There are “pink” jobs, “blue” jobs and then there are “brown” jobs!
Back when I removed our old Jabsco head, I accidentally kicked and broke off the 90 degree elbow which attached the vent hose to the holding tank. Because we weren’t going to be using the holding tank, I didn’t worry too much about it and just blocked off the hole. Now that we are once again using the holding tank, we do need that vent.
On the day we installed the new Jabsco, I improvised something to attach the vent hose (wedged some progressively smaller hoses into the hole) but apparently that didn’t cut it. Up to this point, we never really understood how long we could go between pump outs. I now think that all this time we were hugely overestimating. I thought that the previous owners told us they went 2 months between pump outs. In their defense, they were never living on the boat. Additionally, I have been hit in the head a lot so perhaps they never even said that in the first place. Regardless, a few days before we left Baltimore, I noticed some “water” on top of the holding tank! ALL TOILET USAGE CEASED IMMEDIATELY! Apparently the tank was full and my jamming hoses into the hole and sealing it with 4200 didn’t cut it. 🙁
Now, I should mention that I had tried to buy a proper fitting for that hole, similar to what I broke off, but couldn’t find one that would work. All of the fittings that I saw were threaded and this hole wasn’t. What I ultimately determined was that I needed to use a thru-hull-type fitting that has a nut on both the top and bottom sides. To install such a thing meant that I needed to unscrew and remove the top plate on the tank, open it up, and attach the nut from underneath. Think about that for a moment… not a job I was looking forward to!
The screws in the top plate came out ok but it was obviously sealed with some killer stuff (4200 perhaps). I had to battle for 30-60 minutes to remove the plate. When I finally did, I was surprised to see that the holding tank looked as if it was just made from fiberglass. I had expected to see some sort of plastic tank like the ones I had seen at West Marine. No problem, except… the hole underneath that plate wasn’t even big enough to allow for the lower washer nor was the hole on the top plate big enough to accept the fitting. Groan! Dremel tool to the rescue though.
It took a bit of work to get the plate off.
Putting it all back together.
The unpleasant job is all done now and everything is put back together but as is typical where boat tasks are concerned, what could have been an easy job turned into an overly-gross couple-hour battle. FORTUNATELY we had the foresight to have the tank fully pumped the day before yesterday. And rest assured, we’ll be getting that tank pumped a lot more frequently now. We’ve had our fill of “brown” jobs!
The finished product. I definitely needed a drink after that job!
If you let Rebecca do it…………….Would have been done in an hour…….I think Rebecca should do blue jobs and you should do Pink jobs while sipping cold, cold beer!
I’ll run that by her. 🙂
I was a little scared to look at the pictures, but they’re clean! I guess you have to pay the price every now and then for living in paradise! =)
Is the Chesapeake Bay, in October, considered paradise?
That’s a sharp looking repair you have there at the end – nice job!
Thanks Mitch.
Congratulations on a successfully completed job. We are fighting what is probably a hairline fracture in our holding tank. We have had it looked at twice and fiberglass work done once. We still have an issue. One of the few design flaws, in my opinion, (newer models have changed the position) of the Seawind is the holding tank is under our berth. This is not going to be an easy find. We have our tank pumped once a week (probably could do it every other week). Next week, (Rusty’s suggestion) after pumping, they are going to put the tank under pressure, use soap to try to find the fracture. Rusty is working long hours so he can’t get to it and we want to leave for the Exuma’s the first part of December. Here’s hoping. I am enjoying your web site. We want to venture up the east coast after July next year.
Hi Linda. That doesn’t sound like an easy fix. Nor does having the holding tank under the berth sound all that great (I know that many boats are like that though). Good luck!
I hate plumbing to begin with; let alone working on the brown plumbing system.
John
S/V Sailor Dance
1990 Caliber 33
Long Island Sound
I’m with you, John!