Hanging around like a bad smell.

Now where was I?

Oh yes a nasty smell at the back of WaL everso close to my pillow...  

This had been evident for a few days now.  It could only be one thing..... yes, the thing which boaters speak of no end when in the company of other boaters.  The toilet or rather the poo tank.

We knew we were a bit on the full side but we had been full too in the past before but not experienced this aroma....Its been hot, is that the reason?  

David talked it over with David Lewis (Boat Sharer and the man I love) and David L donned his overalls and began the great poo investigation.  Not for the feint hearted, ironically my husband David, isn't remotely squeamish about poo, he has said on many occasions that he'd worked all his life up to his knees in poo (dairy cows, slightly different, smells better too).

Yes there he is dan the 'ole.

This is where our bikes live normally and my wellies.

Its a big cupboard for a narrow boat but not so big for a tall man.

"I have good and bad news" he says from down in the depths, I wanted the bad news first.

"The bad news is there's no good news"  I think I heard a chuckle then.

"There's foul water sloshing around".... Now that is a nasty word to hear, sloshing let alone foul.

So what had happened was the breather on the tank had become blocked, this had caused the tank to become pressurised.

First thing was to clear the breather, this was rock solid and a wooden stick didn't touch it.  Luckily, a lawn mowing contractor nearby had a thick and hearty piece of wire to donate.  A bit of ramming and thumping got it.

Whilst we were on the service pontoon pumping out, ramming and thumping, the nice man at Thrupp said he'd had a similar issue but with a bee.  I think a sort of wild bee that makes a home out of mud, and this mud in his breather vent had turned to concrete, so Reader you are warned.

 

Rock solid gunk

Head of the bit that had failed.

All the thread had corroded 

So David L cleared the breather and did some other stuff.  It was a Sunday when all this was going on, after pumping out and fixing up a temporary repair and we remaining three promised on our honours not to use the loo until Monday morning, we went to the pub like all good boaters, when the pair of them hot footed up to Banbury and my David was taken somewhere he had never been before, no not a Lap Dancing Club but to a Plumbing Centre where the jolly lovely men rigged up a replacement cobbling two bits together and this below is the result. 

 

Clean and sparkly with working thread and everything.

David L reckoned it was only a matter of time before it was a much much worse problem.

Clean, sparkly and working.

So then that "Sloshing" we used a £20 hand pump for the majority of it and for the rest.....

Yes nappies.  A bag of nappies from Lidl costing £5 were shoved dan the 'ole and soaked pretty much all the rest.  This was a bit of a comical sight as Amanda, David and Lisa were leaning hard over to get the last dregs of slosh over to David L holding the nappy.  

Bingo.

So I read nine years ago in a magazine that no matter what toilet a boater choses, pump out or a "Bucket and chuck it" it will fail.  We are really hoping that we have had our turn and no more.

Reader;  The smell has gone too.

Eternally and utterly sputterly  grateful to David L or Darling as I call him.