Am i missing something obvious here?

[cuthound]

My boat was fitted with a macerator pump out toilet, when I bought it 9 years ago. The boat will be sixteen years old later this year. It has a stainless steel tank. The pipework is solid plastic. No smells or issues in my ownership.

 

My only concern was how would I know when the tank was full if the "tank full" bulb blew, so I fitted an MCS gauge to supplement it. Easy to fit and had the added benefit of showing that the "tank full" came on when the tank was only 50% full, so effectively halved my pumpout costs and quickly paid for itself.

 

However the "dump through" pump out toilets in both of my shareboats smelt after a week, despite using various types of blue and green additives.

 

 

[IanD]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

My boat was fitted with a macerator pump out toilet, when I bought it 9 years ago. The boat will be sixteen years old later this year. It has a stainless steel tank. The pipework is solid plastic. No smells or issues in my ownership.

 

My only concern was how would I know when the tank was full if the "tank full" bulb blew, so I fitted an MCS gauge to supplement it. Easy to fit and had the added benefit of showing that the "tank full" came on when the tank was only 50% full, so effectively halved my pumpout costs and quickly paid for itself.

 

However the "dump through" pump out toilets in both of my shareboats smelt after a week, despite using various types of blue and green additives.

 

 

 

And that's the point -- a well-designed and properly installed pump-out toilet is probably the least hassle of any of the toilet options. But also the most expensive to both install (properly) and run (pay for pumpouts), and you have to go to a pumpout station to do it.

 

A cheap badly-installed pumpout system with smelly/leaky pipes and tank is a completely different kettle of fish tank of crap -- and self-pumpout can be unpleasany for the boater and everyone else... 😞

[pearley]

20 hours ago, IanM said:

We have both a cassette and a pump out. 😆

Us too. I once heard that the secret to a happy marriage is 2 toilets!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

 

However the "dump through" pump out toilets in both of my shareboats smelt after a week, despite using various types of blue and green additives.

 

 

 

Yes I have to agree about dump through toilets. They are very common on the (older) broads hire boats we have hired and by the end of the holiday they do get a bit 'wiffy'. Often the seals don't hold up very well.

 

That of course is just our experience I'm sure somebody will be along shortly to say their dump through smells of roses 100% of the time.

 

Our macerator suffered from poor installation hence the problems we had. Had it been better installed ie better support for the pipe work or used rigid pipework we would have stuck with it. I wasn't particularly troubled by the need to pump out but our bad experience 'tainted' (literally) our view hence the swap to a cassette.

[Hudds Lad]

The dump-through on our old shareboat worked fine IF you pumped it out properly, this involves a hose through the window and into the loo to flush it out and a good rocking of the boat as well, deffo a two-person job.

 

Sadly not all owners did this, so a full/blocked tank was possible after only a few days due to the good old “pyramid” effect, or the odd time they “forgot” to pump out.

 

It did not smell of roses.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Hudds Lad
olfactory clarification

[magnetman]

Hmmm. Shareboats and lavatories has the potential to be quite an interesting issue. 

 

Incineration is an option although generally speaking people do not wish to engage with the stool. 

[MtB]

24 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

The dump-through on our old shareboat worked fine IF you pumped it out properly, this involves a hose through the window and into the loo to flush it out and a good rocking of the boat as well, deffo a two-person job.

 

 

I've only ever had one occasion to closely observe a pump-out being performed and this is exactly what went on. WHAT a palava.

 

It mainly served to confirm my decision back in the early days of boating to only ever have cassette bogs. 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by MtB
Missing worm

[Stilllearning]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I've only ever had occasion to closely observe a pump-out being performed and this is exactly what went on. WHAT a palava.

 

It mainly served to confirm my decision back in the early days of boat to only ever have cassette bogs. 

Or as my cousin said to me as he handed over his boat to newby me all those years ago: there’s the cassette loo, but there are hedges everywhere.

[Jon57]

1 hour ago, pearley said:

Us too. I once heard that the secret to a happy marriage is 2 toilets!

Helps if your deaf as well.

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, Stilllearning said:

Or as my cousin said to me as he handed over his boat to newby me all those years ago: there’s the cassette loo, but there are hedges everywhere.

Surely this presents an indecent exposure problem for the boater trying to take an al fresco gypsy’s due to the many millions of visitors to the towpath we are told about?