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SYSTEM UPKEEP
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Just like everything else on your boat, your sanitation system requires maintenance. Unfortunately these systems are always hidden away in bilges and lockers. Out of sight out of mind, until it demands your attention in one grand unpleasant gesture.
Maintenance for marine holding tanks is pretty simple, inexpensive, and will add quality to the time you spend on the water.
STICKER:
Law, Use & Tank Maintenance
SERVICE SET-UP:
Pump-Out Rotation
EVERY SERVICE:
Odor Ouster
MONTHLY:
Oil & Vinegar
QUARTERLY:
Deck Fittings
YEARLY:
Clearing Vents & Clogs
YEARLY:
Cluster Buster
2–3 YEARS:
Rebuild Head
5–10 YEARS:
Replace Hoses
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STICKER: Law, Use & Tank Maintenance
Here’s a convenient free sticker that has the laws on overboard discharge, simple tank usage for those who aren’t onboardsavvy, and our suggested maintenance plan to keep your holding tank smelling fresh and free of toxins.
If you would like a free copy of this sticker, just contact us and if you are a current client, we’ll send one out to your registered mailing address. If you are not a current client, you can register here and just put free sticker in the additional notes section.
Actual size is 4.25 x 7 inches, large enough to grab attention of the landlubbers and small enough to be placed discretely by TP.
SERVICE SET-UP: PUMP-OUT ROTATION
The following are general usage guidelines for planning your BayGreen mobile pumpout rotation (per person, per week) . . .
MANUAL HEADS
Liveaboard: 10 gallons
Weekends: 2.5 to 5 gallons
ELECTRIC HEADS
Liveaboard: 15 gallons
Weekends: 4 to 8 gallons
VACUFLUSH HEADS
Liveaboard: 7 gallons
Weekends: 2 to 4 gallons
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YEARLY MAINTENANCE TIPS
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EVERY SERVICE: ODOR OUSTER
Keeping head odors to a minimum is simple and inexpensive with the CORRECT add-in tank treatment. We offer our biodegradable product Healthy Boater as a service added directly into your holding tank from the fitting, for $7 additional per tank to your regular pump fee.
How do we know it works so well? Here’s the story: Our own holding tank is a bag design guaranteed to be odor proof from the top bladder tank manufacturer around. Eight months after installation it was subjected to Baja’s legendary triple digit summer temperatures. We contacted the manufacturer to find that although guaranteed, the manufacturer won’t replace it without the return of the original part, and for sanitary reasons it is impossible to return this “used” equipment.
Hmmm, can you say Catch 22? Long story short, the guarantee was worth the same thing that was inside the tank. The odor grew stronger and more evil every day and in no time had us sleeping on deck
Let’s face it it was embarassing. We are the professionals and our boat stinks? Seriously?! We tried several imported (from the US) products with no luck. On a trip back to SF Bay, we discovered Odor Ouster. While the others masked or slightly diminished the beastly offense to our sniffers, Odor Ouster had the boat odor ousted within a day. Truly impressive, so much so that we decided to offer it to you, our valued clientele.
It really works, is environmentally responsible, doesn’t contain formaldehyde or other dangerous substances, and comes with a 100% money back guarantee, and yes, this guarantee is good.
MONTHLY MAINTENANCE: OIL & VINEGAR
For ongoing maintenance try using white vinegar and cheap oil — vegetable, corn, etc. (ie. not petroleum products). Once a month fill your head with fresh water and add 3 or 4 cups of vinegar. Pump the head a few times to get the solution spread through the system (about 1/4 should remain in the bowl). Let it sit for a few hours before flushing it out. Afterward add 1/4 cup of oil and repeat the process of pumping the head and waiting a few hours.
This process will clean and lube the head and reduce your maintenance by half. After living aboard and maintaining our own sanitation system for 10 years, we can guarantee this process works. Best of all it’s good for both the environment and your wallet.
QUARTERLY: DECK FITTINGS
Like anything on a boat, these fittings need regular maintenance and attention.
With the wet weather in the Bay Area, we advise clients to use lanacote (avail. at west marine) on the fitting threads to prevent seizing every 3–4 months. Also, please note that aluminum deck fittings are problematic and tend to seize much more often than other materials.
If a client has a seized fitting, we usually advise them to use a penetrating oil and lightly tap the fitting with a hammer, then use a little more penetrating oil and let it sit for a day or so. repeat the process until the fitting opens. This can take as little an hour, or as much as a week.
Our techs are instructed to only tighten these fittings until snug — i.e. “finger tight”. This is to ensure they can open the fitting on the next visit. The techs are also instructed to never lubricate a fitting for any reason to make sure that deck-fitting areas are never left potentially hazardous for our clients.
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YEARLY MAINTENANCE TIPS
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YEARLY MAINTENANCE TIPS
If the tank in question has been used for some years without a good cleaning performed every year or two, it may be time for some maintenance. Tanks develop build-up, a layer of “settled material” that compacts over time, getting denser and eventually becoming the consistency of hard clay. It becomes so dense that regular service won’t remove it.
We’ve seen tanks that have had their capacity reduced by 50% because of this build up. There are only two ways to solve this problem.
The first requires cleaning through small inspection ports in the top of the tank (if you have them or are willing to install them) and removing the waste by manually.
The second way is to perform an enzymatic cleaning that will liquefy the built up waste and render it removable. It just so happens that we offer such a treatment! Our enzymatic cleaning utilizes naturally occuring enzymes to clean the tank without all the muss and fuss. It cleans any tank level monitoring equipment in the tank as well.
The tank is partially full for 7 days while the enzymes work their magic, but after that the tank will be much fresher and its capacity restored. We call it the Cluster Buster, contact us to set one up!
YEARLY: Clearing Vents & Clogs
1.
Symptoms of clogged vents are lingering bad odor, leakage around tank fittings, hissing noises, bulging tank walls, liquid flowing back into the bowl, and difficulty emptying the head.
2.
This is a simple thing to check and fix. There are two options to handle this matter:
3.
Remove the vent line from the vent fitting on the hull. Use your dock hose with a nozzle capable of producing a strong stream and flush the line into the tank. If the water is flowing freely, the partial obstruction will be cleared.
4.
Replace the vent line. Remove the vent line at the hull fitting, and the vent fitting at the top of the tank and install a new line. This is an easy procedure that only requires new hose and clamps.
2–3 YEARS: MARINE HEAD REBUILD
If your head swirls the water around and never seems to get it all out of the bowl, it may be time for a rebuild.
With regular use, a two-year schedule to rebuild the head is generally a good guideline.
1.
Regular maintenance. Our monthly routine of white vinegar and oil will greatly reduce the build-up in the head and render the job much easier and cleaner.
2.
Coat all rubber valves, o-rings, and seals with silicone grease. It makes a great seal and keeps the head operating smoothly and you can find it in the plumbing section at any hardware store.
3.
Straight white vinegar. This will dissolve the heavy crystallized build in passages which restricts flow and will eventually block the passage. If you notice buildup in passages or hoses when you have everything disassembled, clean it out now while you have the access and remember to do your regular vinegar and oil maintenance in the future to avoid cleaning it out again!
4.
Use new hose clamps. It’s an easy way to cut corners to reuse the old ones, but they will leak — it’s Murphy’s Law.
5–10 YEARS: REPLACE HOSES
If your hoses are more than a few years old, take a wet warm wash cloth and wipe it over your hoses one at a time--if the cloth smells like the holding tank, it’s time to replace your hoses.
This is one of the most common sources for bad odors in a boat that are otherwise untraceable.
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