We have finally found a houseboat that has passed the survey, and is in a price range we can afford. Now just waiting on the final word from seller and bank. What I am wanting to know is what type of system is in this boat, and if it would be feasible to change to a treatment type of system. This is the information that I have at this time:

1978 Gibson 36 foot

1 head: not sure on the type, but do it has a macerator pump in floor(deck) in front of the head. The pump works, but there is a wire off of it. Has been kept winterized at least the last 10 years...looking at paperwork from current owner.

I will be ordering Peg's book asap.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thank you, Theresa

First, the toilet has nothing to do with whether you can add a
treatment device...the treatment device is something the waste goes
into after it leave the toilet. So whether you can add one depends on
whether you're on a "no discharge" (holding tank only, that can ONLY be
emptied by pumpout) lake, or in waters where the discharge of treated
waste is legal.



But I am concerned about the toilet too...'cuz anything that's been
sitting unused for 10 years isn't likely to work again--at least not
for long.



Do you know how the toilet works...iow, do you have to pump it, or just
push a button? 'Cuz the macerator in front of the toilet--not
part of the whole _base_--shouldn't be there. Are you sure that's
not a shower sump pump? Is there a separate switch for it?



What did your surveyor say about the sanitation system? Is there a
holding tank installed now? Did the surveyor even test the toilet to
see whether it works and where the waste goes?



You DID buy this boat with full knowledge that any boat that's been
laid up for 10 years will need a lot of work, and many things
replaced....???

I sympathise with you as I have recently replaced all this stuff on a 1984 Gibson. They usually have a Raritan Crown head. The lower unit sitting on the floor below the bowl contains both the raw water pump for pulling the flush water up from a through the hull fitting and the macerator which grinds up the "you know what" and pumps it down to the holding tank as a slurry which you later pump out through  a fitting on the catwalk outside. Raritan has an exchange program on their website where you order a rebuilt lower unit and pay a core deposit which you get back after you send in your old unit. And believe me they will accept anything you send them as mine was incapable of being rebuilt. While you are at it you should replace all those waste hoses as they will be "crap"(no pun intented) after all these years and they will stink and cause that lingering odor you can never seem to get rid of. Peg has a way of testing the hoses by wrapping a hot wet towel around one for a couple of minutes and then smelling the towel. I didn't need any stinking towel to tell me that mine were shot. Before I began replacing all this stuff, I poured a bucket of very heavy clorox water through the unit to sanitize it a bit. Then go and pumpout and fill tank through the pumpout fitting with 5-10 gallons of water and pumpout again and again. This is because when you pull the pumpout hose off the bottom of the tank you are going to get residual spillage in your bilge and you want to minimize the gagging as much as possible. Once all the work is complete then turn off the automatic bilge pump in the front and pour a 5 gallon bucket of hot heavy clorox water in the bilge where any spillage occurred and let it sit for an hour. Then turn on bilge pump and take it down as far as the pump will and wet vac the rest. Repeat this two more times leaving the last bucket overnight. That bilge will smell like a swimming pool after that! I know someone is going to comment on pumping clorox water into the lake but some things are necessary and the clorox will only make the fish's laundry smell fresher. Good luck on a thankless job but you will really appreciate it next time you go to flush.    

I hate it when people recommend bleach. Not because of any
environmental issues...chlorine evaporates in less than 24 hours,
leaving no real environmental impact. But because it's also HIGHLY
corrosive, and equally highly destructive to hoses and all the rubber
parts in bilge pumps and toilet parts. It's one thing to run it
through hoses and a toilet you're gonna replace anyway...but apparently
you consider it the "one size fits all" panacea for every cleaning/odor
project.



A good bilge pump or shower sump pump or fresh water pump should last
20 years or more...bleach will cut their lives to 5 or less. But
because it's not a catastrophic failure immediately after feeding
bleach to 'em, few people ever connect their use of bleach with the
premature failure...they just think it's normal for it fail that soon.



Bleach has NO cleaning properties...if it did, you wouldn't need
detergent with it in the laundry. It does kill a few bacteria--but not
all...and it only takes ONE survivor to multiply into zillions
again..and the warmer the weather the faster.



Bleach is the most over-used, MISused product on boats (with the
possible exception of 3M 5200). White vinegar and some occasional elbow
grease will accomplish far, more without damage to pumps hoses and
aluminum hulls.



