Peggy -
I thought I'd do a post on my experience chasing down head odors on my boat to say "thank you!" and in case anyone else runs into what I did.
Shortly after we bought our boat (a Lazyjack 32 schooner), we had a leak in the head plumbing at the point that the hose from the toilet entered the holding tank. The tank was plumbed here, and also at the discharge from the tank to the y-valve, with short sections of PVC pipe. The leak occurred in one of the PVC connections. The holding tank, a small 9 gallon poly tank, sits on a fiberglass panel above the bilge under the v-berth.
I removed the PVC sections, put in new hoses and tank fittings, and per your book (which we bought, it's great) cleaned everything. The only things I didn't replace at that point were the y-valve and the tank itself. As an aside, based on the book we double-checked the tank vent and found it was almost completely blocked so cleaned that out too. Subsequently replaced the y-valve when it became apparent it was seeping, and cleaned everything again.
But we still had an occasional odor problem that pervaded the boat. You could even smell it every once and awhile on deck with the boat closed up - at least I knew I was getting ventilation through the dorades. Again per your book I cleaned the bilges a second time and sprayed everything down with KO. Still no luck. Since there are parts of the bilge we can't access below the cabin sole, I got a long narrow bottle brush to run down beneath the sole and poured LOTS of liquid cleaner and fresh water everywhere I could and then pumped the bilges and ran fans pointed below to dry everything out. Still no luck.
I finally started thinking that I was going to have to replace the tank. We'd like to put in a bigger one but there's no room to do so. Anyway, that got me to thinking about how I'd install it, and I realized that if the tank is sitting on top of a panel over the bilge, it could be possible that the original leakage had dripped between the tank and the panel. It was the only place I could think of that I hadn't cleaned. So, I shimmed the empty tank up so I could get underneath it, and sure enough, I could see just enough to see mold. So got to it with cleaner, the bottle brush and fresh water, and, problem solved.
So, when you say you have to clean EVERYWHERE, you're dead on right. And for anyone else chasing elusive odors, I recommend (a) buy Peggy's book, (b) do what it says, (c) read the threads on this board, and do what they say, and (d) remember that just because your tank (or other things for that matter) sit on a surface doesn't mean that black water can't get underneath them, and clean there too.
Thanks again!
Mike Turner
Lazyjack 32 schooner "Mary'Lis"
Mobile Bay, Alabama
I thought I'd do a post on my experience chasing down head odors on my boat to say "thank you!" and in case anyone else runs into what I did.
Shortly after we bought our boat (a Lazyjack 32 schooner), we had a leak in the head plumbing at the point that the hose from the toilet entered the holding tank. The tank was plumbed here, and also at the discharge from the tank to the y-valve, with short sections of PVC pipe. The leak occurred in one of the PVC connections. The holding tank, a small 9 gallon poly tank, sits on a fiberglass panel above the bilge under the v-berth.
I removed the PVC sections, put in new hoses and tank fittings, and per your book (which we bought, it's great) cleaned everything. The only things I didn't replace at that point were the y-valve and the tank itself. As an aside, based on the book we double-checked the tank vent and found it was almost completely blocked so cleaned that out too. Subsequently replaced the y-valve when it became apparent it was seeping, and cleaned everything again.
But we still had an occasional odor problem that pervaded the boat. You could even smell it every once and awhile on deck with the boat closed up - at least I knew I was getting ventilation through the dorades. Again per your book I cleaned the bilges a second time and sprayed everything down with KO. Still no luck. Since there are parts of the bilge we can't access below the cabin sole, I got a long narrow bottle brush to run down beneath the sole and poured LOTS of liquid cleaner and fresh water everywhere I could and then pumped the bilges and ran fans pointed below to dry everything out. Still no luck.
I finally started thinking that I was going to have to replace the tank. We'd like to put in a bigger one but there's no room to do so. Anyway, that got me to thinking about how I'd install it, and I realized that if the tank is sitting on top of a panel over the bilge, it could be possible that the original leakage had dripped between the tank and the panel. It was the only place I could think of that I hadn't cleaned. So, I shimmed the empty tank up so I could get underneath it, and sure enough, I could see just enough to see mold. So got to it with cleaner, the bottle brush and fresh water, and, problem solved.
So, when you say you have to clean EVERYWHERE, you're dead on right. And for anyone else chasing elusive odors, I recommend (a) buy Peggy's book, (b) do what it says, (c) read the threads on this board, and do what they say, and (d) remember that just because your tank (or other things for that matter) sit on a surface doesn't mean that black water can't get underneath them, and clean there too.
Thanks again!
Mike Turner
Lazyjack 32 schooner "Mary'Lis"
Mobile Bay, Alabama
