vacu-flush - odor permeated tank?

B

BobCT

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Sep 27, 2009
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31742
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I recently bought a Trojan 10m mid cabin with a vacu-flush setup. The boat has an awful smell when the cabin door and port holes are closed.

Here's what I've done:

replaced all of the sanitation hose including the vent line with odorguard. Eliminated the macerator so it's one piece of hose from the deck to the tank.

The head works fine and does hold water. I picked up an in-line filter and will install that in the spring (boat is out of the water now).

Cleaned the bilges and will do that again using lots of water.

The holding tank is under the forward berth and that seems to be where the smell is originating from.

I have spoken to people at Sealand and one of their distributors and tank permeation seems to be very rare. They estimate tank life tobe 30 years, my boat is 20.

Has anyone had this problem with a holding tank? I'll pull it if I have to BUT it's a lot of work. If the smell is sanitation related, I'm not sure what else I can do.

thanks,
Bob
 
tanks usually dont' permeate. i bet you have an air leak at the top of the tank, so that when you flush, holding tank air leaks out the tank and inside the boat.

double check all your clamps on the fittings at the tank, they should be double clamped tight. make sure the fittings aren't damaged, cracked, etc... or havent' be cut by someone using a blade to pull the hose off.

check for any access plate that may have a bad seal.

If you have a tank watch or similar gauge, make sure that the tubes with the wires are sealed. sometimes if the wires are pulled it will allow air to escape when you flush.

start there before taking any drastic action like replacing the tank.
 
Pascal - that's what I gathered as well.

With all the work that I have done, the smell hasn't changed at all. The original hoses were black and very sticky so they needed to be done anyway but didn't help my current situation.

The boat has been up on blocks for about 3 weeks so the head is no longer being used (again no change while in use or not). I did seal up one of the wires going into the tank watch. I noticed that the sealant and will check those again. Maybe I'll just order a new seal for the tank watch. It seems tight but it's probably original.

thanks,
Bob
 
Bob,

I had a similar problem. I started at the toilet, tightening all fittings, and then found the tank watch was the problem. The tank monitor had not been screwed tightly enough into the tank to effectively seal. Good luck.
 
We also had the sewer smell when the boat was not used for a while. It was caused by bio material (food) in the sump for the grey water. Put a teaspoon of Odorloss down galley sink and no more smell.
 
i dont' see the point of routing the galley sink to the sump... stupid idea! I think some builders do that to make it easier to convert the boat to a lake compliant set up with a grey water tank. otherwise, put a thru hull and route the galley sink discharge there.
 
I had the same problem, so when i was re powering I replaced everything from the thru hull to the toilet from the toilet to the tank, new tank, vent line and a vent filter. cleaned the bilge with fabreze cleaner. I haven't used the head yet but the old smell is gone.
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

i dont' see the point of routing the galley sink to the sump... stupid idea! I think some builders do that to make it easier to convert the boat to a lake compliant set up with a grey water tank. otherwise, put a thru hull and route the galley sink discharge there.

Click to expand...


I agree. My head sink and galley sink both go to the sump. Spring project # 1
 
And my A/C drains both dump into the bilge. Haven't had an odor problem. That may be spring project #2
 
I had the same problem, my aluminum holding tank developed a leak underneath it. Wow once the tank was removed we had to run out of the boat. The hull had at least 1" of yellow cake that had built up over the years. My boat is a 1993. I ended up replacing both freshwater tanks and the holding tank with Poly (plastic) thick tanks. That was 4 seasons ago. Cleaning the area where the tank used to sit required bleach and a putty knife. After that bilge cleaner and I bought a proffesional Ionizer machine left the machine run for a day in the old area then vented the boat. After the full clean up using Simple Green the area was repainted. It was a real nasty mess. The surveyor missed it and I thought it was the hoses it was all that and more.
Bill
 
incredible that a builder like Mainship didn't know better than using alum for holding tank! and the surveyor shoudl have waved a big red flag seeing an alum. holding tank.
 
Not to knock Mainship, you get a lot of boat for your money. But in my opinion they fall in the same general category as Wellcraft and Bayliner - they're midrange in quality - not the same quality level as Hattteras.
 
Vic, they aren't even in the same class. However aluminum tanks treated the wrong way example heavy bleach treatments will eventually take their toll on any aluminum tank. Pascal they used aluminum for all the fluid tanks in the 1980s and through the early 2000's. They as Vic said are not a Hatt or even close. I will say with all the improvemnents and modifications I don't see myself getting rid of the boat for another. The hull is thick and well laid the hull has -0- blisters. I have made most of the crazing repairs and the topsides will have new gelcoat after this winter. However many of the boats in my marina do have Aluminum holding tanks. No offense taken it is a fact there are better boats, on the other side there are far worse.
Bill
 
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