(End of rant)

Man I certainly did not wish to bring down the "clorox police" on me nor do I wish to cross swords with Peg Hall since she is the guru on sanitation issues and has the straight "poop" on this stuff. However, when you are about to put your hands into the soup that flows out of that tank( I cannot work in gloves all the time) I would rather have clorox that will purify drinking water than vinegar that will make my boat smell like a sour salad any time. I only suggested it in this instance where you are tearing out and replacing all the parts anyway and you are immediately flushing the holding tank with fresh water. It worked for me and made a nasty job bearable and left zero sewage odor in my bilge. Gibsons are fiberglas hulls so I can see no downside. I will try to be more circumspect in my use of this much maligned substance in the future.  

Theresa -- You would be wise to replace all of your waste lines to the holding tank and to the pump out fitting. This is also not a nice job, but as long as you are getting the boat ready to use, you might as well take care of all the possible problem areas.

Prior to doing our boat, a 1996 Gibson 44 foot Standard, I called Gibson to find out if the hoses were clamped to stringers or other immovable _object_s. I was assured I would have no problem removing the hoses. I now have five additional holes in the interior deck where we had to find the clamps and remove them. If you are going to replace the floor covering, replace the hoses now so that access holes can be hidden. We had already done flooring and I was not about to rip it all up. What we did was carefully cut the holes where they needed to be cut and when all the work was done, I _frame_d the access ports as best I could so that they did not appear to be hidden, but rather part of the deck. This turned out to be a good decision and also makes further hose changes for the next owner a little easier.

I used a less expensive hose because this job would now take about an hour and a half to complete rather than the twenty four hours it took the first time. The more expensive and better quality hose will probably not have to be changed for many years. I can now change the hose every year, if I have to, with little monetary expenditure. What can I say, I'm cheap.

Two people are needed along with a good shop vac, cordless skill saw for cutting holes, drill, bits, screws and other odds and ends you will determine are necessary. Not the most fun in the world, but you will be happy to get it done and not worry about that nagging odor that won't go away.

If you have any other questions on this poopy job, don't hesitate to ask. I'm not to bright on a lot of things, but this is something I have done and have some expertise. Good luck.

I did get a little carried away about the bleach....sorry 'bout that,
Judge. If you actually did manage get rid of the odor permanently
with just one application, you're one in a million...and once won't
hurt anything. Just don't make a habit of it. Especially don't
pour it down the toilet!



" If you are going to replace the floor covering, replace the hoses now
so that access holes can be hidden."



It's definitely best to replace anything below the flooring before new
is installed. However, because nothing lasts forever, the new flooring
should have hatches installed in it so neither you nor any future owner
will ever have to tear up flooring to gain access to it.



"We had already done flooring and I
was not about to rip it all up. What we did was carefully cut the holes
where they needed to be cut and when all the work was done, I _frame_d
the access ports as best I could so that they did not appear to be
hidden, but rather part of the deck. This turned out to be a good
decision and also makes further hose changes for the next owner a
little easier."



An excellent decision. Hatches don't have to detract from flooring or
carpet...cut pile edges can be bound, berber (which IMO is by far the
best carpet choice for a boat) can be wrapped...parquet or planking is
installed on plywood anyway and can be cut to be invisible except for
the pulls, which are recessed (in carpeting too). Even if the
hatches aren't totally invisible, it's a BOAT...boats SHOULD have
hatches.



When I had my last boat recarpeted and teak parquet installed in the
galley and dinette, I had 4 new hatches installed at the same
time. It added a bit to the cost, but worth every penny 'cuz they
gave me access to every inch of the bilges..



As for sanitation hose, the best hose on the planet--AVS96 (
A.G.S. Australian Global Services
is only $5.50/ft, cut to any length...16x more resistant to odor
permeation than any other. You had to use REALLY cheap hose just to
break even if you have to replace it once, much less come out ahead of
that price. And I suspect that 18 of the 24 hours you had to
spend replacing your old hose was spent doing what had to be done to
get the old hose out and turning your cutouts into hatches...and since
you won't ever have to go through that again, I dunno know how much
time cheap hose will save you when have to do it again either.
Sometimes what appears to be the cheapest way out can actually turn out
to be the most expensive in the long run. And even if it only
takes an hour, replacing stinking sanitation hoses has to be the most
UNpleasant job on a boat (why do you think yards charge so much to do
it? "Combat pay!")!