Home Pump Out -- Easy

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Lazy Daze

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Apr 21, 2009
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As my personal boat is on a trailer and kept at home, it is somewhat inconvenient to do a pump-out. So, why not make my own pump-out? On the front of my house is a vent for the main sewer line, which I can use to discharge the holding tank into.

Now, the picture you see below is the "proof of concept", so to say. Meaning, the design has since progressed to an easier hook-up and much more professional looking appearance. But, it does work and it works well! It only takes a few minutes to empty a 28-gallon tank. Check out this link (thanks Frank W.) for ideas on how to make this simpler: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/category.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=114&Page=1

The basics are: A standard macerator screwed into the deck/waste plate. A 1" hose off the mac, then 1" barb to 3/4" MPT. Then a 3/4"x50' garden hose (GH) to my house's vent.

A battery source, of course, is needed. A portable battery pack is easy. I also wired in a nice little on-off switch.

The mac (in the pic) is approximately 4' above the top of my holding tank. The mac is approximately 7'-8' above the ground. The GH runs uphill about 2'-3' to the house's vent.

Hoping I wouldn't have to, but I did have to prime the mac with a bit of water - I unscrewed the GH from the clear hose, rotated the mac counter clockwise a bit so the water would stay in the mac. Reconnected the GH and started the mac. Once it started, I rotated the mac clockwise again so the clear hose wouldn't kink under the weight. But, as mentioned above, there are other ways of doing this with a "T" or "Y" fitting so you don't have to do any rotating.

A big thanks to Frank W. for helping with this idea - for supplying me with the mac and especially for bouncing the ideas back and forth!

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Kool Benz Dennis! That is better than paying the man at the docks. I know up in Whittier, it is $60 a pump-out!

The house I am building will have an RV pad with sewer hookup, so this will work great.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Quite ingenious! I needed that when I first bought my boat.....where were you! Looks like I have a Thanksgiving project. Once I explain it, everyone will let me work in the garage alone!
 
Good writeup. That's the solution I'm using as well. I bought a cheap set of jumper cables to get the alligator clips as well as decent power wire + an on/off switch rated at 30amps. My pumpout is on the top so the pump is vertical and it primes itself so that makes it a bit easier. I used 1" hose all the way to the sewer pumpout and the whole process takes about 3 mins after I hit the switch. I bring a clean 5 gallon bucket of water up to the boat with me and stick the pump inside the bucket to clean out the pump and hose.
 
I was thinking of coming up with a home pump out this past weekend. I tried using a shop vac rated at 2.5hp. The vac was too weak I guess to pull from the tank.

The macerator sraight to clean out sounds cleaner. :)
 
fwebster said:
Dennis,

What version was this..........Home Pump Out ver. 3.0...........or was it ver. 14.0? Certainly looks like you worked the bugs out.
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: No kidding! Guess what, Frank? I've still made some more improvements since last talking with you! I think I've pretty much got the new way all worked out.

TDApple: Good call on rinsing it in a bucket - that's exactly how I did it, too. Thanks for mentioning that - I totally forgot about that part.
 
Thats all great but no one mentions where you pump the crap TO? Over the side? The point of paying for a pumpout is for them to responsibly handle your toxic waste.
 
As my personal boat is on a trailer and kept at home, it is somewhat inconvenient to do a pump-out. So, why not make my own pump-out? On the front of my house is a vent for the main sewer line, which I can use to discharge the holding tank into.
Click to expand...

I think he said right up front where he was pumping it to and that this was a rig for use when the boat is on the trailer.:huh:
 
It gets pumped into the middle of the neighbor's yard.... you know - the one with the dog who craps in your yard....

Kidding of course.... it gets pumped into the sewer cleanout most people have in their front or side yards. Required if you are connected to city sewage.
 
good idea, I used a shop-vac before I put mine in storage, it was a tad messy at times. the storage I keep my boat in has a pump out there free of charge. a buddy of mine built the place. I guess another alternative is if you already have a macerator like I do you could put another "Y" valve in the line going to your seacock and hook up there.
 
There is no freekin' way I would ever stick a shop vac on a sewage outlet. I've done some messy stuff in my life but having some whirling blades atomizing sewage and blowing it out the exhaust is just ridiculous.
 
ultratiger89 said:
good idea, I used a shop-vac before I put mine in storage, it was a tad messy at times. the storage I keep my boat in has a pump out there free of charge. a buddy of mine built the place. I guess another alternative is if you already have a macerator like I do you could put another "Y" valve in the line going to your seacock and hook up there.
Click to expand...

Yup. In fact, I was just about to post about the "second version" of the home pump-out when I read your post!

I'm going to put a Y-valve just after my tank-mounted T-pump (I have a thru-hull seacock on the bottom of the boat). BUT, I want to have the hose-to-sewer connection on the outside. AND, I don't want to use the current waste deck fitting because doing it that way I'll always be left with effluent in the line from the T-pump to Y-valve to current deck fitting (since the deck fitting is above the T-pump and Y-valve).

Soooo.... A 1" deck fitting will get installed under my swim platform (but above the waterline). This will also insure that from the T-pump to this fitting is all downhill. I'll run 1-1/2" sanitation hose inside the boat and transition to the 1" fitting just before the inside of the deck fitting (must go at least 5' from the T-pump before stepping down to 1" or you'll screw-up the duckbills).

Then on the outside, I'll use 1" hose that eventually transitions to the 3/4" garden hose (strictly a cost thing, there). There will be one quick-connect fitting that will screw into the 1" deck fitting. After that, the outside discharge hose will simply click into that fitting and also click into a permanently-mounted quick fitting at the house.

Click to the boat... Click to the house. Make sure the Y-valve is in the correct orientation. Turn on the power to the T-pump. Done!

So, there you have it - two easy ways to make a boat crapless at home. :smt001
 
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Four Suns said:
There is no freekin' way I would ever stick a shop vac on a sewage outlet. I've done some messy stuff in my life but having some whirling blades atomizing sewage and blowing it out the exhaust is just ridiculous.
Click to expand...

It would make for an awful funny video, though!

Hey, a new chapter in your next book! "Things not to do around your boat".
 
I tried this last fall and I couldn't get a good seal between the macerator and the deck fitting. What did you use to assure a good connection?
 
AKBASSKING said:
Kool Benz Dennis! That is better than paying the man at the docks. I know up in Whittier, it is $60 a pump-out!

The house I am building will have an RV pad with sewer hookup, so this will work great.

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Are you serious?

Highest by us is $5. Self-serve is free at our marina. Several marinas include a pump-out free if you buy gas.
 
Lazy Daze said:
It would make for an awful funny video, though!

Hey, a new chapter in your next book! "Things not to do around your boat".
Click to expand...

A leaf blower/vac would probably have a better chance over the shop vac. Once you got that puppy primed:wow:. ...Ron

Disclaimer: Don't try this sht at home:grin:
 
Four Suns said:
There is no freekin' way I would ever stick a shop vac on a sewage outlet. I've done some messy stuff in my life but having some whirling blades atomizing sewage and blowing it out the exhaust is just ridiculous.
Click to expand...

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