Aluminum tank for pumpout boat?

D

dwightk

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Joined
Aug 12, 2007
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28112
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I'm pondering building a pumpout boat. How compatible is aluminum with sewage? Tank wouldn't sit full very often - normally would be emptied many times per day - and could be rinsed a bit prior to overnight storage.

Thanks !
 
One of te big plastic tanks would be better. You never know what someone may have put in their holding tank and aluminum will tend to corrode with salt water that is used for flushing anyway.
 
I have seen a big flat bottom boat with a big plastic tank on it in Kemah, Texas at Watergate Marina. I guess it goes around the marina or the lake pumping out boats. It belongs to a marine head business located at the marina.
 
I had a 36 gallon Aluminum holding tank in my Mainship, now it was 13 years old and my old head was not fresh water feed and the tank eventualy leaked from corrosion. What a mess, I replaced it with a 45 gallon Poly plastic tank no more leaks or odors. My boat was primarily used in salt/brackish water.

Bill
 
Aluminum might be the worst material to use.

Plastic or fiberglass would be 1000 times better.
 
Ditto, all the above - aluminum, while relatively cheap, is not at all compatible with sewage. Sewage (especially urine) is extremely corrosive - take a look at the separators between the urinals in any public building - and that's just from the "spray".....
 
Aluminum can't be all that bad. We have an aluminum holding tank in our Cruise-A-Home. 29 years old and still going strong. We do have a fresh water flush toilet though. Might be a different story if it was a saltwater flush. The nice thing about aluminum is that odor permeation, even after 29 years, is completely non-existant.

Doug
 
The aluminum tank removed from my boat smelled so bad it was the joke of the marina for about a month. It sat behind the shop and anyone that got within 25 feet of it almost lost their lunch! It was saltwater flushed it was changed when I installed the VacuFlush (freshwater flush) system.
 
Dwight, I think you and I spoke last summer, no?

I have never seen a pumpout boat with above-deck tanks made of aluminum.

But since aluminum is clearly used for holding tanks in many kinds of boats, I'm sure it would be fine to use on your pumpout boat. However, the question is; what advantages would such a tank have over a plastic one? I have a 150-gallon plastic leg tank on my pumpout boat. It was less expensive than an aluminum tank. It is lighter than an aluminum tank and I can easily lift it out of the boat by myself if necessary. It is translucent and has graduated markings so I can easily see how much is in it. There are no corrosion issues with plastic. When I bought it it had no diptubes and I easily added them in about 10 minutes. I can find no reason not to use a plastic tank.

E-mail me if you'd like to talk shop off the forum.

matt at head-honcho.net
 
quote:
Originally posted by Billylll

I had a 36 gallon Aluminum holding tank in my Mainship, now it was 13 years old and my old head was not fresh water feed and the tank eventualy leaked from corrosion. What a mess, I replaced it with a 45 gallon Poly plastic tank no more leaks or odors. My boat was primarily used in salt/brackish water.

Bill

Click to expand...


dito that here too. rotted a hole right thru it.
nasty.
 
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