"It smells like ....!"
On Sunday morning I was stopping into a mini-mart for a couple refreshing Gatorades or Vitamin Waters. The day began with a plan to take a few people out sailing, which fell through as it often happens. It was really windy with a choppy on-shore gusty element to it, so it was likely a good thing, even though I really wanted to take A Cenoura out. The revised idea was to get re-hydrated, go home and clean up from the prior night’s impromptu 3am dance party ,and take a nap. All of that changed when I parked at the mini-mart, though. Three nice ladies standing by their convertible in the parking lot were trying to flag down help to get the most out of their not-yet finished keg of beer from their own party the night before, before returning it to the mini-mart. Well, we became immediate friends, seeing as we could already establish common interests, and about an hour later that keg was in the galley of my boat, and we were anchored out in the harbor passing time on a sunny day. I learned how to anchor my sailboat just in time right? I of course, kept my cool as the responsible person, but these new friends really enjoyed themselves…
…that is until they needed to use the head (toilet), and I was disgustingly alerted that my holding tank was at capacity. The deal is that there’s a little vent-hole in the stanchion nearest the head, for the waste holding tank to vent outside rather than contain any odor inside the boat. And, unfortunately, when the tank is full and someone pumps their #1’s, it works some up and out of that vent hole and down the side of my boat. I’ve been diligent about emptying the tank, flushing with fresh water a couple times and putting a specific cleaner in there, but obviously there will always be a smell. So I filled up a water bottle with fresh water and rinsed it away off from the vent hole, but the real solution was to get to the pump-out dock, right away. What better way to impress three girls with my “livin’-on-a-boat lifestyle” then to show them how I empty the waste holding tank? Nope, I couldn’t think of a better way either. I think they really loved the clear see-through section of the pump-out hose, too. That’s a huge hit during the process.
It turned out to be a randomly spontaneous and fun afternoon with guests aboard, despite the necessary doodoo dock visit. But at least I got one boat chore done that day.