Gary Walls & Bill Healy wrote:
> Several thoughts come to mind while reading Baba head comments.
>
> The Wilcox Crittendon Skipper head intake foot pedal is not fail-safe.

Nothing is 100% fail safe...Murphy was actually an optimist.

> It is a spring loaded, rubber and bronze
> flap valve, operated by the foot pedal. If any small foreign material
> gets up the intake line it can prop the flap open
> a bit and allow a flow of sea water to enter. I have had that happen
> several times over the years.

If it happens often, a strainer in the intake line might be in order.

> If any engineer/environmentalists are on board, perhaps they can come up
> with a means of adding head output to
> the engine fuel intake line. Call it marine crude oil. At combustion
> temperatures the exhaust would be sanitary and
> as environmentally correct as ethanol. The only requirement in marinas
> would be that you tie up bow in.

Something similar has actually been tried, in both the RV and marine
markets: the idea was for the holding tank to drain into the engine
exhaust system, where heat would both "sanitize" the effluent and reduce
it to ash. It was a miserable failure because, although RV exhaust
systems were hot enough to do the job, the odor out the tailpipe was
unbearable to vehicles behind it. The systems inventors also failed to
recognize that waste contains animal fats that built up and clogged
exhaust pipes and catalytic converters. The inventors of a similar
system for use on boats apparently failed to learn that 99% of boat
engines have wet exhausts, which don't get anywhere near hot enough to
incinerate anything, so there was no market for it.

Your idea of using waste as fuel also has one major drawback: flush
water doesn't combust. :)

> As for new fuel tanks, I believe Coast Guard rules require all fittings
> on fuel tanks be on the top; nothing through the
> sides or bottom.

That is correct.

> This past week I attended a garden party at a beautiful villa on the
> ocean cliffs in Carmel, California. I immediately
> noticed a difference between that party and a pot luck on a cruising
> boat: No one there discussed the difficulty of
> unplugging a toilet while nibbling on those dainty finger sandwiches.

<LOL>! Yep...500 homeowners could gather for months without anyone ever
mentioning the toilet. But if TWO boat owners get together, one of 'em
is guaranteed to bring up the subject within an hour...within 5 minutes
if I'm one of the two. :)

-- 
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and 
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/boat_odors/
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