“India, is your holding tank full?”
“No, it is just stinky when I flush.”
Two days later…
“Mom, I think my tank is full. The overboard discharge pipe is oozing.”
This morning I requested a pump out. The crew arrives and goes to the port side first. A few moments later I see the pump out crew trying to get my attention.
I go outside and the kind gentleman directs me to the port side sewer deck fitting where an oozing river of sludge is making its way down the port hull. The tank wasn’t full; the tank was testing the limits of molded plastic, bulging at the seams waiting for someone to release the pressure. When the cap was removed from the deck fitting, a brown geyser of epic proportions was released.
The following conversation took place:
Pumpout guy: It is full.
Me: I know.
Pumpout guy: It is full.
Me: I will clean it up. Can you still pump it out?
Pumpout guy: It is full. Tienes que limpiarlo antes de que podamos bombearlo.
Me: Hablo poco español.
Pumpout guy: No entiendes
… fast forward about ten minutes and he figured out I was offering to clean it up, which is what he was asking me to do.
So, I got to clean half of Waponi Woo this morning. At least we know the new electric flush toilet is sealed tight. No poo will escape back up through the bowl if the tank is full. A pad and pen was placed in the port head to write the number of flushes so this doesn’t happen again.
4 Comments
Which toilet did you get?
We got this one, fits in the exact bolt holes: https://www.fisheriessupply.com/jabsco-lite-flush-electric-toilet Caroline and India ran the #8 wire for me and I replaced the main waste hose as it had been 10 years. They work great so far. We have been giving them heavy ‘duty’ work. (HAR HAR HAR!)
And why wasn’t India doing the cleanup, hrm?
It was a new toilet/system. She gets 1-2 passes when new things come up and that is about it.
After the explosion we discovered that they could not empty the tank. To remedy this we went out to sea and ‘fed the fishes’ about 10 miles offshore (thank goodness the main drain is gravity! I then removed the tank from the wall and then opened the inspection/hellmouth port. I discovered that the (for lack of a better term) ‘straw’ that is used to suction the tank had broken off!
Now I get to repair yet another very stinky item.