sailing casita

Warning: do not read this post while eating.

Today was very productive, though not very pleasant. We are planning to install an airhead composting toilet so we pulled out the head, the holding tank, and all of the associated plumbing.

The head was actually pretty easy to remove, just 4 bolts and a few hose clamps.

The holding tank was more tricky. It was located under the vberth and the only access hatch was not directly over the tank. It looked like we might be able to fit it through the hatch (otherwise we would need to do surgery on the vberth – not our first choice) but it would be a tight fit – especially with the hoses still attached.

Did I mention the tank was not completely empty? For some reason we assumed it was empty. Before hauling her out for transport we had planned to go to the pumpout station at the Lake Mead Marina just to be sure but that didn’t happen. We ended up being rushed due to the high winds forecast for the area (30mph winds with 50mph gusts) the day we were scheduled to pull her out of the water. There is no pumpout facility where we are now so removing the hoses wasn’t a great option either (one is at the bottom of the tank). In the end we tilted the tank so we could remove one hose and fitting and used duct tape to seal the hole. We left about 3 feet of the other hose attached (with the end taped shut). Somehow Devon managed to wrestle the tank out without spilling the contents.

Since the tank fits the space really well Devon thought it would be a good idea to keep it in case we need a grey water tank. So with no place to dump the contents we put the tank in the trunk of my car and brought it home (it would have been a good day to have driven the truck). We brought the tank home and emptied the contents into the toilet. Devon held the tank up while I held the hose in the toilet bowl. This was the nastiest thing I have ever done.  It was aweful, it was horrible, and it seemed to take forever to empty. I thought I was going to hurl several times. After we were done Devon was so grossed out he didn’t want to keep the tank anymore and we ended up tossing it in a dumpster.

The good news is that the boat smells much nicer now. The head and tank always grossed me out, it feels great to be rid of them and we now have tons of room under the vberth for storage.

The title of this post was inspired by a small incident that occurred on the way home. The route back to the house includes a drive through the hills bordering forest park. As we started up the hill we were flagged down by 2 female hikers, they had gotten lost in the park and were now miles (downhill) from their car. We gave them a ride to their car and I just kept thinking about those horror movies where a hitchhiker gets picked up by some normal looking person who ends up have a dead body in the trunk. What would those girls have thought if they knew there was a bunch of poo sloshing around in the trunk?