When buying a used boat it is critical to realize that you are not just purchasing a hull and a mast and cockpit, but also the old, moldy bathroom of the previous owner. The bathroom on a boat is called the head. It is a self contained unit that can be flushed with a hand pump using either salt water or fresh water. When emptied, the contents of the toilet go into a holding tank and can then be sucked out by a giant poop vacuum at the pump out station, or sent thru the macerator ( I have a friend who calls it the turd blender) and discharged overboard. The latter of these options can only be done if you are at least three miles off-shore.
It is critical to keep the head and all of the sanitation hoses clean and up to date in order to keep the boat smelling fresh and clean. Unfortunately for us, the previous owner was not quite as worried about the overall upkeep as we are, which led us to our first project.
Keegan diligently measured all of the sanitation tube and then we traveled to four different West Marine stores over the course of four hours to purchase all of the necessary items, or so we thought! One thing I am quickly learning about boat ownership is that even if you think you've measured and are purchasing the right thing, you're not. Even if you think you're taking the most logical steps that will certainly work, it won't. There appears to be a bit of a learning curve to this whole boat ownership thing.
Hooray! My nice clean head!
Old Poo Pipes!
So, two move visits to West Marine, one Amazon.com order and one week later my awesome hubby has our head up and running! Proud to say I used it, cleaned it and checked it for leaks this past weekend. Happily, it passed with flying colors! Who new poo could be so complicated?
Hooray! My nice clean head!
Old Poo Pipes!
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