Holding Tank Skank

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Dennis Broome

Hey! My holding tank is stinking up the whole boat! Nothing I seem to do really helps. There doesn't appear to be a leak & the tank is pumped out on a regular basis. It seems to be even more "skanky" right after being pumped. Any advise?
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
You have stinkin' hose disease.

Dennis: We had the same problem on our H'31. I assume that you have the original hoses and they need to be replaced. When we replaced our hoses it was expensive ($8-10/ft) but no more odor for the last 6-8 years. This is NOT an easy chore, the new hose is not easy bend. Think about some type of lube on the hose when fitting thru the tunnels. Also you are in salt water and you get critter growth in the water intake. If you check in the Head Mistress forum, Ms Peggie has some very good advice. Be sure that you are using a good chemical in the system and make sure that your vent is clear. I alway backflush the vent line every time I pump the head. We tend to get mud daubbers and spiders growing in these type of places.
 
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Don

Steve said it all

Just re-hosed my '84 31. Rent a gas mask 'cuz working with those hoses is a god awful experience. The manual waste pump is also a culprit. Mine still reeks after 4 weeks in my backyard. There is an article in the archives here the author tell exactly how to do this job, e.g., what doors to remove etc. Follow his advice. I did not in the beginning but wound up doing it the same way. There is no shortcut here. Peggy recently wrote about a test using a wet rag that would tell if the hoses are "permeated" by the smell. Check the archives. Use the expensive hose by Sealand - this is a job you don't want to do again or wish on any future buyer. I sprayed silicon in the runs for the hoses but it's a very hard job. In fact, I cheated and heated one bend with a hair dryer. Peggy will surely get me for that one. Her suggestion for using dishwashing detergent on connections is also good. I also just cleaned the entire bilge this weekend. Filled the boat full from every available opening about 4 times, using every cleaning substance known to mankind. So far so good. No smell. I'm heading down tonight to check on the new fresh smelling bilge. Good luck. I'm guessing you're at Lake Norman. Used to be there myself at Kings Point. Email me if you want specific info @ dcdon@hotmail.com Good luck.
 
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Peggie Hall/HeadMistress

It prob'ly isn't your tank

It could be your sanitation hoses have permeated with odor. To find out if that's the culprit, wet a rag in HOT water...wring it out...wrap it around the hose. Leave it there till it cools...remove the rag and smell it. If you can smell the same odor on the rag, the hose has permeated and must be replaced. Test every section of hose, and use a different clan rag on each section. It's also possible, unless your tank is very thick-walled, that it's become permeated...test it the same way you test the hose...plaster the rag on a vertical wall. If the tank is aluminum, there's a good chance that it's leaking at a seam or a fitting if it's more than a few years old. Or...you may be leaving sea water to stagnate in your intake line and in the channel in the rim of the bowl. There's a very good fix for that in the article "Head Intake Odor" in the reference library in the Head Mistress forum. However, the sanitation system isn't the only source of boat odor. A wet bilge is a dark stagnant pond that breeds bacteria, molds and fungi which emit gasses that smell like a swamp (which, technically, it is) or even a sewer. Same is true of sumps. If you haven't cleaned--really CLEANED: scrubbed or power-washed with a heavy duty detergent bilge cleaner, and then rinsed till the water coming out is clean enough to drink--and THEN dried it out completely--in more than a year, I'd bet money that's at least part of your problem...'cuz you'd be amazed at how many calls I get from people who've already replaced everything in their entire sanitation system without any improvement...but cleaning--not just throwing some bleach and bilge cleaner into the primordial soup, but really CLEANING it--the bilge got rid of the odor completely.
 
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