Sunset over St. Andrew's Bay from the cockpit of our 1976 Irwin 28 MkIV
Rachel piloting the Irwin through the Gulf swells - that's Panama City Beach off her right shoulder
Hannah asleep in the v-berth, Rachel asleep on the starboard settee, and A&E watching a movie on the port settee
Rachel and the kids at the drop-down table after night fell
In case you aren't aware, we decided that one sailboat wasn't enough so we spent some savings on a craigslist post for a 28' sloop just a couple up the miles from our home. The boat is overall in great condition considering the price and the age (1976) but there were some maintenance things that needed to be taken care of and the toilet holding tank was at the top of the list.
The Irwin smelled even after a good airing out, new dehumidifier, clean carpets, and washed seat cushions. All that remained to clean out was the flexible holding tank which more than likely held sewage from when the boat was first commissioned 34 years ago. The problem is that you can't just dump that stuff overboard - you have to either find a dumping station at a marina or go three nautical miles offshore to be legal - guess which one I chose. . .
So, we left at around 2 PM and returned by 8 PM and although we didn't sail a whole lot, we returned with an empty holding tank and some valuable experience. See, the marine head on this boat has several "Y" valves which allows me to dump my toilet into either the holding tank or straight into the ocean or dump my holding tank into the ocean or a deck cap for dockside emptying. It is complicated and messy so we've decided that the six hour jaunts just to legally empty our holding tank are not worth it. We will be replacing the entire marine head system with a Thetford 155 Porta-potty with removable holding tank. Yes, we'll have to empty it every time we are gone for more than a few hours but we can empty it into any toilet rather than specific dumping stations.
I hope it all works out! I'm sick of telling my two year old, "no, you can't go potty".
