wrote:
The line from my toilet runs under the bed, through the rear wall
(transom?) of the interior and into a tank in the engine compartment.
Recently I've removed the walls from around the bottom of the bed,
and now the stink from the hose is much more noticable. It's a white
plastic hose and you can see that there is wire reinforcement within.
Is there something I can wrap the hose in, or any other methods to
reduce the amount of smell that gets out through the hose?

Thanks,
David

How old is the hose? The white stuff in particular goes bad every few
years and just needs to be replaced..........The black stuff is better,
but not immortal.

Are you sure the smell is coming from the hose? The hose is a common
source, but to be sure you have isolated the source of the offensive
odor, you can conduct some detective work with a damp cloth. Starting
at one end of the hose or the other, hold the damp cloth against any
fitting or joint you find and leave it for a short period of time.
Then put the damp cloth up to your nose and take a whiff. You will
absolutely know when you come across the source of the odor. In
addition to the joints and connections, place the cloth on the hose
itself.

Unless the boat is pretty new or the hose has been replaced within the
last few years, my money is on replacing the hose as the ultimate cure.
When that's done, make sure that future flushes include adequate volume
to move waste all the way to the holding tank so that "stuff" doesn't
sit and moulder in the line.

Along with sanitation hoses past their prime, inadequately vented
holding tanks are also frequent sources of offensive sewage odors. How
far from the suspected hose to the holding tank?

Chuck Gould wrote:

Along with sanitation hoses past their prime, inadequately vented
holding tanks are also frequent sources of offensive sewage odors.



I hear from people all the time who tell me they pump out every weekend,
always rinse out their tank, and have tried every holding tank product
on the market, but still have odor inside the boat. They've just been
chasing their tails...'cuz unless the tank is leaking, odor from inside
the tank can't be the source of odor inside a boat, 'cuz unless there's
a leak, odor from inside the tank has only one place to go: out the tank
vent...although a worn out joker valve in the toilet can allow gasses
from the tank to escape into the head via the toilet. But in that case,
the odor would be confined to the head, it wouldn't permeate other parts
of the boat.

In this case, my money is on permeated sanitation hoses. And it doesn't
matter how old or new the boat is, how long it takes for a hose to
permeate--whether it ever permeates--can't be predicited. I used the
same brand/type of hose on two of my own boats...it was on the first one
for more than 7 years without a trace of odor...it permeated on the
second boat in less than 90 days.

--
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/books...ku=90&cat=1304