bladder holding tank installation

[Geoffrey Jackson]

Our 1975 Catalina 27 has a bladder holding tank installed under the stbd settee. It's fairly small - about 12 gal. It lies on the curve of the hull, so it's on a slant. The inlet, vent, and pumpout hoses are all attached to the same side of the bladder - the high side.The problem is that pumping out this bladder tank is a big pain. I have to hook up the pumpout hose, then tilt the bladder various directions to get everything sucked out. The bladder pumpout hole tends to form a seal against the opposite side of the bladder when suction is applied, so I have to work the bladder at different angles to break the seal.Is there a better way to fix up one of these bladder tanks? Unfortunately, space doesn't allow for a hard tank.Thanks for any advice.

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Don't rule out a hard tank yet...

The main problem with your system is, the discharge fitting is in the wrong place on the tank. If it were in the right place, the tank would empty before the walls could be sucked in. However, I would NOT recommend moving the discharge fitting on a bladder.Ronco Plastics (link below) makes top quality thick walled tanks for a VERY reasonable price and has more than 400 shapes and sizes--over 100 of which are non-rectangular, including long triangular shapes to lie along hull, so you could end up with even more capacity than you have now (and btw, Ronco makes OEM tanks for Catalina). Check 'em out.

 

[jcherubini]

Gotta go with Peggie on this one,

I found a rigid plastic tank 14x10x24" holding tank in the Defender catalogue (and they are not even always the cheapest) for 60-something bucks. The size is perfect for under the vee berth with room below and beside it to access the depth and speedo thruhulls. Easy enough to move fittings if they're a problem.This holds about 14 gallons. The head will go directly to the tank, but I am hooking up BOTH tank-to-deck-pumpout AND tank-to-overboard discharge lines for both contingencies so hopefully having a stuffed tank is not going to be very common.Something about bladder tanks always worries me anyway. Call it neurosis, but....JC 2

 

[Geoffrey Jackson]

The Ronco catalog is overwhelming

I downloaded the Ronco catalog and spent some time looking through it. It looks like there are some good tank choices for the available space. I'll have to do some careful measuring to figure out if a couple of the curved shapes will work.Has anyone ordered one of the Ronco holding tanks for a Catalina 27?

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Ronco supplies OEM tanks to Catalina

And has for many years. Give 'em a call, ask for Rich. Just keep in mind that Catalina's choice of tank size and location is not necessarily the BEST choice.