Finished Sewage System Rehabilitation

The final product: The hose loops out of the bottom of the tank to above the pump. From the pump it runs straight down into the bilge and out the sea-cock.

The tank is fed via the hose in the middle that runs into the top of the tank. No matter what, preventing fecal matter from accumulating in this hose will be nearly impossible due to the height of the holding tank as well as the long hose run to it... However, as soon as we seal the hose in place the leak problems we've had should go away.

Note how clean the installation is. Not only have we minimized the number of potential leak points, it is also much easier to follow the hoses around and see what purpose they serve. One nice feature of this tank is separate nipples to drain it - one for the pump-out fitting above, the other for the manual pump.

Now just think of what impression such a clean system makes on potential buyers - far more positive than the convoluted and smelly system that Prout Catamarans had installed. The part I still don't quite understand is why Prout did not elect to fix the holding tank on our Escale while it was still their show boat. I don't know about you, but given the average sensitivity of humans to sulfur components (some on the order of parts per billion) it seems strange to leave a smelly bathroom in place.

Trust your nose - even if the boat is using air-fresheners heavily, you'll be able to spot a rotten installation pretty quickly. Fixing such a mess is time-consuming, aggravating, and somewhat demoralizing because it casts doubts on all other systems on board - if something as simple as plumbing is botched, what else is broken?