Don’t be alarmed, I’m pretty sure it’s salt water and the ocean grime from the pipes. Not waste. See, I never use the saltwater-in-to-flush option because it leaves the plumbing dirty from water comes in from the harbor water, and then sits in there and makes a smell, so it flushes more like suction rather than by flooding the bowl such as in a standard household toilet. I have a bowl on the counter for ladies to fill with sink water and pour into the toilet to flush the TP. That’s a part of boat life…. Still better than a bucket.

Anyways, I was out of town and closed the through-hull valves before I left. One less thing to worry about. Really glad I did that because I think the jabsco toilet pump has been broken. I got home Monday night and things were ok. I opened up the valves for the head(bathroom) sink and kitchen sink drains. (The head sink through-hull is also the intake for the toilet flush if a person selects that flush option, it’s a trigger that can be turned on or off) basically the picture above is what I woke up to Tuesday morning. The floor was pooled with water, too, because that black floor mat was preventing it from draining into the bilge. It smells bad throughout the boat, some items I had on the floor are in bad shape, and I have a new weekend project. My early diagnosis is that the inside workings of the pump has opened up the flow of in-bound seawater, even though the switch is pointed to off- it’s really this cheap plastic hook that pushes up a plastic rubber circle to open, and let’s gravity drop it closed when switched off. My guess is that it got stuck open and therefore is allowing water to flow into the toilet, and since the whole system is below the waterline, and the anti-siphon hose either isnt there or isn’t doing its job, the toilet overflowed. I guess if this was left alone long enough it could sink the boat, depending on the rate of water coming in and the bilge pump being able to pump out.

And to think about how a failed cheap piece of plastic could render me homeless and all my possessions would be under 20 feet of water.