Unpleasant, but Necessary Question (Holding Tank ?)

[dwanzor]

I am a new boat owner (this summer). I have a 26 foot cabin cruiser that is equipped with a holding tank and a head.

I am unsure how often I should have the holding tank pumped out? Can anyone give me some guidance here?

Also, used the head a few weeks back for its intended purpose (everyone knows the head DOES NOT get used for a #1 only...that what the lake is for). I started thinking that maybe I should add some deodorizer to that tank. Do I flush the deodorizer down the head, or do I just open up the cap where they pump the tank and add the deodorizer there?

Is it safe to add a little bit of fresh water to the holding tank via the pump out access? The tank was empty when I used it, so i thought it might be wise to add a little fresh water along with the deodorizer in order to "get things moving a bit"...if you know what I mean.

Thanks for stomaching this question.

 

[rbh]

Re: Unpleasant, but Necessary Question (Holding Tank ?)

I am with you on the one only thing,
it is a pain in the butt to pump it out and illegal to discharge dark fluid in our lakes, I do not know if they charge you for the sani pump out, thats why we hang it over the side.
there is liquid and solid pellet deoderizers, and some pots will squirt water or deoderizer when you flush.
rob

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Unpleasant, but Necessary Question (Holding Tank ?)

uhh I would flush it asap after using it. When I used to go out to sea, ours would get flushed every other day or so.

 

[Begester]

Re: Unpleasant, but Necessary Question (Holding Tank ?)

As for when you should pump out you're head, my boat doesnt have a gauge, so I take the "high tech" approach and look down the toilet drain to see how full the tank is, thats when I know its time to run to the pumpout station.

As for deoderizer, I'd be willing to bet that all of those pellets are nothing more than a little bit of bleach. What I do is run a little bit of it through my system (along with some water) every few times that I pump out. Also will say that I always use pumpout stations and would NEVER dump even trace amounts of bleach into the water.

For what its worth...all my guests know that the ONLY thing the bathroom is used for is #1 and if you must use toilet paper, use it sparingly. Both of those rules have been broken before and I'll spare you the details but you dont want to have to deal with that!