Memorable MSD disasters

[Carl & Jule]

sewage

This is the worst set of stories about MSD I've heard - if our kids ever read these, they will insist upon town sewage...[Please Dear God, don't ever give us cause to add to this list!!!]C & JH340s/v Syzygy

 

[Paul Akers]

Jim - fozen waste cap

Jim: It wasn't a waste cap on my Catalina 25 (way back when I owned it), but it was my water fill cap that became frozen. The problem with IT being frozen was the o-ring gasket dislodged and cross-threaded when the cap was inserted. A lot of muscle removed it.

 

[Jim]

Thanks, Paul

Thanks Paul...but it was the muscle thatwas enlarging the key-way. Cross threading could be it, we did replace the o-ring on the Fuel Cap tho.Hope to see you on Narragansett Bay.Jim WalshS/V Hawaii Kai

 

[SailboatOwners.com editorial]

Final Results

Final results for the Quick Quiz ending 1/8/2001:Name your worst marine sanitation problem:30% Overflowing tank24% Leaking tank24% Other22% Plugged head

 

[Denis]

Awful stench...

My first sailboat was a H295 and, as a novice, I did not realize chemicals should be added to the holding tank. After several months of use, in mid summer heat, I started noticing a smell in our neighborhood I'd never smelled before. Summer doldrums left my boat sitting unused tied to the dock in back of our house. Over the course of several days, I'd arrive home from work to be greated by a more powerful stench each day. Eventually, after the whole neighborhood began talking about it, I uncovered the cause. My holding tank was undergoing a melt-down, steadily overflowing through the vent out the side of the boat. I can't begin to describe the disgusting clean up that ensued. Over the next couple of years, that awful stench never completely faded until I sold her.

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Denis, if it was overflowing out the vent...

It sounds like you didn't know that holding tanks fill up and have to be pumped out either. The stuff doesn't expand! Any time the boat has to sit for more than a week or two, pump and rinse the tank, even if it's not even close to full. In your case, one week turned into several...if that happens in the future, after the second week of doldrums make point of motoring to the pumpout and back to take care of it.And btw, NEVER use the vent as an overflow substitute for a tank level monitor.. Not only will the vent line stink, but that's one of the best ways to clog the vent line. If you think your overflowing tank in the summer heat was nasty, wait till you have deal with a pressurized tank! Check ALL your vents regularly, especially the thru-hulls...insects love to build nests in 'em.