R23 Emergency - Holding Tank and Thru Hull Drains

[RThorn]

Long story. We went to pump out today and the pump was wired backwards! It ended up over pressurizing our holding tank. I heard a loud bang and started looking around. Everything looked ok until i checked the bilge area. We had about 20 gallons of raw sewage that was pumped into our boat. Don't know why it didnt get pumped out of the vent unless it was plugged but thats another story. We have stared flushing and pumping the water out but the area around the gas tank will not drain. I have ran a long piece of wire from the bilge area forward about 12" and still no drainage.

Is the area around the fuel tank "contained" so that if there were a fuel leak it would not go to the bilge? I need to figure out the best way to finish rinsing/purging and disinfecting my bilge.

The R23 owners manual doesnt show all of the drains and how they connect!

I want to be able to flush from the shower area towards the bilge so I can clean and disinfect the whole area.
.
Then to need to find out what brake and how to get to it for repair.

A great 3 days ends in a miserable sh^*&^* failure!

 

[watson1987]

I'm sorry I can't help concerning the drains, but can you share which marina this happened at? I see you are in WA, I want to stay clear

The holes you are referring to are called limber/weeping holes, which might help your search. Some threads on the forum are trying to find them on an R25.

 

[RThorn]

Thanks for the leads. No finger pointing until I know more details tomorrow.

 

[glider4]

I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through trying to get everything cleaned up and the boats plumbing fixed. So, so sorry!
We use the portable pump out at Squalicum Marina in Bellingham at least once on every cruise. If you haven’t used a portable pump out unit before they can be a bit daunting.
The instructions on that unit copied from the Ports website:
“To Empty Boat:
1. Take pump-out cart to boat and SET THE BRAKES ON THE WHEELS.
2. Plug cart into 30 amp shore-power receptacle.
3. Put nozzle in the holding tank deck port and OPEN colored valve
handle (*FIG. A).
4. Turn switch to FILL position (*FIG. B).
5. Holding the nozzle in the deck port, pump out the holding tank.
6. When you are finished emptying the holding tank, turn the switch
to OFF and CLOSE colored valve handle.
To Empty Cart:
1. Take cart to discharge station(*FIG. C)
2. REMOVE rubber nipple from nozzle and attach to the discharge
fitting.
3. OPEN colored valve handle (Note: it is very important to open
the valve before turning the cart on. Failure to do so will cause
the hose to rupture under pressure.)
4. Plug in cart.
5. TURN and HOLD switch on cart to empty position.
6. Please return cart to enclosure when you are finished.”

https://www.portofbellingham.com/Docume ... ONS?bidId=

What could be confusing is that the portable pump switch needs to be turned to FILL to empty your black water tank. I can see where someone would think you’ld need to select EMPTY switch position instead. The EMPTY function would pump whatever is in the portable pumpout’s tank (including air) right into the boat’s black water tank!
Fortunately, the portable pumpout hose at Squalicum Harbor has a clear ring right next to the nozzle at the boat that lets you see the direction of flow. Most marinas also have pumpouts hoses with clear rings so you can check the flow direction. I think those clear rings should be mandatory for all pumpouts.
If this was a fault of a marina’s pumpout system (either portable or fixed) I’d be going to them for assistance to get the mess cleaned up.
Good luck!

 

[RThorn]

This one was not wired properly. IT had a hand and an auto switch. Problem seems to been that when you select hand it reverses the rotation of the pump. From all of my power plant days "hand" meant "Manual" Operation, Auto meant "automatic" operation.

Appears they used a 3-phase switch so if you chose "hand" the pump ran backwards!





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[RThorn]

In the process of cleaning up my sewage mess, I have standing "water": around my fuel tank. I ran a wire through the limber hole from the bilge to the area that appears to be under the fuel tank but it still won't drain

Does this drain go under the fuel tank area and NOT drain the area around the fuel tank?

 

[RThorn]

99% of the mess is cleaned up. Sure enough the limber hole from the fuel tank area to the aft bilge was plugged up. I rodded that out and hit it with high pressure water to backflush.

Put my shop vac to good use cleaning the bilge, each time stopping to haul about 4 gallons of "water" to the marine toilet to dump

I mixed up a bleach solution and liberally applied it to the bilge and over the top of the fuel tank. Then I thoroughly washed from all directions to distribute the bleach solution to all nooks and crannies. Sucked the bilge dry two more times.

Wiped the whole interior of the boat down.

Now i need to cut an access whole in the plywood floor that is accessible from the front of the cave to give me my first look at the top of my holding tank.

I found one other clue today. My red light is on that says my holding tank is full (good news there it shows I didnt rupture the side of my tank). I ran my macerator pump and i got an initial burst of water and then nothing. I tied opening and closing the valve and starting/stopping the pump several times. The pump runs but no water with a full holding tank (full of water!).

Is it possible we blew the macerator line off of the elbow at the top of the tank when we overfilled/pressurized the holding tank? Hopefully I can see something definite tomorrow then I can talk to ranger tugs on Monday about repair options.

Has anyone else ever had to access the black water holding tank on the R23? How did you get to it?

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

I’m jot sure if you can access the tank, but the hoses to the tank run under the refrigerator on mine. Maybe you can access through there.

I have a video here where I removed the fridge to troubleshoot my trim tab switch.

https://youtu.be/CItpMGAsCcc


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