Crews Letter #2006 01   Defecate Occurs III

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Some Times It Comes This Way, Again.

 

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

A lot has happened since the last Crews Letter:  The put up for the winter in Yacht Marine, a road trip to Cappadocia, a pleasant stay in Texas with two trips to visit family in North Carolina, the return  and commissioning for the 2006 season.  While we were gone, the people at Anker completed some maintenance tasks.  The most significant was to completely varnish the interior wood.  Some pictures illustrate the magnitude of the task.

The results are stunning!

 

They also reworked the holding tank and plumbing of each head.  The objective was to remove the accumulation of calcium scale that lined and periodically shut down the system.  To understand this issue, refer to Defecate Occurs and Defecate Occurs II.  This and the resulting mess is the subject of this letter.

 

The plan was to remove and clean the tanks.  They are stainless.  Replace the hoses.   Relocate the in and out seacocks for the salon head so that the discharge is aft and below the intake.  This was an original design flaw that resulted in recycling of secondhand water through the head if it was used while underway.   That was the plan.  In the execution it was discovered that both tanks had leaks.  The forward tank could not be repaired and was replaced.  One of the joys of dealing with the craftsmen of Turkey (Mediterranean) is an attitude that they can build anything and the skill to back it up.  Everything else in the execution went according to plan, almost.

 

A Riddle that Fred has been fond of for most of the last 55 year.  It is best heard, not read, so, read it out loud and listen closely:

Two little skunks lived in a small hole.  One was named In, the other was named Out.  The hole was so small that they could both not be in the hole at the same time.  So anytime In was in, Out had to be out.  And if Out was in, In had to be out.  One day, when In was out and Out was in, In died and Out knew it without going out of the hole.

How did Out know?

 

After sail for a few days, Marmaris to Turgutreis, just east of Bodrum, the forward tank was too true to its name.  It was holding and not releasing.

Perception’s tanks are gravity release tanks.  That is to say, from the head the effluent is pumped up into the tank.  If the drain seacock is open the effluent is drained into the sea.  If not it is held for later deposition.

 

 

At anchor near Bodrum it became obvious that the tank was holding and not draining even though the discharge cock was open.   After some tests and analysis it was concluded in Fred’s mind that the hoses were reversed.  That would mean about 50 L (13 gal.) was accumulated up to the In-Pipe and only when more was pumped in did it exit down the In-Pipe and discharge to the sea.  Then he started strategizing how he could correct the problem without dumping 50 L of effluent into Perception.  At 0300 it came to him: “Anker replaced the tank and hoses.  Anker has an office at D-Marine, Turgutreis,  We are less than an hour sail from Turgutreis.  It’s not my problem.” 

 

The next morning he called them and then we took Perception to the pump-out station at D-Marine.

Kasem drew the short straw and was assigned the task.   After 4 hours of pumping out the tank into a bucket and carrying the bucket to a nearby land loo, the pump-out station did not have a fitting that matched Perception’s, running several tests of his own, filling the tank with sea water, a break for lunch and several long discussions with his technical boss in Marmaris, Kasem decided the tank was empty.  Did we mention that he had just had lunch?  Kasem opened the In Flow hose at the pump.  There was a loud sound and strong odor as part of the 50 L of effluent poured into the head floor.  Fortunately, it is fiberglass and shaped to be a shower.   It holds liquid up to about four inches deep.  He stopped the flow by holding the hose in one hand and covering the end with the other.  Inevitably, it all had to be released, scooped into the bucket and carried to the nearby land loo.  He was standing ankle deep in it and could not be allowed to walk through the boat before he stripped and showered.  Fred did the scooping and carrying.  Phyl arranged ventilation.  Once emptied, the hoses were attached correctly.  The mess was cleaned up.  Kasem and Fred cleaned up.   Kasem found Fred’s clothes more than adequate in size.  When his girlfriend heard the tale, her only response, “Don’t kiss me!”

 

Perception got a good cleaning with chlorine bleach and a disinfecting cleanser, inside and out.  Things are back to normal.

 

Steady, as she goes,

Phyl & Fred

 

Oh, the answer to the Riddle: In stinked.

 

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