Holding Tanks (Who’d have one!)
 
Well anyone who’s going to Turkey! I’m soooo glad to say Stella Maris already has one fitted (read on and you’ll see why). ‘Moli’ (Ian & Mandy) on the other hand didn’t. Let the saga begin. Captain Ian wanted a big one, well you would wouldn’t you. Am I getting ahead of myself I’m assuming we all know what a Holding tank is, well for those of who don’t it’s where all the pee pee and poopy go when you flush the head (toilet). Then when you are out at sea you can empty the tank. Nothing worse than swimming in a bay of crystal clear water only to see a... you know what floating by. Well lets get back to the tank in question. Captain Ian had measured up the space available and got onto a company in the UK to make said tank. When I said he wanted a big one, I wasn’t kidding it’s capacity is 170 litres, I know what your thinking that’s a lot of pee pee and poopy! The first hiccup was a delay with the delivery of the tank. Looking back that now seems quite minor. Oh yes readers it gets worse much worse. At one of the Sunday barbecues the talk turned to Holding tanks (not your run of the mill barbie conversation I’ll grant you). One of the horror stories that emerged was of various measurements being taken for a new holding tank, and although the person concerned had allowed space for getting it through the companion way, past the doorway to the forepeak etc etc, they had forgotten about measuring between the mast compression post in the saloon to see if it would fit past there. Oh how we laughed, fancy forgetting that!! Remember I said things got worse, well eventually the holding tank arrived, it was a welcome sight to the crew of Moli. Next step, get it on the boat. Across the ladder, no problemo. Through the companion way, no problemo. Through the saloon, no problemo. Just get it past the mast compression post into the forepeak, uno problemo. It no want to go!!! After consulting various experts in the marina, it was decided there was only one option available (we’ve gone from a minor hiccup to a full blown convulsion now). The mast had to come off (would I jest about such a thing?) If you can’t get your poopey tank past the mast compression post in the saloon, you take the mast off!! How do you do that I hear you ask? Well you get a crane of course (goes without saying you need a big one). So that’s what they did 0900hrs on a rather dull Sunday morning the crane arrived as did half the men folk of the marina to lend a helping hand. Someone had to go up the mast to attach the strap to lift the mast. Who better than the mast monkey, so off he climbed! For the crew of Moli this was a very stressful and nerve wracking time. As one of the experts pointed out, it’s great coming up with a theory about how a problem can be sorted and then putting that theory into practice to see if it works, best thing is when your trying out the idea on someone else’s boat! Well you’ll be glad to hear that the theory worked. The crew of Moli can pee pee and poopey to their hearts content. By 1400hrs on that same Sunday we were sat at the barbie laughing and joking about the mornings events. All in a days work when your ‘sailing the dream’. One thing this has taught us all. Is that to every problem there is always a solution. You just need to think about the problem and talk to some experts (experts to us are anybod that might have an idea to share). What was great to see and be a part of was the way everybody rallied round to help, I mean we are talking 0900hrs on a Sunday morning. I joke but it was fantastic to see all these people working together. Cheers to you all, you are a fabulous bunch of people, we are proud to know you. Ok enough of this, I’ll have myself crying into my laptop. Speak soon. Love & loo pipe Captain M & me XX
Thursday, 12 April 2007