Waste Tank Odor - Intake - Cutwater 30

[dialtone]

Hello. I am getting a rotten sea water odor when flushing the toilet. The smell is coming up everywhere except the head (aft area, main cabin, berth).

My thought is this is rotten sea water. If I flush a lot, use the boat, etc. the smell goes away over time.

I try to get to the boat weekly to start, flush, etc. but in case I don't : any ideas on how to stop the smell?

Couple of questions,

1) Is there a filter you recommend installing? I'm assuming you install this after the sea strainer?

2) Is there any sort of inline chlorine tab you can install? Or what about putting a chlorine tab simply in the sea strainer? Will that eat the rubber hoses too much?

Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[pugtug613]

You would have to use a fresh water flush. I have the same problem. I am thinking about re plumbing the flush to the fresh water tank. I need to make certain you can't contaminate the tank. I guess a check valve would work? Wouldn't be too hard. Just tee off one of the hoses and go to the intake of the head and close off the thru hull. It does stink!

 

[linedoctor]

This was discussed back in September. Search "big orange" in the forum for some ideas.

 

[pugtug613]

Big orange is for the smell coming out of the vent. I have that and it works fine. The smell from the flush water is very strong and it happens from the smelly salt water. If you use the wash down hose in the cockpit you will get that same smell. YUCK! Salt water flush is always smelly. Unless you live on the boat and the fresh water is hard to get, the only way to eliminate that is a fresh water flush. A simple way to determine if it will work is to close the thru hull and flush the head until the water stops coming in. Then use the hand held spray from the sink and use that to flush. But remember, the same thru hull is used for the engine, wash down and the head. That's why I say temporary.

 

[dialtone]

Hmm. I believe the thru hull fitting on my Cutwater 30 feeds the A/C, johnson pump, and head. I have a different thru hull to the sea strainer to the engine.

I'll look up big orange. I'd still like to use sea water but just need to kill down the bacteria a bit when it sits.

 

[dialtone]

One other note: I'm definitely going to change the johnson deck pump to freshwater. That way after you cruise to a destination you can wash off the deck and dry before dinner.

 

[pugtug613]

Salt water = smelly flush. It's as simple as that. Unless you can figure out how to run some bleach thru the intake line, it will smell. You have many organisms in there to get all nasty and smelly. I'm going with a tee connection and a check valve.

 

[ronnieg]

Hi everyone,
I am not aware of anything that will keep the seawater smell out of the flush. If you are looking at going to a fresh water flush aside from a Tee in the line you will need to add a flush solenoid to the back of the toilet to help keep the head from filling with fresh water from the pressure side.

 

[dialtone]

I've been going down to the boat once a week, flushing a bunch, and keeping the waste tank mostly empty (pump out, some fresh water in, pump out). Since doing this smell has subsided. Cheers.

 

[wthron]

Interesting article on Marine Head oders. Guess one should check if recommended products are reasonably safe in a marine environment. Sailboat relatives found this very effective!

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... ?docId=666

Short summary:

To clean the holding tank and kill bacteria do the following:

Rinse and flush the holding tank after each pump out. This will help to dilute any residual sewage and thereby reduce odors.
Use one cup of liquid Calgon Water Softener or 2 cups of powder Calgon Water Softener to two gallons of hot water. Then, pour the solution down the drain into the empty tank. Then use the tank normally until it is full and then pump it out normally. You should add the water softener and the laundry detergent to the black-water tank after each pump-out and after you have rinsed the black-water tank.
Occasionally, pour a gallon of liquid bleach into the tank to sanitize and disinfect it will kill odor and germs in the tank.

 

[Stella Maris]

A simple solution to this problem: https://www.airheadtoilet.com

 

[rick&sue]

After reading all ugliness and nasties associated with the head and holding tank system, and looking at the condition of the system in my "new" to me boat - I ripped it all out and ordered a Airhead last week. - I hope it is half as good as I read on the forums..... 😉

 

[dialtone]

Please keep me in loop on airhead. I've been mostly pleased with the quasi solution of using toilet once a week, rinsing waste tank with fresh, and in general just keeping the system flowing. I have also been using the blue stuff from west marine but in packet form once in a while.

 

[Lobo]

Popeye:

Did you rip out your holding tank as well? If you did -- can you get access to the stern thruster easier? I'm planning on putting in a composting toilet this spring -- and access to the thruster motor would be an additional treat as I've just again had to change my rear shear pin.

Dave Trace
LOBO

 

[elan]

Good evening diletone,
Your problem is very common with heads that use salt water to flush. Without going into tooooooooooo much detail the smell is from small sea animals that are almost msicropic that are retained in the rim of the toilet that allow salt water to clean the bowl when you flush.
When on board depending how much you use the boat, just pour some white vinegar in the bowl & flush.
The white vinegar kills the critters & the smell goes away!
When on the boat for more than a week, just do it weakley, if you leave the boat for a period do it before you leave, then flush with fresh salt water when you return.
Hope this helps.
Mike
M/V Elan
2012 Cutwater

 

[lotsofspareparts]

Popeye:

Did you rip out your holding tank as well? If you did -- can you get access to the stern thruster easier? I'm planning on putting in a composting toilet this spring -- and access to the thruster motor would be an additional treat as I've just again had to change my rear shear pin.

Dave Trace
LOBO

The holding tank on the CW-30 is forward, under the V-Berth, not in the same location as your R-25. The answer to your question is yes. If the holding tank on the R-25 were removed there would be great access to the stern thruster through the engine compartment.

Jared

 

[doke01]

From experience, removing the tank from an R-25 is difficult since the engine gets in the way (we have the 125 HP Yanmar). You would actually need to cut it up to remove it from our boat. Also, once it is removed accessing the thruster is pretty much impossible because you can't bend your body in a way that would allow you to get into the space. Sure, it's nice and open but the angles just don't work. A kid or someone kid sized might be able to do it but for a normal sized person it is almost impossible.

 

[dialtone]

FYI - waste tank odor continues to NOT be a problem. Simply flushing it weekly. I've also been making a point to back fill waste tank exhaust hose with fresh water and dump regularly.