Still smells...grrr

[PrincessoftheLake]

Peggy-I am hoping you can help me. When my husband and I bought our 1995 Hunter 40.5 in October of 2006 we knew it had odor issues. The boat has 2 heads. The forward head still had the old basic Jabsco with the old black hose. The aft head had a one year old Raritan PHII with new discharge hose to the holding tank. Last year we replaced the holding tank. We have just replaced the old smelly black discharge hose that goes to the holding tank from the forward head and have removed the old Jabsco head in preparation for replacing it. What frustrates me now is we still have some odor. It is much less but is still there. What else could it be? My husband thinks that the smell so permeated the boat that it will take a while to dissipate. Any thoughts you might have on what else I can do would be very helpful.Thank you!

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Lessee...

Sounds like you've only replace some of the hoses. If you didn't replace 'em all--especially the tank discharge hose and vent line--you're not gonna get rid of the odor.There also can be some residual odor that may or may not dissipate in a few years. You can eliminate it immediately by spraying every surface, especially in the places the hoses pass through, with PureAyre or Raritan K.O...but ONLY after you've removed the source(s) of the odor. As long as the source remains, the odor will return.You might also clean your bilges and sumps--really CLEAN 'em, followed by rinsing ALL the dirty water out instead of only dumping in some kind of cleaner and calling it done. Wet dirty bilges and sumps are a "primordial soup" than make a boat smell like a swamp or even a sewer.And I suggest you check out the link below.

 

[PrincessoftheLake]

Your book is my bible

I bought it a couple of months ago. I checked with my husband and the tank discharge hose has also been replaced in just the last two years. The vent hose is our last suspect and we are hesitating because to get at the thing we are pretty sure we have to remove a huge amount of cabinetry to do it. Before we left yesterday I doused everything pretty good with KO and the smell was gone by the time we left. We are going back up this weekend and we'll see if it has come back. Yes, the bilge and sump cleaning are next and I'll be following your instructions from your book.One more question. Our boat is a charter boat and I have noticed that what the charter company does when the boat comes back from charter is that after they are done cleaning they dump a good squirt of holding tank deodorant in the head, pump a couple of times and just leave it. Is this a good practice? Does it do anything at all to keep things smelling good?I have also began your practice of flushing lines with vinegar at the end of the day.

 

[seadaddler]

How About The Vent

New boat no smells any where except when someonepumps the head after using it,the smell that comes out the vent is strong to knock us out in the cockpit.I will be ordering your book soon.Nick

 

[CalebD]

Princess

You stated that: "they dump a good squirt of holding tank deodorant in the head, pump a couple of times and just leave it. Is this a good practice? Does it do anything at all to keep things smelling good?"IMHO and experience I would say no, unless they are using KO. Which 'tank deodorant' are they using? If it has harsh chemicals in it, it could be killing the 'good' bacteria that KO uses to keep everything smelling 'sweet'. I would get rid of any other tank treatment products on your boat except for KO and instruct the charter people to only use KO for your head systems. KO really is a pretty amazing product but will not work when combined with products such as bleach, ammonia etc., so it should be the ONLY thing besides water and food that has been digested that goes into your tank.

 

[John Nantz]

Holding Tank Leak?

The xx.5 series had aluminum holding tanks which corrode easily and after a few years they will leak. It's also possible this could be an odor source problem.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Princess and Seadaddler

Putting some tank product in the head and pumping a couple of times won't hurt anything, but it doesn't do much good either.Nick...what are you using in the tank? Describe the route of the tank vent line.

 

[PrincessoftheLake]

Caleb

They are using the Sealand tank deodorant. I am going to keep the KO on board from now on and have the charter company use that instead.The holding tank was replaced, as I mentioned in my earlier post. Thanks for the help.

 

[CalebD]

You are welcome Princess

I helped a friend with his 32' Endeavor and Groco head that was having back flow problems debug his head after reading Peggy's book. Their air vent was clogged (problem #1) and their head needed the service kit and joker valve replaced (problem #2). Their beautiful boat absolutely reeked before taking care of #1 & #2 (pun intended). The icing on the cake was that once we were able to empty the tank AND flush it with fresh water (after correcting #1) and reduce the back flow (#2) I started their tank off with KO. There was still a little back flow into the bowl but the whole boat almost smelled sweet from the bacteria in KO. It really is an amazing product.All this to say it is a good idea to have your charter people not just empty the holding tank but flush it with fresh water at the pump out station before re-priming with KO.My friend was so happy he decided to get rid of all the other head treatments that had accumulated on his boat. I was quite happy too as I spent a week on the boat and really noticed the difference.Good luck and keep writing.

 

[PrincessoftheLake]

Flushing the holding tank may help

but we haven't had a chance to do that yet because even though we are in the water we don't have water turned on so the pump out station is not functional yet. As soon as it is we will pump out, flush, and then add KO. I really appreciate your help. I never thought that owning a boat would mean I'd spend so much time thinking about waste and its processing, storage and discharge.

 

[seadaddler]

Peggie

I am down in florida right now but leaving tomorrow for NYand work on getting boat in water.I am pretty sure I was using KO and mostly fresh water forflushing,I think the vent comes off the top of tank and straightup out the top of the stern rail.Thinking of adding a vent filter.Nick