[C320-list] HEAD ODOR

[Jack McDonough]

Jeff:

Thanks. I appreciate your feedback and the assessment that my fix is a 
"significant part" of the solution. It really has worked for us.
I'm sure that fresh water is a further improvement but at this point I'm 
settling for "good enough." From what I read on the C320 e-mail site, 90 
percent of owners apparently have their boats in slips with easy access to 
power and water, and their seasons are much longer than ours. Being on a 
mooring, which I like, and having a short season (essentially mid-June to 
mid-September) is not conducive to in-season uprade projects. Anyway, as I 
said earlier, your step-by-step instructions gave me the incentive to launch 
my vent hose job. Thanks again.

jack






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Hare" <catalina at thehares.com>
To: <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] HEAD ODOR


> Jack,
>
> What you did is a significant part of the fix for the interior smell. That 
> lack of seal and/or the bizzarre technique the factory used to reduce a 
> 3/4" hose down to 5/8" are the main sources of venting gasses into the 
> boat when flushing.
>
> Then, the next problem with serious smell outside the boat is lack of good 
> unrestricted tank venting, use of harsh chemicals instead of aerobic 
> bacteria food. Ie, care and feeding of the tank and also using fresh water 
> really helps the tank avoid tha anerobics (which are the smelly ones). If 
> the tank is breathing freely it won't drive people out of the cockpit when 
> the head is flushed. The small fuel vent with screen doesn't encourage 
> this (and you don't want this for a fuel tank because of condensation).
>
> So.. factory uses the wrong vent for this application and is easily fixed.
>
> Jeff.
>
> Jack McDonough <mcdonough5 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> OK, I imagine I'll get some responses saying that what I did won't last or 
> whatever. But for those of you who, like me, are not inclined to spend a 
> whole lot of time trying to do major re-fits, here is my solution to the 
> dreaded Head Odor problem.
>
>
>
> There are those 320 owners who are a lot more skilled than I (Jeff Hare, 
> for instance) who installed a larger vent hose from the holding tank and 
> installed a new fitting where the hose exits the boat.
>
>
>
> Last fall I decided it was time to do something about that head odor, so, 
> encouraged by Jeff's instructions, I proceeded to disconnect the hoses in 
> the medicine cabinet in the head, drop them down through the holes from 
> whence they came, and remove the cabinet. The procedure also requires 
> removing that plastic "fence" that surrounds the sink area. Otherwise, 
> there's not enough room to remove the cabinet.
>
>
>
> I then removed the panel at the rear of the hanging locker in the quarter 
> berth by simply removing a few screws. Easy. This gave me access to the 
> place where the vent hose exits the boat. What I found was that the 
> plastic collar that holds the hose against the hull was not snug against 
> the hull because of the rough surface of the hull wall. That, it seemed to 
> me, was the reason the holding tank fumes were coming back into the boat. 
> What I did, after considering all kinds of solutions, was to buy a package 
> of those Styrofoam sheets that you find in hardware stores that are used 
> behind electric wall outlets to prevent cold air from invading your house. 
> I cut a round hole in a couple of these and used them as a gasket to 
> provide a good tight seal between the collar to the hull. The result is 
> that we had no odor problem this season. Yay !
>
>
>
> Incidentally, others who have gone through this exercise tie strings to 
> the hoses when they drop them below the medicine cabinet and haul the 
> hoses back up later with those strings. I found it much easier to crouch 
> in the hanging locker and poke the hoses back up where they belong. They 
> stayed put long enough for me to get back into the head and replace their 
> hose clamps.
>
>
>
> Jack
>
> "Sure Bet" #947
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> aving Having mmmmmmmmmmmmHLast
>