For new boat owners: waste water management

[Hydraulicjump]

To the veteran boat owners and boaters, we should offer simple bits of useful (and occasionally useless) advice to new Ranger Tug owners. It was sure great when we joined the cult. But I am suggesting we make these posts with an easy to search subject line for new (or prospective) owners. That is my "For new boat owners:..." line above. I am thinking about veterans like Jim Favors and Mike Rizzo who have, through experience and many, many hours in these boats, developed a mental list of "you really should think about's." It is a way to organize expertise.

So I will start with wastewater management because it is fresh on my mind after working on the boat this morning. Here are three salient things I have learned over the pre- and current Ranger Tug experience (others add in as you see fit):

1) salt water stinks, fresh water stinks a lot less less (and airheads stink even less, so I am told). Flushing your toilet with salt water after your boat has been sitting for a bit produces a foul order that you cannot blame on the dog. It draws in all the awful stuff that has been sitting in the raw water connection to the toilet and seems to cover the walls of the cockpit with a fine mist of awfulness. It also adds nutrients and organics to your holding tank which eventually turns to stink. Other than an Airhead (which I am not experienced with), your best bet is to use salt water only when you have to--meaning when you are cruising and need to conserve fresh water--and fresh water when you can easily refill. There are lots of clever people with time on their hands who plumb their systems to flush only fresh water, which is problematic on a cruise to Alaska when every drop counts. But a simple, low tech solution is to flush your toilet in the marina with fresh water using the pull out faucet in the head. On all of the tugs, there is a combination of buttons that empty the toilet bowl with no inflow. Pull out the faucet, turn on fresh water into the bowl, hit empty only (on our Techma it is hold down both buttons simultaneously) and bingo, no smell and it is better for the holding tank. And it keeps the bowl clean.

2) don't trust the holding tank gauge. Many of us have had this "poopocalypse" moment when we thought we had room to spare and did not. It is, to quote the dead king's ghost in Hamlet "murder most foul." We have gone to a simple, low-tech solution. We have a $5 digital counter next to our flush button. On our boat, one flush is a bit less than one gallon according to the specs. And when we get to about 2/3 of capacity, it is time to pump out. And a bonus warning: be sure to keep the seal on the pump out hose very tight otherwise crapageddon happens on your pants. And no one will want to be your friend. Even your dog.

3) Believe the hype on this website about filters for your vent line. Those moments when your holding tank shares its nuclear workings with others...like when you are rafted to a friend on a windless day, or tied up in some high end fancy marina next to movie stars and captains of industry with really ostentatious big boats, and you flush... and flowers wilt, gelcoat fades, dogs look guilty, and spouses threaten divorce. It is time to fix this problem. This website has super simple charcoal filter designs or you can just buy one online. It is soooo worth it if you do any cruising or spend lots of days aboard and it takes an hour to build one and an hour to install it. And it works infinitely better than pouring funny smelling chemicals into your holding tank. Note that it will not solve the problem of foul smells when you flush the toilet with salt water after sitting for awhile (use fresh water instead), but it really makes a difference.

Those are my three: use fresh water whenever possible, don't trust your gauges, and install a filter. Others weigh in on this weighty matter or start a new string on something else with "For new boat owners:".

Jeff

 

[scross]

Jeff,
Thanks for broaching this subject.

We have installed the carbon vent filter and it works great for reducing vent odors. I highly recommend installing a vent filter if you haven’t done so already.

We are of the opinion that the limiting factor for long duration cruising in our RT25 Classic is not fuel or fresh water capacity’s but it’s the capacity of the black water holding tank.

We are planning a 30 day cruise into Desolation Sound this summer with one leg going 11 days between pump out facilities. I am concerned that this part of our trip might exceed the 30 gallon capacity of the black water holding tank. So, we are considering using a camping toilet gel bag product inserted into the toilet to convert liquid into a solid that can be discretely stored along with our regular trash a big bag in the cockpit area.

Has anyone else used this type of solution? Other ideas??

 

[Brian B]

Here's my original post from 2013 on how to make a waste tank filter.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3921&hilit=+waste
I think I have changed the charcoal about 4 times in all these years now.

 

[BB marine]

I agree Jeff on the fresh water flush. I did convert over to all fresh water flush. I was told by Raritan that tank odors are increased from salt water flush. Using fresh water along with a good waste tank treatment ( I use Odorlos ) should maintain the odors to a minimum. Good flushing while at the pump out is a must. While we are at the pump out station I handle the pump out hose and my wife cycles the head flushing it multi-able times to clean out any waste in the hose going to the tank. Once the tank is empty I let the shore water hose run into the tank and add about 5" of water to the tank and pump out again. I finalize the pump out by adding half the amount of Odorlos to the tank and few gallons of water cleaning the the pump out hose from deck fitting to waste tank and making sure the treatment is in the tank . I then pour the other half of the Odorlos in the head and flush. The C26 from the head to waste tank the hose installation holds close to a gallon of waste when the boat is at rest. So far after 3 seasons of use we have no odor coming from the vent and no filter installed.Only fresh water used for flushing.

