Never knowing what to call it…black water, sewage? I think black water gets the point across. Not as complicated as the water supply system, it is still a very important system to keep functioning for obvious reasons. From tankage, collection and disposal you will immediately know if your black water system is not functioning properly. So, let’s talk sewage!
Tankage
Keeping a big tank of sewage on the boat does not seem appealing but almost all boats of any size have one. Like the water tanks, the Caliber has a sizeable tank all the way in the bow of the boat between the forward head and the anchor locker. Its size is 80 Gallons (large for this size boat) and is vented to the outside to equalize pressure and through a carbon filter between the tank and the vent reduce undesirable odors. There is a deck fitting on the port forward side of the boat and a connection through a seacock underneath the boat. Not a whole lot to explain here so I will move on.
Disposal
So, what goes in must come out. When it comes to disposal there are only three ways to get the black water out. Depending on where you are there may only be one legal way to empty the holding tank. Methods are as follow:
Pump Out - In most coastal areas and in marinas this is your only choice to empty the holding tank. This mainly entails a little boat with a pump or a station along the dock in which you will connect to the deck fitting the front of the boat. A vacuum is created and basically pulls the sewage up through a tube into a receiving area that will get transferred to a municipal treatment facility or other treatment facility. Right now, since we are only on the boat a couple of times a month over weekends, we can go a pretty long time before a pump out. Our marina makes it easy and you just call them up and they will send the little pump boat over to empty out the tank.
Gravity disposal - Most places in the U.S. allow you to empty your holding tank into the gulf or ocean once you are a certain distance offshore. Close to shore areas like the intercoastal do not permit gravity disposal overboard. Normally if you are three nautical miles or greater from shore (unless designated otherwise) you are allowed to empty the tank. Our system does so by gravity and all it takes is turning a valve in the forward head and the tank empties in a few moments. Areas that don’t allow this include most, if not all, inland lakes (like the Great Lakes) and rivers. Some areas are so strict that they require you to take the handle off valve that empties the tank or lock and tag it as out of service. Marine patrols in some U.S. areas can board your boat and check to make sure the handles are removed or locked, and if not, you can be fined . Also, some boats have grinder pumps that pump the sewage overboard but Utopia just drains out by gravity since the tank is pretty high in the boat.
Direct Discharge - Similar to gravity disposal, this method bypasses the tank completely and with the turn of a couple of valves sends the sewage overboard as soon as you flush the head. You could do this in case you were offshore and something was wrong with the tank. We have never used this method on Utopia but it is an option if needed. Same rules apply for where you can do this.
Collection
In general, most marine heads have a seacock in which it can pull in sea water to assist in the pumping system. As you pump, seawater is pulled from the ocean, into the bowl and then as you continue to pump it is evacuated to the holding tank.
Utopia has two heads (forward and aft) in which to do one’s business. The salon head is a Raritan Marine Toilet and the forward head is a Lavac vacuum toilet. Marine hosing connects each head to the holding tank. Both heads are operated manually (no motor required), and requires about 10 pumps to evacuate the system.
Aft Head: Raritan - This one is a standard marine head and if you are familiar at all with manual heads, it is the most common type of manual pump. Ours is a little different since a few years back the previous owner replumbed the water supply to take water from the adjacent sink (used water from washing hands and such) and re-purpose that water for flushing of the toilet. It’s a very simple system but very effective since salt water can generate foul odors almost as bad as the waste.
Forward Head: Lavac - This is a pretty cool system. The lid of the toilet actually has a gasket to create a seal so when the lid is down it creates quite a powerful vacuum during the pumping, and sucks the waste quite quickly into the holding tank. I recently rebuilt this pump (see picture) since it was not keeping a proper vacuum. I took that hexagonal piece off of the hoses and replaced a worn out, and very disgusting pump diaphragm. Pulling it apart even with gloves was quite the messy and smelly affair which caused me to take a shower immediately after. Great thing is that after completing this gross repair, it worked like a charm.
For the most part, maintenance of the head is something you will need do to regularly and hopefully preventatively (instead of waiting till it breaks). One of the most major culprits in head systems is what is called a joker valve. It’s basically a check valve that keeps the waste flowing in one direction. When that valve fails you will definitely know it.
Grey Water
The last item I will touch on is often called grey water. Grey water is pretty much wash water that goes down the sink or water you use when showering. This is another difference between the boat and a land home. On land, this water is collected and sent to the sewer like everything else. On a boat (in most areas) water from a sink discharges directly overboard through a thru-hull. Same is for showering, except the water is collected in a sump in the bilge and then pumped overboard. This might seem sort of weird when you have soap, food debris and what-not go down the drain. We are very careful about what goes down the drain since 1) we want to minimize environmental impacts and 2) the drains are quite small and prone to clogging. Some areas require you to actually capture you grey water but I won’t go into that. So that pretty much sums it up for black & grey water. My next topic will be how we get our internet. What we have now and what we (mostly me) want in the future. See you next time.
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