We sail on Georgian Bay (Great Lakes Area) and will often go for extended periods away from any marina. After the first couple of seasons we quickly determined that the existing holding tank was too small for our summer sailing needs. Weekend sails were not an issue, but when we head out for our annual summer vacation over two weeks away from the marina, with two adults and two growing boys, the effluent can build up quickly when you sail off the hook. Even when you try to go swimming as often as possible. 🙂

The existing Ronco – B212 holding tank with an advertised capacity of 18 US gallons was too small. My volume calculations however suggested that it was only 16 US gallons, or from our perspective only 14 Canadian gallons. My dad’s Grampian 26 had a custom 25 Canadian gallon holding tank, so this just seemed way too small for us. I guess if you were coastal sailing and dumping off-shore, then you may not need a big tank, but here on the Great Lakes you wouldn’t even think of doing that, since its illegal, and would you want to swim in everyone’s crap?

This is about the adventure of getting our new holding tank.

Finding the Right Tank
Building and Installing the Tank
Connecting the Tank