Fellow Blogger

There I was with the toothbrush examining the inside of my mouth and my eye watching the plug in the hand basin when I heard Jan say “Thank you!”  I hadn’t done my good deed for the week so she must have been speaking to someone else.  Apparently I missed Kath on nb Bobcat who was passing and offered a greeting to Jan who must have been at the side hatch.  A quick search on Google and I discovered Kath has a blog.  Great, another to add to our bloglist!
Onto a less pleasant subject, the toilet holding tank.  The tank is large and flat  this means there is almost always a large air draught between the effluent and the top of the tank.  Because the tank goes across the full width of the boat at the rear it has a high and low end.  The inlet is at the high end and the outlet and rinse pipes are at the low end.  This was deliberately done in an effort to ensure the tank is fully emptied when being pumped out.  Additionally the rinse pipe enters the tank at the low end and then runs diagonally across the tank to the high end.  The aim is to enhance the action of the fresh water rinse.  There is a fourth connect to the tank at the low end.  This goes to a carbon filter and “breather” pipe which exits the boat just below the gunwale.  The active carbon filter needs to be regularly replaced as the replaced.
These carbon filters are quite expensive yet the cost of carbon pellets is actually low and I’ve been thinking for some time about making my own filter cartridge using chicken mesh and and old pantihose which could be filled (and refilled) with cheap carbon pellets or beads.
Jan here…..  What old pantihose Tom?  I didn’t know you were a cross dresser!
But then I realised all the carbon does is reduce (not eliminate) the foul odour emanating from the tank contents.  My latest idea is to replace the filter with a 12V computer fan and fit an air vent into the rinse connection on the cabin roof.  The fan would draw air down the rinse pipe and expel it via the breather pipe.  The circulation of fresh air would assist in the breakdown of the tank content and minimize the build up of the foul odour.  This wouldn’t be too hard to achieve provided I can find the right fittings for the proposed air vent on the rinse connection.  More research to be undertaken.
Meanwhile I’ve hit a snag with my plan to fit the new water filter into the line between the tank and the pump.  There is a snap coupling between the filter and the pump which is fine.  However the input side of the filter has a 15mm threaded plastic pipe and the barbed hose connector for the braided plastic water pipe has a barbed end and a 15mm threaded end.  The water pipe needs to turn 90 deg to connect to the filter.  This means I require a 15mm threaded female plastic elbow.  And I can’t find one!!!!  No luck at Wicks or Homebase.  It might mean a trip to a chandlers to see how they managed to connect the filter to the water tank hose.