I (Jon) finished this job on Apr. 25th.
An awful smell began emanating from the front of the boat. At first I thought it was the head sink, and broke things while ascertaining it wasn’t that. The smell remained, not constant, but it was definitely there. And soon it became clear that it was shit. Somewhere, something was wrong with the holding tank.
It ended up being the old vent from the holding tank. An elbow bend is welded onto the tank where a hose can be attached that leads to a through hull. The elbow had completely corroded through where the hose attached to it. When I pulled the hatch off in the V-berth, there the vent hose was sitting, hose clamp around the hose, and the corrosion all around the vent. It smelled something awful. Additionally, the vent and the hose were badly clogged, with what I can only presume was dried shit. I was nauseous and had a headache after dealing with it for a couple of hours.
In the end, I dug out as much of the blockage as I could with a stiff wire (a coat hanger I think). But I couldn’t be sure I was getting to all of it because of the 90 degree bend. The hose also had blockage in it which I simply cut off and through away, as there was enough slack in the line to allow for it.
I then put the hose back on, having to nearly melt it with a heat gun to get it pliable enough to fit back on. I took it off from the through hull. I poured toilet blockage cleaner down the hose and through the vent to unclog anything else that might still be clogging it. Then I poured some water through and it seemed to drain perfectly quickly, so I think I removed most of the blockage.
The smell has completely gone away.
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