Fresh/Black Water

[Plymouth Sailor]

Dear Fellow Wind Riders,

My previous boat - Hunter 25 - had a simple plumbing system, last year I bought an Irwin 28 which has a more complicated plumbing system. I need advice and wisdom please: I have three tanks under the forward berth, one for waste water, and two for each of two sinks. A main tube goes up to the deck where a water fill is. Do I need to fill - at least partially - the waste water tan?

 

[dLj]

I'm not 100% understanding your photos, but I'm on my phone so they may be easier to understand on a larger screen.

Do the two water tanks fill from the same fresh water inlet? I'd make sure if that's the case. That would mean they are tied together inside. Check you hose connections.

One image looked like you have a typical Y valve for waste, in one position the waste goes into the holding tank, in the other position you would be dumping directly over board through a thru hull. There should be a hose connection going to a waste pump out connected to the tank. That is used to pump that tank out, not to put water in. Use of that system is what brings liquids etc. into that tank. When you do pump outs, they will pump water in and out during the pump out to help clean that tank but you don't put water in to start.

Your opening line threw me with "fellow Wind riders" as I used to own a windrider sailboat... They don't have any tankage, at least none I've seen...

dj

 

[Stu Jackson]

Selecting a Sanitation System | West Marine

Visit West Marine for step-by-step instructions from the experts to bring your inboard/outboard out of hibernation and prepare it for the season ahead.

www.westmarine.com

 

[Tally Ho]

Most of our photos appear to be for you waste system…a holding tank (blue), a Y valve (2nd photo) and I don’t know what the first photo is.

With a Y valve in your system, your waste system give you the option of discharging overboard (if legal) or pumping out at a pump station…the pumpout is through a deck fill.

You definitely need to determine which deck fills are for what tanks. Dumping fuel in a water or holding tank is a mess, and you sure don’t want to get waste in your potable water tanks.

On my boat (O’Day 322), I have a holding tank with pumpout hose (no overboard discharge on the Great Lakes), 2 water tanks - one on each side of the salon, and each with a deck fill on the port starboard sides, and a fuel tank with a deck fill. My fill caps are color coded (red for fuel, blue for water and black for sewage).

Sounds like you need to spend a day just crawling around your new boat getting to know the systems.

lots of fun!

Greg

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

All the hoses--water and waste--are in need of replacement, but it's entirely possible that your sanitation system is more complex than it needs to be. I'm trying read the label--upside down in your photos--on the blue device labelled SaniHead...I need more info to know what the heck it is! Can you post what that label says?

Do not put any water into the waste holding tank except to rinse it out after pumpout. You'll do that by putting about 6" of water into the tank via the deck pumpout fitting, pump that out...repeat 2 or 3 times.

Each of your water tanks should have a fill fitting on a side deck...there should also be a deck pumpout fitting and a fuel fill fitting. Each of these should have "water" "waste" or "fuel" embossed into its flange. Be sure to make note of which fitting you're about to open 'cuz you don't want to pump out a water tank or add water to a fuel tank.
It looks as if the hose from the y-valve that leads to a thru-hull (allowing direct overboard discharge from the the toilet)) has been cut off...that's a good thing because it's illegal to discharge toilet waste directly overboard in all US waters. You must be in open sea at least 3 miles from the nearest point on the whole US coastline to discharge a toilet directly overboard or dump a holding tank legally.

Once you've been able to figure out what everything is, what it does and where all the hoses go, I'll be glad to help you sort out what you need and what you don't.

--Peggie