Hi Peggy,
You may remember me from our frequent discussions on the Hunter site around ten years ago. At the time, I lived in Cabo San Lucas, and I answered lots of posts regarding the Hunters, the older Cherubini's in particular, as I had owned one of those for about twenty years. I currently own and operate a charter catamaran in the BVI, and it has twin, plastic, holding tanks. It is a very simple system, duplicated in each of the twin hulls. Two electric Lavac toilets discharge into each holding tank. The holding tank discharges by gravity through an S shaped hose, about four feet long, out of the bottom of the hulls. The hoses are all 1 1/2 inch ID, and relatively new. The holding tank has two hoses going in from the two heads in each hull. There is a vent hose. There is the discharge hose at the bottom, and at the top there is another hose to a deck fill directly above the tank that allows introduction of water to clean the tank. There is no pump out hose, although the cleaning hose could be easily modified to go to the bottom of the tank. There is also an inspection port, but it is close to the deckhead, thus limited in utility. Finally, there is a "full tank" device that goes through its own cutout. Lots of holes, each with gaskets or hose clamps. Significantly, the cleaning hose is positioned in the top, directly over the disharge outlet, several feet below.
We have acquired a persistent and chronic clog. On two occasions, we have cleared it by blowing a very short burst of compressed air in from under the hull. On another occasion, I inserted a PVC pipe in the top of the cleaning port (not the inspection port, which is moderately useless) and worked it directly down into the discharge hose. I got it about a foot or so down the hose and gave a blast of high pressure water from the dockside. This dislodged whatever was in and forced it out. On another occasion, I worked the same pipe in and up from beneath the hull to the point where waste flowed out the pipe, rather like a stent in a clogged artery! On our most recent occasion, the pipe ran into something solid, but after a little poking, the solid thing, whitish, plopped out and went to the bottom, followed by......! I have also put a solution of muriactic acid in the tank and left it in overnight, this after clearing the clog, but with the hope of preventing another.
We are currently clogged, with the tank full. To discharge it, I plan on either putting the pipe up the discharge, or pumping out or the top, either by putting the pipe in at the top or maybe a hose through the inspection port. But, then what? I have disconnected the discharge hose at its top (bottom of the tank) a few weeks ago, and "rodded" it out, but didn't find much. My hypothesis is that there is, nonetheless, still some sort of barnacle or whatever, that can restrict the flow and trap toilet paper (we use only the dissolving kind), waste, or whatever, to the point that it is blocked. OR, perhaps, a tampon left by charter guests has expanded and is still somewhere in the system, notwithstanding the clearings in both directions....a bit hard to believe, but maybe there were several different bits.
The local hardware store sells a type of Hydrochloric Acid for land toilets....it says it will dissolve all sorts of deposits, including tampons. Would this be safe in a plastic tank with sanitation hose and a bronze sea-cock? Any other thoughts?
Cheers,
Tim
You may remember me from our frequent discussions on the Hunter site around ten years ago. At the time, I lived in Cabo San Lucas, and I answered lots of posts regarding the Hunters, the older Cherubini's in particular, as I had owned one of those for about twenty years. I currently own and operate a charter catamaran in the BVI, and it has twin, plastic, holding tanks. It is a very simple system, duplicated in each of the twin hulls. Two electric Lavac toilets discharge into each holding tank. The holding tank discharges by gravity through an S shaped hose, about four feet long, out of the bottom of the hulls. The hoses are all 1 1/2 inch ID, and relatively new. The holding tank has two hoses going in from the two heads in each hull. There is a vent hose. There is the discharge hose at the bottom, and at the top there is another hose to a deck fill directly above the tank that allows introduction of water to clean the tank. There is no pump out hose, although the cleaning hose could be easily modified to go to the bottom of the tank. There is also an inspection port, but it is close to the deckhead, thus limited in utility. Finally, there is a "full tank" device that goes through its own cutout. Lots of holes, each with gaskets or hose clamps. Significantly, the cleaning hose is positioned in the top, directly over the disharge outlet, several feet below.
We have acquired a persistent and chronic clog. On two occasions, we have cleared it by blowing a very short burst of compressed air in from under the hull. On another occasion, I inserted a PVC pipe in the top of the cleaning port (not the inspection port, which is moderately useless) and worked it directly down into the discharge hose. I got it about a foot or so down the hose and gave a blast of high pressure water from the dockside. This dislodged whatever was in and forced it out. On another occasion, I worked the same pipe in and up from beneath the hull to the point where waste flowed out the pipe, rather like a stent in a clogged artery! On our most recent occasion, the pipe ran into something solid, but after a little poking, the solid thing, whitish, plopped out and went to the bottom, followed by......! I have also put a solution of muriactic acid in the tank and left it in overnight, this after clearing the clog, but with the hope of preventing another.
We are currently clogged, with the tank full. To discharge it, I plan on either putting the pipe up the discharge, or pumping out or the top, either by putting the pipe in at the top or maybe a hose through the inspection port. But, then what? I have disconnected the discharge hose at its top (bottom of the tank) a few weeks ago, and "rodded" it out, but didn't find much. My hypothesis is that there is, nonetheless, still some sort of barnacle or whatever, that can restrict the flow and trap toilet paper (we use only the dissolving kind), waste, or whatever, to the point that it is blocked. OR, perhaps, a tampon left by charter guests has expanded and is still somewhere in the system, notwithstanding the clearings in both directions....a bit hard to believe, but maybe there were several different bits.
The local hardware store sells a type of Hydrochloric Acid for land toilets....it says it will dissolve all sorts of deposits, including tampons. Would this be safe in a plastic tank with sanitation hose and a bronze sea-cock? Any other thoughts?
Cheers,
Tim
