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Patrick Fuller

Hi, I am having issues with my 1972 septic. I am not able to pump it out. Do you know someone who can help me? Thanks, Patrick Fuller

Hi Carl I'm not going to respond directly to Patrick, so you can pass this on: He doesn't indicate whether he can't get a shoreside pump to suck the stuff out of his tank, or can't pump it via his on-board pump. I see three possibilities here for his problem ---- a failed pump or a plugged output hose from the pump; or a failure of the system to allow a shoreside facility to suck the poop out of the tank. So, in the first two cases, he's either gotta replace his pump, or the output hose. He does not have to empty the tank before doing either. I'm guessing that the earlier 40's were built the same way our '78 was. There should be a deck plate to pump out from a shoreside facility. While the outlet from the tank was on the bottom, CAH put in a galvanized pipe vertically to a point above the top of the tank; then hooked up the poop pump up there. Thus, we could take off the pump (to replace it, for example) without having to somehow plug the tank to keep it from leaking while we changed pumps. The hose from the deckplate goes to that same standpipe at the aft end of the tank. It's essentially a "tee" from which either the boat's pump or the shoreside pump could pull the poop out of the tank. But while sucking it out from either pump, it's necessary that the side not being used be plugged. Otherwise whichever pump is used will suck air past the other side. For a shorside pumpout, there was a ball valve to block off the on-board pump. If Patrick failed to switch that valve, the shoreside system will suck air and not poop. It's also possible the ball valve has failed, and passes air even when it's supposed to be closed. Going the other way, the on-board pump will suck air if the screw-in cap at the deck plate is not tight. There should be an o-ring on that cap to ensure it is air tight. A remote possibility is that the galvanized pipe has clogged (from disuse, I would guess). Then it might be required to take off the tee, and flush, suck or rod-out the pipe to clear it. It's ok to give Patrick my phone #. We're down in AZ now, but the same phone # works. (Seems it's too early to get here in October .....They've had only three days in Oct. under 90 degrees. That's a bit much for us folks with moss between our toes!) .

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the response. I'm in Blaine Marina, just north of Bellingahm. Where would is the vent. I used a small snake from the side suction and from the clean out under the bed. It didn't go far. Is there a valve that needs to be opened electrically?

Thanks again, Patrick

Sent from my iPhone On Oct 27, 2017, at 5:42 PM, CARL TENNING wrote: If the shore based pump-out device won't get any flow, then it's might be a plugged vent. I'd check the vent first. Carl Tenning

Much Thanks Carl. I will give those a try.

Patrick On Oct 28, 2017, at 8:58 AM, CARL TENNING wrote: Hi Patrick,

There should be a small hose coming from the top of the holding tank that vents out the side of the hull . Not sure where your holding tank is. Is it under the bed? Cruise-a-Homes were built with a "Y" valve on the outlet of the holding tank. It is manually operated, but on mine the valve was seized and had to be replaced. The "Y" valve needs to be in the proper position for shore side pump out. Try to find the "Y" valve and make sure that it's operable and if so that it's in the proper position. Here's a comment from another CAH owner:

I see three possibilities here for his problem ---- a failed pump or a plugged output hose from the pump; or a failure of the system to allow a shoreside facility to suck the poop out of the tank. So, in the first two cases, he's either gotta replace his pump, or the output hose. He does not have to empty the tank before doing either.

I'm guessing that the earlier 40's were built the same way our '78 was. There should be a deck plate to pump out from a shoreside facility. While the outlet from the tank was on the bottom, CAH put in a galvanized pipe vertically to a point above the top of the tank; then hooked up the poop pump up there. Thus, we could take off the pump (to replace it, for example) without having to somehow plug the tank to keep it from leaking while we changed pumps.

The hose from the deckplate goes to that same standpipe at the aft end of the tank. It's essentially a "tee" from which either the boat's pump or the shoreside pump could pull the poop out of the tank.

But while sucking it out from either pump, it's necessary that the side not being used be plugged. Otherwise whichever pump is used will suck air past the other side. For a shorside pumpout, there was a ball valve to block off the on-board pump. If Patrick failed to switch that valve, the shoreside system will suck air and not poop. It's also possible the ball valve has failed, and passes air even when it's supposed to be closed.

Going the other way, the on-board pump will suck air if the screw-in cap at the deck plate is not tight. There should be an o-ring on that cap to ensure it is air tight.

A remote possibility is that the galvanized pipe has clogged (from disuse, I would guess). Then it might be required to take off the tee, and flush, suck or rod-out the pipe to clear it.

It's ok to give Patrick my phone #. We're down in AZ now, but the same phone # works. (Seems it's too early to get here in October .....They've had only three days in Oct. under 90 degrees. That's a bit much for us folks with moss between our toes!)

Carl

p.s. I don't have Dean's phone number, but I'll try to get it.

Hi Carl No, I don't recall seeing her; nor do I find any pics in my files. It appears they may have re-done the transom, as I did late in Troob's life. It was perhaps because the exhaust thru-hulls leaked and caused rot in the transom. So (I surmise) they moved the exhausts up to where they were not under water, and added two more outlets. (Factory installation of the V-8 engines combined the two manifolds of each engine in a single muffler; then overboard via the two low outlets. We had a HBYC member with a Holiday Mansion that had the four exhausts like that. It had little bitty mufflers, and was pretty noisy.

I plan to have further communications with Ryan. As I said in my earlier one with him (and shared with you), he doesn't seem to have much experience, and I want to make sure he knows what he's doing in ANY boat, before he may or may not get to the sail-around-the-world mode he aspires to. I'll cc you if I think anything I tell him would be of interest to you.

It appears the CAH is just a step in his ultimate plan. So, I'll give him what help I can there, but won't have much to contribute beyond that.

As for his question about the serial number, I'll give him that location if you haven't. If he hasn't found it by now, that would also play into my thoughts about the transom being reworked and possibly re-glassed. I don't think the draft looks significantly more that we had. (Note the water line boot stripe.) The big bulges are the housings on which the rudder posts are anchored. Looks like all the bronze hardware has been painted black - makes them look larger.

Dean