Head Maintanence

[Hooper]

I just recently purchased a 1986 Catalina 30. The boat is immaculate but the head does smell. It has a chemical type smell. I was wondering how I could get rid of it. The head was barely ever used by the previous owner and the holding tank is empty. It had recent changes of the lines so I don't think thats the problem. What should I do?

 

[Bruce Harkness]

Head smell

On thing you might check is the venting. It comes through some small holes in the lifeline stanchions that can get easily plugged by mud daubers.

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

I don't think the vent is clogged

If it were, you'd have back-pressure from the tank when you flush the head and whole bunch of other problems you don't want to think about.If the odor is only IN the head, there could be trapped dead/decaying sealife in the rim of the bowl. Disconnect the intake hose from the seacock (close it first!), stick it in a bucket of fresh water heavily laced with C.P. and flush it through the head.Or it may not be the head at all...it could be the shower sump...for some reason, it never occurs to anyone to clean it. Again, C.P. will do a great job...its bio-enzymatic cleaners kill odor on contact and "eat" soap scum, hair, body oils ("bathtub ring" stuff) as well as clean out the primordial soup that grows in wet dark places--and STINKS.If neither of those turn out to be the problem, get back to me. We'll keep hunting till we find it and cure it.