Question on holding tank location

[Greg S2]

Peggie,How important is it to keep the holding tank close to the head & deck fitting?I'm in the early stages of relocating/replacing the holding tank. I've polled other owners of my make/model and found that the tank has several possable locations (some are a little strange). My 2 most likely spots are 1. behind the bathtub bulkhead. 2. under the aft cabin berth. No 1. is the closest I can get to the head/pump out fitting but limits the size tank without moving the battries and hot water heater. It is current location. No 2. is a distance from the head but has lots of room. I'm using a standard Cricket head. What is my penality for adding another 10 ft or so each way?Greg

 

[Ed Schenck]

Easy to answer. . . .

hard to do. I think Peggy will agree, close is best. But it is not always possible. My original tank was two feet from the vented loop. A previous owner had to replace it because the aluminum tank "rotted". He put a bladder in the center v-berth. When I decided to replace the bladder the only place for a decent size tank was the same place, center locker in the v-berth. The seven foot hose run bothers me so I used the good stuff, Sealand. And I'll keep it clean by flushing with fresh water at the end of every day of use. This means filling the tank faster and more frequent pumpouts. You can see some of this by clicking on "Related Link".

 

[Peggie Hall/Headmistres]

Ideally, tank should be within 6'

Of the toilet. MAX is 10', shorter if there are a lot of bends and elbows. Pumpout deck fitting can be up to 10' away and should be a straight shot.Distance from tank to overboard thru-hull depends upon what type of pump and where it's located.Recommend you read the articles in the HM forum reference library before commencing any work.

 

[Greg S2]

Ok, that takes the aft cabin out!

I think I'll move the batteries back there and expand the tank to 28 gals. On the lighter side, I got one response from a S2 Center Cockpit who had a bladder in the bilge under the engine as his holding tank. To clarify a little, the S2 has a one piece solid F/G hull with internal ballast. The bulge is about 3 ft deep with almost no access except in the engine area. It is plenty deep enough to drop all sorts of stuff in there but I’ve confined myself to tools!