Holding Tank Hold

[Ken Krawford]

My 1988 vintage C34 is starting to smell a bit gamey.  Has anyone replaced the hoses to the holding tank?  Is it a big project?  It seems that they have very little give/bend and I'm not sure how difficult it would be routing it from the head to the tank.

Thanks in advance.

Ken Krawford

[mogline]

I replaced the head and the hoses to the holding tank and pumpout fitting this spring.  Initially was a much harder job than I expected because of how stiff the new hose was (Sealand Odor Safe).  I had to cut the old hose to get it off of all fittings and then found it impossible to push the new hose back on even using lots of hose lube.  After a phone call to Sealand I discovered the key is warming the hose.  They actually sell a tool but I just used the stove to boil water (for the ends - 200 degrees is recomended), and a heat gun for the bends.  Not and easy job but well worth it when I open up the boat and am no longer greeted by that wonderful aroma.  I did have to remove the bolts holding the head down to be able to reattach it to the hose, then push it back into position and rebolt.  Hopefully this will last until the next owner.

[Mike and Theresa Vaccaro]

Ken,

The hoses are important contributors to any unwanted odor in the boat.  There's a pretty complete article by the "Head Mistress" over on the catalina.owners.com site (there's also a copy on this site if you do a search) explaining more than you wanted to know about the entire system!  The technique offered for figuring out if your hoses are the source of odor is to wrap a wet towel around them, remove it and then smell the towel...if the towel smells, time to replace the hose.

Cheers,

Mike Vaccaro
"Spirit" '88 Hull 563

[Jim Price]

I agree with what Mogline said.  Did the same change to Odor Safe (expensive)last fall when it was cold (and LP gas system had a wiring fault so no hot water)and putting on hose was near impossible.  Also the hose runs trough bottom of locker to head and VERY tight turn into head.  I finally gave up and purchased a piece of less expensive Seland hose (still looks like Odor Safe but step down) and double barb fitting from West.  I spliced the more flexible piece on the end to head with barb in locker.  I know not best idea but the ODOR Safe would not hold a seal at head due to stiffness and short fitting on head pump.

Warning for those who have not done this, yes you do have to cut off old hoses and mine were WIRE re-enforced needing wire cutters to get off.  What a pain in the "head".

If I had to do over, I would have used the less expensive Sealand hose from West and probably had same odor reducing results for many years.  With the tight space on the MK1, the ODOR Safe is overkill.

[Stu Jackson]

Head-y    Stuff

Mike noted that the head information is on our website.  It's at FAQs and the URL is: http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/phall.htm

It has been discontinued at Catalinaowners.com because Peggie wrote and published her book, which, I hear, is very good.  If you read her material on c-owners.com, you'll find she's very good, and I agree with her wholeheartedly: too many people out there asking the same questions, over and over, and not reading what is already available (UNLIKE this message board - you all seem to do your homework first!).

My understanding of they key to odor removal in heads, in addition to a myriad of other details:

1.  Flush flush flush.  Move the water through the hoses to make sure there's no satnding rotten stuff.

2.  Keep your vent line clear and if possible, make it bigger.

3.  Don't use a filter in the vent line because it traps the air that is supposed to move through it.

Good ideas on the types of hoses to use and thanks for sharing your experiences.

Stu

[Ted Pounds]

Ken,
Since you're on Lake Lanier you might want to consider some mods I did here on Lake Michigan to eliminate some hoses.  I capped off the exit to the macerater pump (and used the thru-hull for a washdown pump).  I also capped off the discharge thru-hull, got rid of the y-valve and associated plumbing and ran the head directly to the tank.  Also to make a really sharp bend that I needed for my Lavac head I spliced in a barbed elbow.  Just some thoughts...
Ted

[Roc]

In addition to Stu's three helpful tips, another way to stop odors is to flush with fresh water.  I 'Teed' my head intake hose to the head sink drain hose.  To flush with fresh water, close the sink drain seacock, fill the sink about half with water, and flush as usual.  To flush with sea water, put the stopper in the head sink drain, open the seacock and now sea water will be pulled through when flushing.  Peggie actually suggests this in her article.

Since I now have a spare thru-hull, I used that one to supply my A/C intake.

Roc-

[Ted Pounds]

Roc,

Actually Ken is already flushing with fresh water.  

Ted

[Jim Price]

Ken, did not realize you are on Lanier.  Look me up some time and we can compare notes.  I am at Aqualand U-48.

[hdevera]

Ron,
 One nice thing about having the sink drain T-ed to the head inlet hose, is that it puts fresh water into the inlet hose, so when you come back and flush for the first time (after you've been gone awhile), fresh water comes out instead of stale salt water that was left in the inlet hose.

[wilsonlb]

Ken -

I'm going to have Robbie (of Robbie's Marine Service) replace everything for me.  I still have to make my boat legal for inland waters.  And with the boat coming in from salt, there are just too many projects (several unexpected) to do it all by myself.

I'll let you know how much he charged me and what he used (and any problems he encountered).

Hope to meet you soon.  You may have already seen "Claerwen" across the dock from you.  The mast is still up at Aqualand.  Hope to get it back in next week.

Larry

[Andrew Harvey]

For you freshwater people , in my '86 , the discharge outlet is above the macerator outlet. There will always be some "residuals" and resultant odours, in the tank after pump out. I replaced my tank with stainless. If you do not want to replace your tank, cap the pump out fitting and use the macerator fitting for pump out.