Why Do Hire Boats Need A Mid-week Pump Out?

[YnysMon]

Sorry, not a very savoury subject, but this question has been rattling around my mind ever since we completed our first trip on our syndicate boat Moonlight Shadow, and even more so since our 13 night stay on her September 2020.

When we hired we always played safe and got a pump-out mid-week. None of the boats we hired had gauges for the loos. Moonlight Shadow does, and we’ve never yet needed a pump out before our final day. For the 13 night stay, when one of our sons joined us for the second week, we decided we’d use the second loo (en suite to his cabin) during daytime to try to ‘even things up’ a bit, but I’m not sure if that strategy made a difference or not.

Are hire yards recommending people to have pump-outs unnecessarily, or are we just lucky with the size of MS’ tanks?

[ZimbiIV]

Sorry for the reply!

Hirers expect to use the facilities ( see I can be polite) as they would at home, so lots of water pumped in, lots and lots of water for the flush.

I once tried to explain to a family why they had to fill up with water, they could not understand if they were floating on it why they needed more???

Another reason it helps out all the yards with income.

Small tanks are also cheaper.

We could use Zimbi's waste tank for 3 weeks between pump outs.

Just got a bit lower in the water towards the end.

paul

[Mouldy]

A lot of new craft have electric flush toilets that are similar in operation to the domestic toilets at home, which flush with a measured amount of water.  With the drop through’ type on MS, you can control how much water you use to flush, so can be more frugal.

If you have a boat with the electric flush, follow the adage ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow, but if it’s brown, flush it down’ economies can be made.  It depends on how you get on with your crew, I guess!!

[andyg]

 Only time I've had to have a pump out was when one of the kidds hadn't shut the water off properly on a top liner. Stopped at horizon craft they didn't charge me as he said it was just water they were pumping out. Must admit I got close with Gainsborough girl, the loo in the back cabin really wasn't the most pleasant smell. Do yards flush out the holding tank over the winter time. On rely on the chemicals to do the job...

 

[BroadAmbition]

As has been said, its not using the heads a lot that fills the waste tank up, its the flushing that does it.  We have six chaps onboard for eight days during our annual 'Lads Week' making use of shore facilities when available helps, also the age old saying:-

If its yellow - let it mellow, if its brown - flush it down

There is just one heads onboard 'B.A' and therefore one holding tank, it lasts the week plus easily, unless there is a large content of girly crew and young ones onboard, - they can fill the blasted thing up in a morning! (Ok, slight exaggeration there)

Griff

[SwanR]

The answer is you don’t! We’ve only ever had a pump out midweek once. And that was only because we were passing Ferry Marina and having hired from them it was free. I think the only comment that has been made on handover has probably been that if you use shore facilities whenever possible then you may not need one. 

Swan Reflection has a light that comes on when there are about 10 flushes left. I suspect other ex-Swancraft boats may be the same. Still the best toilets of any boat we’ve hired! 😂

[Broads01]

It depends on what sort of toilets you have and the crew-toilet ratio. My wife and I hired Swan Roamer which has an electric one touch auto flush, so you have no choice in how much water you use. Little surprise then the toilet was full by the fourth evening. By contrast on our recent cruise my son and I had a toilet each. We were told we probably wouldn't need a pump out and we only had one as we were passing our own boatyard midweek.

[Scotty]

When we hired broadsman from Rico in April for 7days we needed a pump out 2 adults 4 kids on there toilet system if I'm not mistaken there's a full flush fills toilet up then flushes or part flush no water flush then tops the basin up just a bit 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Scotty
Added photo

[750XL]

In the past we’ve had Brinks Duet twice, and Waveney Pegasus, all 3 times we’ve had the toilet pumped half way through our week on board.

Next on the trip is Prince of Light from HW for 11 nights, being the 2 of us, I think I’ll get it done around day 5/6 somewhere. 
 

11 days will be pushing it, I assume 

[KevinB]

When we told we would need a pump out every 3 or 4 days during our handover this year , which I thought was crazy! I’ve never had to get a pump out more than once during all our 11 night trips so I was surprised to be told 3 or 4 days. 
The electric flush system does use an excessive amount of water in my opinion and I asked the kids not to use the full flush unless they needed to..

I got a pump out on the 7th day, the tank gauge was reading 3/4 but I’m not sure how much I would trust a gauge anyway..it’s easier to go by the smell 🙈😂

[KevinB]

Just now, 750XL said:

 

11 days will be pushing it, I assume 

Yes once half way through or so would( should)  be fine 

[YnysMon]

Some brilliant replies on what I assumed might be a slightly sticky (sorry, scratch that, smelly) thread.

I guess we do try to be frugal with the amount of water we flush. On the other hand we don’t do the ‘if it’s yellow, mellow’ thing, bearing in mind we have to clean the bowl at the end of our week. I’ve taken to using antibacterial wipes for that job and then popping them straight into a disposal bag. I’ve read somewhere that using bleach or normal loo cleaners is a big no-no. Cancels out the blue stuff apparently. 

[vanessan]

6 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Some brilliant replies on what I assumed might be a slightly sticky (sorry, scratch that, smelly) thread.

