How much Black Water does the average person produce in a day? (Not drinking too much beer or wine) I will have 3 people on board and want to be able to stay out in protected waters for 3-4 days. What size of holding tank do I need? We are conservative consumers...
Black Water Holding Tank
- Thread starter hodge3000
- Start date
Well, if you are considering adding to your holding tank I think the idea really boils down to how much holding tank can you actually add!
You can never have too much tankage. And the tankage you have is just that, the all you have. I'd suggest that you develop a plan to deal with what you have.
With that said, IF you refrain from pumping sea water when you pee and teach all you crew how to minimize the pumping of sea water when it is not pee you can reasonably get by on 5 gal/person/day. This also assumes that you don't get crew with Montezuma revenge and limit your "fresh water intake"
The wife and I routinely spend the weekend away from a pumpout and don't even come close to filling the 40 gal holding tank. weekend means Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday till late afternoon.
You can never have too much tankage. And the tankage you have is just that, the all you have. I'd suggest that you develop a plan to deal with what you have.
With that said, IF you refrain from pumping sea water when you pee and teach all you crew how to minimize the pumping of sea water when it is not pee you can reasonably get by on 5 gal/person/day. This also assumes that you don't get crew with Montezuma revenge and limit your "fresh water intake"
The wife and I routinely spend the weekend away from a pumpout and don't even come close to filling the 40 gal holding tank. weekend means Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday till late afternoon.
I have a 13 gallon tank. I do just about all of the three-day holiday weekends with 4 aboard. "12 people-days" is how i refer to it. I've not tried for 4 days, but maybe I did on a DelMarVa circumnavigation?
You can set your options, like if your paper is wet-only, put it in the trash. Paper dirtied by "deposits", I can flush. Others place ALL paper in a zip-lock. I don't know how much real space the paper takes up, but I figure anything saved is good. If there is dry paper in the bowl to be flushed, I find it is better to use the sink spray (yes, uses fresh water) to wet the paper- and make it flushable- while using less water. Come to think of it, a pressure salt-water pump to use only in the bowl might help? If someone goes swimming, then has to pee when they get back on board, well...
You can set your options, like if your paper is wet-only, put it in the trash. Paper dirtied by "deposits", I can flush. Others place ALL paper in a zip-lock. I don't know how much real space the paper takes up, but I figure anything saved is good. If there is dry paper in the bowl to be flushed, I find it is better to use the sink spray (yes, uses fresh water) to wet the paper- and make it flushable- while using less water. Come to think of it, a pressure salt-water pump to use only in the bowl might help? If someone goes swimming, then has to pee when they get back on board, well...
You can easily do 3 days with 4 people on a 15 gallon tank, likely less. The key is training the crew on the flush procedure. For #1 you want them to evacuate the bowl (ladies get to rinse paper) with one end-of-day flush by the Head Captain (you). That is maybe 2 gals for 4 people per day. #2 works out to an additional 2 gallons (0.5 gals per person). You have to remind them that you are not at home, and the system works differently. This isn't so much a capacity problem as it is a boat systems training thing. And yes, the boys have to sit down, and no, there will be no "hovering" ladies. We have to have rules. In the face of so many rules, guys often enjoy the liberty of a stroll to the leeward shroud, where the rules are simple don't hit the boat.
don't hit the boat.
The average adult uses the toilet 5x/24 hrs...avg "deposit:" .6 gal waste/flush water combined. That adds up to an avg of 3 gal/person/day. Flush water conservation, swimming and/or discreet use of the lee rail. and trips ashore can reduce that...but it's unlikely you'd be able to reduce the volume by more than about 20%.
That should give you enough information to be able to do the math needed to determine what size tank you'll need to last you 4 days...or whether to just plan to come in after 2-3 days for fuel or ice or a shower you can let run long enough to get ALL the soap off.
My wife and I liveaboard full time. We have a 20 gallon holding tank. In general we go about 6-8 days between pump outs. We are very conservative with flush water and do use shore facilities when showering and at work. When we go cruising we are usually down to 4-6 days between pump outs.
If you are cruising in the US I would be very surprised to not find pump out facilities or boats pretty easy. In the Northeast, almost every harbor has a pumpout boat that will come to you and empty out the tank. They are all funded with grant money from the EPA and part of that grant is they are not supposed to charge or only charge a small fee for the pumpout.
If you are cruising in the US I would be very surprised to not find pump out facilities or boats pretty easy. In the Northeast, almost every harbor has a pumpout boat that will come to you and empty out the tank. They are all funded with grant money from the EPA and part of that grant is they are not supposed to charge or only charge a small fee for the pumpout.
what is the norm on modest/small fees and also are all pump out boats funded by the epa and how would one know
There is 128oz in one gallon. That is 10.7 beers, or 9 beers and two hefty glasses of wine. Including coffee and water I would say my daily fluids intake would be inside 1.5 gallons. The ambient weather will make a difference as in the tropics we tend to sweat more than we may pass through our kidneys. If you control the amount of flushing I would say a single person would do fine with an allocation of 2 gallons per day all inclusive. We practice conservation and whenever possible or decorous we use the outside toilet.
In Boston, every place we have been is free. In Hingham, our marina has a free pumpout station but it's always "broken" (the girls that work the fuel dock don't want to pump poo). But the Hingham Harbormaster has a pumpout boat that comes around a couple times a week for free.
In other places we have traveled I have only paid for a pumpout once. On the Cape Cod every place we went it was free. Same with Martha's Vineyard. New Hampshire and Maine same thing. In Rhode Island, when we first purchased our boat, we paid $5 per week for pumpout. That wasn't really for being pumped out but for being on a weekly list where they would come around and pump you out for free. If you called the guy on the VHF when you were on the boat he would pump you out for free.
Not all pump outs are funded by the EPA but a lot are supplemented by them. The EPA doesn't want them to charge because then it will be an excuse to not get pumped out and illegally discharge.
WOW! Actual logic! Who woulda thunk?!?
Paying for pump outs is a crime, or should be.
I am sure it was from a boater who just happened to work for the EPA. I can't see any grassroots logic from there. And I have dealt with them almost daily for the last 17 years of environmental consulting. Man I can't wait to quit. Only 70 more days!WOW! Actual logic! Who woulda thunk?!?
Paying for pump outs is a crime, or should be.