It doesn't go down the drain, Now you want to live on a boat? Yes you're gonna have days like
this one where you're literally gonna have to put your hands on the ... and that's what happened
today we had an obstruction on the hose that goes from the head all the way to the holding
tank since this was the first time it happened to us we had no clue what was going on so fix that
would take maybe two hours to resolve it took us much longer as it was a trial and error exercise
we started by testing the pump it was knotted as it was providing enough pressure into the hose
next we tested the first part of the hose the one connected the pump to the bigger
hose that is behind the head and see if the obstruction was there nope not there yet
at this point we realized that it would be on the longer holes that led to the holding
tank there was definitely something blocking the passage i thought that the water pressure
from the land holes would do it so i connected the water hose and turned it on we used the
dac holes that usually do have lots of water pressure here and felt it would do the trick
maybe you can hear a little bit of the water dripping into the holding tank
but unfortunately did not clear the obstruction it was still there
so i'm gonna put this uh yellow thing here on the holes because it's very hard
to bring the holes from there to there uh
to pass it through because the space is very tiny so once i remove this uh holes here
there's gonna be an empty space in the middle so if i have this guide in line probably i can
i can push the new holes back in place because it's very hard to put in place
i felt the only way to remove the blockage and see what was happening inside of the
holes was to totally remove it and take it outside we started the assembling process
and as i disconnected the hose elbow that led to the holding tank i discovered a lot of scale
build up the other pressure that we applied on the previous step moved the scale all the way to the
elbow that we couldn't see it before at this point i had no idea what it was and how it got there
i also decided to check inside of the water tank to see if there was any scale in it but no nothing
there just liquid it started also to remove all the tied ups that capped the holes in place
but still the hose would not slide down easily
i'll tell you it seems like everything on a boat have an added level complexity
and being patient and careful not forcing things is crucial in order not to damage
other things along the way using our phone cameras proved to be very helpful to see what was inside
where the tied ups were located so we could cut it out little by little we were progressing
again we pulled and pushed but felt like the hose was pretty heavy at some areas
and not very flexible leading us to believe that something inside of it was pretty solid
finally the hose was fully removed and we took it outside to learn what was going on
one thing that i recommend is to fully block the ends of the holes in order to avoid any
spillage on your bilges this will definitely help with nasty smells later on it was great
that the quirks we used to stayed in place the entire time avoiding this village
upon some research we found out about a chemical reaction that happens between urine and seawater
here's what happened although seawater and urine have a lot in common from a chemical perspective
when they come together their contents can recombine in new interesting ways to form scale or
insulable salts and this is what happened here the hose was totally blocked by scale build up
so
our solution was to beat up the holes to free up the scale that was built inside
so we could remove it
now some of you may be thinking why am i throwing the scale on the water keep
in mind this is not dumping black water in the marina what you see here is the
salt scale buildup as this toilet is only used for number one if you know what i mean
and then you like start throwing the the line inside and it guides all the way through
all right look it goes all the way
good deal all salt scale removed holes fully cleaned and ready to be put back in place
and now what we have to do is to reconnect the holes to the holding tank all the way to the head
i believe this is the easiest part and i think it's gonna work out well right the moment of truth
leaking perfect now following the recommendation from our friends van from noma we're putting some
soap here dish uh washing soap so you will keep the order away let me put this here
so what have we learned from this experience we learned that urine and seawater they don't go
very well together and when very much in contact they create a reaction that solidifies inside of
the hoses making it almost impossible for the water and the urine to go through the holes
to the holding tank and that's what happened to us how can we avoid it we created a little
system here which we put vinegar inside of this because we want to lower the ph level of the urine
if we lower the ph level the urine with vinegar this reaction is not going to happen anymore
and the pipes the holes is not going to get clogged in the future that's one way
there are many ways that you can lower the ph level by simply putting a lot of water inside
of the head and then flushing it that could be a way but i think this one is gonna do for us
after a busy day fixing things here at joy it was time for us
to go out a little here in valencia check out the las falls festival
we had never heard of this festival before coming here to valencia spain
but in simple terms las vala celebrate the arrival of spring and is a religious
holiday during which valencia's commemorates saint jose the patron saint of carpentry
is
the festival also includes street parties parades
and people walking around with 18th century costumes
the main event for the las valles festival which also means
the fire is the deliberate burning to the ground of this awesome artistic monument at
the end of this anarchic celebration of creativity mortality and rebirth
you