I guess we do try to be frugal with the amount of water we flush. On the other hand we don’t do the ‘if it’s yellow, mellow’ thing, bearing in mind we have to clean the bowl at the end of our week. I’ve taken to using antibacterial wipes for that job and then popping them straight into a disposal bag. I’ve read somewhere that using bleach or normal loo cleaners is a big no-no. Cancels out the blue stuff apparently. 

Jabsco do a toilet cleaner that doesn’t react with the blue. It’s very effective. 
We hired Shimmering Light when it was a new boat many years ago and the electric flush was a fairly new concept. The gauge was showing full every couple of days and it was a real pain getting pumped out. I can’t ever remember getting pumped out midweek on any other hire boats when out for a week but there were just the two of us. 
On our own boat now we can go 2 weeks between pumpouts but usually just leave it 10 days. 

[trambo]

The Jabsco product works very well but it and other similar products are quite expensive so for a weeks hire probably not an option. Do not be tempted to use diluted blue as over time it will rot the toilet seal.

Have always found Broads cruiser holding tanks to be on the small side. Narrowboats for some reason seem to have more sensible capacities.

Fred

[Cal]

We have never had to have a pump out for a weeks hire on any of the boats we have hired.

When we have hired for a couple of weeks then we get a pump out and a diesel top up mid way through.

As for toilet chemicals we use the green loo chemical on the van. It is more environmentally friendly and some sites don't allow the blue chemicals as they are not on mains drainage. and the blue can affect their drainage systems. So we use the green all the time. We clean the bowl with the pink toilet chemical. Seems to work well.

[RS2021]

8 hours ago, Broads01 said:

It depends on what sort of toilets you have and the crew-toilet ratio.

Isn't it more holding tank to crew ratio? Don't some systems pump to a common holding tank, so even though you may have more than one toilet you may only have a single holding tank. Are these made bigger where there are more than one toilet? I was quite surprised when we first came to the Broads that the advice was you still needed a pump out mid week - not had that elsewhere for years. I figured we had a 2-4 berth boat and the yard would still say the same thing to four people, so if there were only two of us... We've always manged for a week, but been frugal. 'If its brown etc.' I still don't understand why gauges aren't standard for both water and holding tanks on modern cruisers. Some have them, so they are clearly available.

[RumPunch]

Pump out - pure luxury. If you have to take the waste tank home to empty it, you use it less

[vanessan]

39 minutes ago, trambo said:

The Jabsco product works very well but it and other similar products are quite expensive so for a weeks hire probably not an option. 

Definitely not for hirers. The recommendation is for boat owners only. 

[vanessan]

22 minutes ago, RumPunch said:

Pump out - pure luxury. If you have to take the waste tank home to empty it, you use it less

But have to make sure it doesn’t tip in the car……….

[Hylander]

Can I arrive at this subject from a different perspective.    I have a serious bowel complaint and can visit up to 6 times a day and some days when I have an attack even more.    We have a pump out after 3 days to put my mind at rest.   I feel so guilty for always sitting on the loo.     I dread having to 'go' worrying that I will fill it up.  Although hubby does try to reassure me.     There are only two of us as well.   We dont use shore facilities.

 

Another point ,   yes some boats do have two loos but they empty into one tank , so beware.

 

 

[vanessan]

45 minutes ago, Hylander said:

some boats do have two loos but they empty into one tank ,

I have little experience of boats with more than one loo, do they all empty into one tank? I would have thought the really large boats had two holding tanks but really have no idea. 
Thinking about your ‘problem’, I wonder if some of the older boats may have larger holding tanks.  If ours can go 2 weeks (and it is an old boat) but some of the newer models need mid-week pumpout, maybe they are installing smaller tanks these days. Just a thought. 

[YnysMon]

I suppose it helps that MS has two tanks, it does make it more expensive at the end of the week when both heads are used. Generally though, if it's just the two of us on board we only use one.

I see references above to 'green' and 'pink' stuff above. Are there any proprietary names for these?

[floydraser]

Blimey, this sounds like a good time to look at composting bogs! 

[oldgregg]

The type of toilet definitely makes a huge difference. Macerator toilets which use freshwater flush just end up filling the tank with clean water. That was very noticeable on the RC45 / RF45, where we were needing a pumpout mid-week with three of us aboard.

Personally, I much prefer Mansfield toilets. I know they're unpopular because they can smell, but you just have to keep a tiny amount of water in them after use to stop that. Also, if you keep your foot on the pedal 'during use' then you only need a brief flush afterwards.

They're also by far the simplest type of toilet, there really is very little to go wrong. They tend to be river water flush, too, so even if the water tank is empty you can still flush away.

As for canal boat tanks being bigger, yes they very much are but I think that's more to do with the boats and the waterways. Flat-bottomed canal boats have tons of room to hide big tanks under beds (the fuel and water tanks are in either end), and they need it because there are very few places to pump out on the canal network.

Broads boat hulls are shaped for decent handling on our tidal rivers, and so you end up having to stuff washrooms into the space that is left after the bedrooms have been added. The tanks often end up in places where there is considerable hull angle and even in the keel sometimes, so there isn't always space for enormous ones.

[Maxwellian]

7 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Also, if you keep your foot on the pedal 'during use' then you only need a brief flush afterwards.

What about splash back though………… not nice.