yesterday I was fairly convinced that I needed to attempt one more time to pump the tank at a facility with more vacumn. I made the trip north to Scituate with my brother in law and slid into the slip where the pumpout hose was located. The harbormaster could not have been more friendly and willing to help out. I hooked the hose up and it had great vacumn and absolutley nothing happened. We traveled back to Scituate still frustrated and with a tank full of stinky stuff.
Today I purchased a new Jabsco Y valve as the current one is no longer made and parts are hard to find. I also purchased sanitation hose, hose clamps a male to male 1 1/2" adapter, tyvek suit, goggles, respirator and several gallons on bleach and air freshner. I wanted to make this as painless as possible.
After getting set up, I removed all mounting screws to the Y-Valve and the macerator pump so I could move things as needed. I disconnected the hose that ran from the pump out fitting on the gunwhale to the Y-Valve and a little residual came out. Next I put the male to male fitting on and had a good friend offer to make the next connection when he saw my frustration of not being able to pull the hose off the main inlet on the Y-Valve. I owe him a few cold ones after he pulled it off and the stinky stuff was flowing. He quickly put the other end of the adapter to the small 5" hose that came off the PVC fitting on the tank. Now I had a direct pumpout from the gunwhale to the tank without going through the macerator.
We steamed over to the GH pumpout and out it came all 16 gallons and flushed the tank with fresh water three times. When we got back, I removed the old Y Valve to find the main inlet was jammed with a paper towel and lots of crap which could not pass into either port.
Tomorrow we will repalace hoses, Y valve, clean out the boat, get fuel, organized and get back to tuna fishing. I do not want to go through this again. Thanks for everyone's recommendations.
Dave |