Optional Cape Dory Overboard Holding Tank Pumpout

[Evergreen]

Hello:

I was interested to hear if anyone has the "optional overboard holding tank pumpout" system on their boat. A drawing of it can be seen in the manuals listed on this site.

We wanted to find out where the anti-siphon loop and the manual pump were located. We also would like to know what kind of pump was used.

Dockside pumpout is all very fine and dandy when you are in U.S. waters, but when one travels overseas pumpout facilities can rarely be found, so we would like to have the holding tank pumpout option.

We thank anyone would has some useful insights regarding the matter.

Best wishes,

[Russell]

On my boat its a whale pump installed on the port side of the cockpit all the way forward by the bridge deck. Its seacock is located right next to the port side cockpit drain seacock. I just checked the pump model and its an "Urchin".

If I was to install a new system, I would go electric. The rare time I have had to use it, it takes a lot of hand pumping to empty, not a fun task.

[Paul D.]

I have the same setup as Russel in our 33. It is not connected as we are on the great lakes. The diaphragm pump is the same as our manual bilge pump which I just rebuilt with a kit from Whale. Gusher I believe.

[MFC]

Russell & Paul:

Are you two saying that the manual pump installed through the lazzarette / cockpit bulkhead is plumbed to empty the holding tank? Do you have a manual bilge pump in the cockpit as well? Was your bilge pump just re-purposed? We rigged a temporary electric pump to pump out in the Bahamas . . . a huge hassle.

TIA
Matt

[Paul D.]

Matt,

I have two manual pumps. There is one dedicated to pumping out the holding tank mounted in the forward end of the port cockpit locker. There is a hose from there leading to the tank but capped. There is another hose leading to a seacock right below that is capped as well. I keep that seacock closed. There is no vented loop installed but I have it aboard somewhere. This complies with USCG standards as the Great Lakes are a no discharge zone - rightly so. The system was this way when I purchased it and I just grease the seacock every few years and move it twice a season or so. This seems to be rigged the same way as it shows in the 1982 CD33 manual.

The manual bilge pump of the same type is located in the lazarette, starboard side.

[Russell]

Matt, Mine is just like Pauls, it was a factory option from the CD factory, this is in addition to your manual bilge pump, not re purposed.

[jbenagh]

My CD30 came with this installed from the factory (I believe -- the prior owner made very few changes).

There was no vented loop -- I installed that last winter. There is a seacock, vented loop, and Whale pump in the hanging locker behind the head. The diverter valve is in the anchor locker and that needed to be replaced as well (in fact I did that the first season I owned her).

I plan to add a vented loop for the head intake after a close call this summer. If I hadn't been on board I would not have noticed the water entering via the head!

Jeff

[Tom Keevil]

We installed such a system on our CD33. The diaphragm pump is in the port cockpit locker. It connects via a Y-valve to the cockpit scupper seacock, making one less hole in the boat. There is no vented loop, but the hose extends as high as possible in the locker. After pumping it is full of air, and the Y-valve closes it off from the sea. Even if it somehow began to siphon, it would just fill the holding tank, not sink the boat.

It takes 175 pumps to empty a full tank, which is not a huge effort, and in our opinion a much better option than adding an electric pump. Just one more thing to break. We know folks whose electric sewage pumps have failed in remote locations, and it is not a pretty situation. If you do go electric, be sure to install a Y-valve that lets you direct sewage overboard from the head, bypassing the holding tank. Of course, that will not make you a popular neighbor in your anchorage.

We also have a separate manual bilge pump.

[gvanbell]

We set our CD 27 up this way when we rebuilt everything. I have the drawings and some photos of what we did.

You'll get varying opinions about where the anti-siphon goes, especially on the raw water side. Our raw water goes from the through hill to an anti siphon to the head.

The head pumps to the tank all the time. From the toilet we go up to an anti-siphon valve, back down to the tank.

From the tank: back out to a three-way valve with removable handle (to keep it compliant you have to be able to physically block the overboard option). The three-way valve goes: from the tank to either 1.The overboard pump out or 2. A Whale Gusher pump that pushes the waste to the overboard fitting.

Email me if you would like photos or drawings. I can dig them up.

Cheers.

-g
greg.vanbelle@gmail.com

[rorik]

I moved my 13 gallon holding tank to a position behind and slightly above the head (Lavac). It is above the water line and gravity drains to a seacock. No pump needed.

[rtbates]

Our 25D has a version. It uses the same transom drain as the manual bilge pump via a Y valve. The pump is Whale, just like the manual bilge pump, mounted in the port cockpit locker..The 'front' of the system also has a Y valve to select deck pump out or overboard pump out.

[nessie]

We have a 1985 CD30C. We have a OEM looking manual holding tank pump-out on the port side. The vented loop is down wind of the pump, I think, in the port side locker below. I have only used the pump, on the hard, to clean out off-season, I swear!
Cheers,
Ted