Cruising doesn’t always smell like a bed of roses. We’ve had months of toilet trauma thanks to our dear friends at Catana who told us the holding tanks worked but never bothered to check or fix them as needed.

Once we left the barn and were on our way, we of course used our holding tanks as every responsible boat owner does. We just had one problem. They wouldn’t empty.

The pilot books say there are discharge stations at the fuel docks in France. Every single one we went to did NOT work. In other words, no one used them.  And ours would not empty through the bottom of the boat so we were desperate to have them sucked out.

There were many attempts, and every time we tried, it backfired and we literally had poop in the bilge. Under our bed!!!!!!! It was SO gross we wanted to throw our French broker in there. To clean it up of course.

After at least three different occasions of cleaning it spotless which included bleach, we left them alone. And we hid behind our sadness of not finding anyone who could help, and not having the parts to fix it ourselves.

So this week we celebrate the fact that Eric had the parts, had the time, had some good advice from the factory, and then last but not least had the guts to go for it ONE MORE TIME. We both held our breath for more reason than one, and he did it!!!

Both holding tanks work now, and we are good responsible cruisers once again.

This chapter of the poop diaries is officially closed (fingers crossed).