There are so many pithy quips about the joys of boat ownership. Two happiest days of a boat owner’s life? The day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. Boat’s a hole in the water that you throw money into. So many more. But everything on your boat is broken...you just don't know it yet really nails it.
Each of us will remember something about the morning we woke up and realized that our marine sanitation system was broken and it wouldn’t fix itself. The smell might have been the most memorable. Or the disturbing lack of that satisfying *whoosh* that the vacuum system has transported pee and poop out of sight. Or the even more disturbing lack of suction when we tried to pump out our holding tank which was (and remains) tragically full.
We got some leads on where to start from the Bible of marine sanitation, written by Peggie Hall, the “Headmistress.” Product manuals helped us understand how the system was built, but sadly not much about how the parts were laid out in OUR boat. A couple of message boards were really helpful -- there was a “known” corrosion issue in pipes attached to the discharge plate to holding tanks in similar vintage boats. No suction, no pump-out. Symptoms matched! Repair requires contorting into an impossibly small space to open up the holding tank and remove the plate.
Can’t wait! Until one of us clears the mental space to dive into this dirty job, we can confirm for you that porta-potty technology has really improved over the years. Try it -- you might like it. :)
Now that we’re solid into the trip and have lived on the boat enough to know what's what, a couple of people have asked us what’s the one thing that’s changed the most. No contest -- it's the luxury of completely disregarding everything around us that was broken but the repair could wait for another day. Or stay broken. When your only alternative options may require a swim or row to shore -- and even more important, when deferred maintenance could potentially sink your house! -- you don’t defer. But...there are always other places to go to the bathroom, so...