[Public-List] holding tank vent

[Kirk Little]

For what it's worth, my holding tank vent did leak and did create (a minor) problem.  My tank and it's 1/2"? vent are in the closet directly behind the head and the vent is located about 6 inches below the rail.  On several passages I noticed 'some' water coming in and I would just turn on the macerator to pump it out, so no real problem as mentioned before.  Until one day the macerator pump broke and started leaking.  This left me offshore with a full, leaking tank and no way to empty it overboard.  For the emergency fix I  put a wood plug into the vent and got to the business of draining the tank inside with a bucket, all while offshore.  Lucky for me I never use the tank and it was relatively clean.  Later I bought but never installed a one-way valve to stop the sea-water intrusion and realized that this would create vacuum issues when trying to pump out the tank via the macerater.  Eventually I just added a small loop going up to the bottom of the deck into the vent hose which seems to have stopped the water but I feel that with only a few thousand miles since the fix it hasn't quite been proven.  So I suppose my point is that yes, if water comes in through the vent and fills your tank offshore while sailing, it's no problem, as long as everything else in your system is flawless.  -Kirk

Salsa #504, San Blas, Panama.  


 		 	   		  
 1362568083.0