacock that can let the poop out to the ocean when legally allowed (3 miles offshore). On the one hand, it was good because it wasn’t black water seeping out. On the other hand, it was bad because a drip off salt water coming in could become very very bad at some point.

Sometimes the best approach is to cut your way out

This is something only done when your boat is on land.  So, at Port Annapolis “on the hard”, after spending days trying to disconnect it, we cut out the seacock (the lever that you shouldn’t open to let the poop seep out of the boat underwater) and popped out the thru hull (the hole in the boat that’s connected to it).  While Don sourced Trudesign composite replacement parts, I learned that, once again, the US and British still haven’t agreed on standard pipe threads so each have their own straight versus tapered ends.  As a result, it’s important to pick the right kind (in this case US NPS not NPT).

Pipe too short

The new configuration changed the angle of the pipe, so for two more inches we had to remove and source a rather large, 2″ sanitation hose (most boats use 1 1/2″).  We lucked out; Annapolis Yacht Sales had an 10′ section of pipe in stock from a French order.)  Can you remove the hose easily from below? Nooo, first you remove the shower wall, then move or remove the other santation hoses very carefully, as they are holding the hose you want hostage.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

Against all odds and preference on Don’s part, I took on the dirty work of cleaning out the holding tank. Let’s just say it was a sh#45t storm, and includes clogged and overflowing elements worthy of retelling face to face with several drinks.

Future proofing

Hopefully the reassembled configuration (glued liberally with 3M 5200 and double clamped), will stay fresher for a few years. Most importantly, we now sleep better knowing the thruhull won’t leak in the dark of the night.

For laughs, we added a nifty Scad Technologies tank sensor that monitors how much is in the holding tank to elminate any future embarrassing moments…

We installed the two sensor wires on the outside of the tank behind the shower wall, and have a nice display that is accessible but hopefully not too prominant.