Does anyone use one of them type II sanitiation systems? I am needing to hook my boat up with a holding tank or one of them sanitiation system. I like the idea of the treat it and pump it set up, but the $$$$ looks a little high just to treat waste. but it looks better than looking for places to pump out holding tanks. if anyone has had any incounters with this systems, I would like to hear your thoughts on it

Treatment systems are a bit expensive, and they also require monitoring and maintenance. Depending on what head you have, treatment costs may be $0.25 per flush. If you're in a situation where the marina will come and pump you out once a week, I'd recommend that option.

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Harbor Master 47
Watts Bar Lake - TN River

Look at the Raritan PuraSan system. IMOH this is the most reliable trouble free system out there.

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OLD HOUSEBOATER

Thanks old house boater, I looked into them Purasan systems, that looks like what I was wanten. I take it that the dif. between the type I / II is that the type I is 65 feet and under and the type II is 65' and over? But I looked at were I can get one in the area of Aurora IN. and it looks like the closest one is in Louisville. at Ship shape marine? that sales Raritan products.

Only boats 66' and bigger would need a Type II treatment device...vessels >66' can use a Type I. The Raritan PuraSan is a Type I. Price is somewhere around $700 if you know where to shop. You can read all about the PuraSan here: http://www.raritaneng.com/products/waste_treatment/purasan.html

I'm not sure how LongJohn arrived at a cost to operate of $.25/flush. Cost to operate a
PuraSan is about half that ($100 for the halogen cartridge, which lasts about 800 flushes)....which is cheaper than using a tank. Many marinas charge $10 or even more to pump out a 50 gal tank. If you assume an average .5 gal/flush, which is what most modern electric toilets and most manual toilets use, the cost of operation for a holding tank is at least $.20/flush, plus the cost of tank products.

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

Long John, The reason I need to go with a treatment system is that the marina that I will keep my boat back in TX. don't have pump stations there. So I would like to go with something were I won't have to worry about holding tank pump out.

We have a Raritan Purasan system on our Holiday Mansion 38', we also have a new holding tank that has never been used. The Purasan is GREAT. We use one cartridge a season with no problems. If we buy another boat it will have a Purasan.
Happy Boating

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Boatdaddy on Time of Our Lives
60' Sumerset Houseboat

Unless, of course, you have an old Crown (or similar) macerating head that uses 10 gallons per minute. Then the math looks different. Especially if the marina has a weekly honey wagon run and will pump your tank for $5 like mine does.

Its probably about time for Peg to jump in here.

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Harbor Master 47
Watts Bar Lake - TN River

I appreciate the good words about the Purasan system, which is what I've been figuring to put in the houseboat-in-progress.

Anyway, the PuraSan is all we'll need here in the Albemarle Sound, rivers, and ICW around here. I was on a boat this past summer, though and the codger who owned it swore he had a Purasan. The head smelled terrible as far away as the back deck, the owner was happily oblivious, and I wondered if I needed to go back to the sewage system drawing board. But come to think of it, knowing this old coot, no telling how long ago he replaced the cartridge or hoses.

My question is, what if this houseboat turns out to be a wonderful traveling thing, and we get as far as places that don't allow treat-n-dump systems? Cross that bridge when we come to it? Design a holding tank in now, with a lockable Y valve, and figure to not use it unless absolutely necessary? I'm not real sold on the hold-n-treat thing, what with always having a certain amount of waste sloshing around untreated, but there's so much I don't know! What would you do, Miz Peggie? Other experienced houseboaters? What would the ideal system look like?

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Amelia
Edenton, NC

Peg already jumped in here. I'm a BIG fan of treatment over holding tanks, but while treatment is legal on most coastal waters and inland rivers, most inland lakes are "no discharge," making it illegal to use anything but a holding tank that can ONLY be emptied via pumpout. So "barefoot,"...before you spend $700-800 to equip your boat with a PuraSan, you need to make sure you can use it in the TX marina where you plan to keep your boat. 'Cuz if it's on an inland lake, you'll have no choice but to use a tank whether it has any pumpout facilities or not.Here's a list of the "no discharge" lakes in TX: http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/regulatory/vessel_sewage/42FR59776.pdf Good luck!

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

Amelia... To answer your questions:

"what if this houseboat turns out to be a wonderful traveling thing, and we get as far as places that don't allow treat-n-dump systems? Design a holding tank in now, with a lockable Y valve, and figure to not use it unless absolutely necessary?"

That's what I'd do

."I'm not real sold on the hold-n-treat thing, what with always having a certain amount of waste sloshing around untreated..."

What's the difference between that and a boat that has a tank which can ONLY be emptied via pumpout? At least with the "hold and treat" system you can empty your tank when you return to waters where the discharge of treated waste is legal, without having to look for a pumpout...and then MAYBE finally find one only to discover it's not working.

99% of the time you'll be treating/discharging...occasionally you'll have to hold. That's the
only time you'll ever need the "hold 'n' treat" system. With a treatment device, holding tank and the "hold 'n' treat" you'll be legal in ANY waters and rarely if ever have to use a pumpout.