The fresh water flush doesn't use as much water as you would think. When I changed over to fresh water I also found out that Fluid Motion advertises the fresh water tank as 40 gallons but in reality it is only 30 gallons. I was concerned we would run out of water because the freshwater flush would use so much. I honestly can't say I noticed a difference in water usage. I know we are but it is minimal. Two other advantages 1) less chance of sucking air into the engine raw water cooling. 2) I have a good engine flush port now utilizing the fitting on the sea strainer that was for the head.

The tank level is monitored by sight. The installation on our boat is in the aft and is visible. I monitor it while checking the bilge and engine each day while on board. This system has never failed us.

If I ever find the need for a waste tank filter vent I will use the home made version that Brian B uses. I like proven home made projects!

 

[CaspersCruiser]

My R27 is the first boat I’ve owned with a holding tank. Here’s a newbie holding tank mistake I made last year: During winterization, after I cycled anti-freeze through the overboard discharge pump, I failed to return the holding tank selector valve to the “pumpout” position.

About ten weeks later, I trailered the boat to Florida to cruise a section of the Great Loop and didn’t detect my error during launch prep. After a couple days on the water, I tried to pump out the holding tank with the valve in the “overboard” position. Of course that didn’t work, but I couldn’t figure out the problem. A post on Tugnuts about not being able to pumpout brought several replys and a PM pointing out my error. The REAL issue would have been the fine that would have been assessed if I had been stopped and inspected by law enforcement or the USCG with the holding tank selector inadvertently in the “overboard” position.

I think threads like this one are a great idea. In the aviation world, most operations have an Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). Pilots, mechanics, and dispatchers can, without retribution from the company or FAA, report issues and inadvertent rule violations through ASAP. Quarterly reports are issued highlighting mistakes made so that others can understand why the mistake was made and not repeat it. You can rest assured I won’t repeat my holding tank mistake and I hope that others reading this will not make the same error. Now if I could just get a detailed, illustrated systems and operations manual for my boat similar to those published by airplane manufacturers!

 

[baz]

CaspersCruiser: Thank you very much for this reminder. 🙂

 

[S. Todd]

Not only will having the overboard selector lever in the wrong place get you a citation but not having it locked in the correct position is a problem worthy of a citation. I understand that locking it with a zip tie is sufficient to satisfy the law enforcement personnel and is the method I use.

 

[quinsky]

Advice from a Germaphobe.... When you use shore water to flush the tank, don't let the nozzle touch the pumpout fitting. This will prevent cross contamination when someone uses it to fill their fresh water tank.

 

[BB marine]

Advice from a Germaphobe.... When you use shore water to flush the tank, don't let the nozzle touch the pumpout fitting. This will prevent cross contamination when someone uses it to fill their fresh water tank.

Amen to that! I have sanitizing handy wipes readily available when doing the process. Most pump outs have a dedicated hose just for flushing. Warning don't touch the end of it !

 

[oneeyedjackass]

A MUST READ! only $10 on amazon
"The New Get Rid of Boat Odors, 2nd Edition: A Boat Owner’s Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BW2ZSTW/ref=oh_aui_d_asin_title_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Wildcats]

I agree with the advice to 1) use fresh water only to flush 2) don't trust the gauge and 3) use a vent filter.

Our RT has a Tecma toilet and unfortunately when we first purchased it we discovered the hard way that the tank monitor didn't work. I know of other RT owners who have had this same experience. The Tecma otherwise flushes and works well.

We don't use a tank vent filter but haven't had to. Most tank holding odors come from anerobic bacteria that produce sulfides. We read in several places that NoFlex, an oxidizer that changes the anerobic process to an aerobic one. We have had essential no odors and the walls of the tank are much cleaner since we started using it.

We also rinse our tank multiple times at the time of pumpout which we think helps with tank cleanliness and odor.

 

[pandron]

Question about vent filters: We are new R23 owners and I believe our boat has a vent filter on the holding tank. There is at least an ~15" long black cylinder located below/behind the sink in-line with a white tube. On one of our weekend trips, while learning that an 11 gallon holding tank is fairly small, we filled it to capacity and definitely burped some black water out the vent (as folks have noted there's really no way to tell how full the tank is until it's too full). Anyway, my question is, do I need to replace the vent filter now that I likely ran black water through it? I'm guessing the answer is "of course".

Cheers,
Paul

 

[scross]

Paul, If its a sealed filter you definitely need to replace it. You could buy another sealed filter or make a new one yourself. If it’s not sealed just take it apart, clean it, then put in new screen and new charcoal! In my home built one it takes about 30 minutes start to finish to change the charcoal.

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

I'm not a fan of the filters. Totally agree on the other two points. On my sailboat, we knew that if we started to smell the flush, then it was getting time to pump out the tank. Odorloss or other enzyme based breakdown solutions will help to manage t he smell. Nothing sucks more than a clogged filter... well almost nothing.

Bob