Crapper Compliant

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A short tutorial on marine toilet systems is in order. Marine toilet systems usually consist of a toilet (really?) a holding tank (for you know what) and the necessary plumbing to join them all together. Usually you have extra holes in your hull for water intake (for flushing and purging,) and holes in your deck for venting and pumping out.) Marine toilet systems are also notorious for getting plugged up and are extremely unpleasant to unplug. They are quite expensive to have installed. Having said all this, you can imagine our dismay when the city marina told us we had to have a permanently installed toilet and a Type II MSD (holding tank) within a week of our arrival or we’d have to leave. We’ve had a portapot as long as we’ve had the boat and thought we were doing just fine, but we were apparently not legal and were subject to large fines.

Luckily, Sara and Trevor talked with the woman at the marina who informed them that West Marine has a portable toilet that can be permanently installed and hooked up to a thru-deck fitting for pumpout that is legal. We discussed this option and decided that this was the way to go. So a couple of trips to West Marine (they had to order our thru-hull) and about $275 later, we had all we needed.

Sara and Trevor installed theirs on Wednesday and were pumped out on Thursday and all worked well. Sara and Kerry installed ours yesterday, a job that took much longer than expected due to dull drill bits, weak batteries on the drills and the fact that all projects take longer than expected. So, in conclusion, we are CRAPPER COMPLIANT!!!!

Enough of that sh*t.

So here we are in Boot Key, enjoying the tropical breezes. We’ve decided to stay here for the next month, taking little trips as we please. The marina has nice showers, a laundry, book exchange and activities. It’s like a small community. In the morning they have a radio program, where they share announcements, ask questions, ask for assistance, and have a swap and shop. We’ve had a couple of breezy nights, but mostly it has been heavenly. It’s a heck of a hike to the grocery store or K-Mart or Home Depot, but do-able. Easier for some of us than others. L

Now our projects are complete, maybe we can sit back and relax a bit. We have not done much of that in the last two months and we deserve it.

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Photos

Clouds moving in
after sunset

Thru-Hull
for pump out

Thru Hull
just forward of the pilot house door

Our shiney new toilet
and plumbing. Aren't we impressed?

Another beautiful sunset
at Boot Key

Earendil
after sunset in Boot Key

Comments

[Barbara]

I love your new toidy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!