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

Hi, Peg-- I agree that at least for us right now, the treat-and-dump system sounds like a perfectly reasonable 99 per cent of the time plan, and we may well go with Raritan's 'hold-n-treat' system, especially if we can bypass the holding tank entirely whenever we're in legal treated-discharge waters. Not sure that's how it works, though.

I'm still figuring to not run gray water into the treatment system- does that sound reasonable, so long as we stay out of Lake George?

I'm hoping this will be the summer we actually get to go play with a big, funny-looking boat! Thanks for your help!

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Amelia
Edenton, NC

How it works: Set up your plumbing this way: From the toilet to the treatment device...from the treatment device to a y-valve--one side goes overboard, the other side to the tank. 90% of the time the y-valve will be turned to the overboard position...no waste in the tank. When you do have to use the tank, turn the valve.

To use the hold 'n' treat to empty the tank, follow the directions in the installation, operation and maintenance guide for it. You might want to read those directions BEFORE you install ANY part of the system.

As for your gray water...you can legally send it directly overboard in all NY waters except Lake George. However, Gray water holding is also required on most NH and VT inland lakes. Since none of those lakes are navigable (iow, you can't get into 'em via river...you'd have to trailer your boat to 'em and launch directly onto 'em), gray water shouldn't be a problem for you. Whether you have to hold it or not, do NOT send it through the treatment device...it's not designed to handle the stuff that goes down sink and shower drains.

Off topic but important: as you build out this boat, I hope y'all have gotten and are  following ABYC, NFPA, UL Marine and USCG standards and regs for all the systems on your boat, especially electrical and fuel. They're all safety standards and exist for VERY good reasons.

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

Barefootdrifters,

Have you heard of "The MSD" manufactured and marketed by Environmental Marine? If not I have included the website address. www.envmar.com

I have first hand knowledge of these systems as our houseboat, which was on Cumberland Lake, Ky. had one on it when we purchased it in Sept. 2006. We moved the boat to Dale Hollow and in Oct of 2006 Dale Hollow became a "No Discharge Zone" (at the request of the marina owners who now get to charge you to pump your boat) necessitating we remove the system and go to holding tanks.

The system worked well while we used it. Bob Kenison of Environmental was helpful when we had questions. I can't recall the size of the system we had but believe it was the 1200 unit.

The system has a forced aireator and final chlorine treatment before discharge. The website can describe it better than I can.

(If your interested we have the unit we took off our boat and I would entertain selling it.)

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16 X 80 1996 Summerset on Dale Hollow

"The MSD" is a Type II, not needed on boats < 66'.

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

I would like to thank everybody for all the good info on this topic, when I ask about what was what on all the dif. ways to get rid of waste, I did not no c@$% about this and the laws and options that were out there. again thanks! barefoot

SouthernCross..I know of someone that is looking for the Type II. What would you take for it?

This is very good information about a MSD. We are happy new boat owners of a Holiday Mansion with a PuraSan system and a holding tank. May I ask where we buy the cartridge? I have only seen one retailer online that sells it for $92.80, now on sale for $69.95. And while I'm not one to pass up a sale, $92.80 seems to be the going price. Are there different cartridges or different brand names that we should be aware of? Right now there isn't a cartridge in the PuraSan system. Should we even be using it?

BamaBoater on the Tennessee River

No, you should not be using the PuraSan without the cartridge...'cuz the cartridge supplies the chemical that kills the bacteria in waste. If you're using the PuraSan without the cartridge, you might as well be flushing your toilet directly overboard....'cuz the only thing the PuraSan can do without any chemical is macerate and mix it more than any toilet can.

Only one cartridge is certified for use with the Raritan...the Raritan brand, item # 41-135. Using any other cartridge or chemical of any kind with it not only nullifies it as legal treatment device, but can also damage it.

Raritan's list price for the cartridge is $86.52. The DOT classifies it as a HAZMAT item,  so any dealer who stocks it had to pay a HAZMAT surcharge in addition to the normal shipping charges...which would make $92.80 about right (and also explains why so few dealers carry it). So if you've found a source for $69.95, you've struck gold...the shelf life is at least a few years, so stock up on as many as you can afford while you can get 'em for that price! 'Cuz as the price of oil keeps going up, so will just about every product made and also shipping charges.

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Peggie Hall, Moderator
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987, Author: "Get Rid of Boat Odors--A Guide to Marine Sanitation Systems and Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor."
[L=http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=66438&cat=1304[/L]

Thank you very much for your reply, Peggie. We will switch over to holding tank until the PuraSan cartridge arrives. I checked on the shipping charges and it will cost an additional $20.00 to cover the HazMat considerations. So now, $69.95 + $20.00 HazMat + $7.50 Reg. Shipping = $97.45. That price may limit our spare quantities but glad to hear it has a lengthy shelf life.

We have only owned the boat a couple of days, so unless the previous owner was using the PuraSan without a cartridge, we haven't done much damage. We used the marina's facilities because we weren't sure how the PuraSan system or the holding tank worked.

BamaBoater on the Tennessee River