I HAVE just read Adrian Fellows article (Elsans and holding tanks) and had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st! I was sure he must be joking! Writes Jennifer MacGillivray.
I am not a newby, after many years of hiring, both on the Broads and on the canals, we took the plunge and bought a lined sail-away which we fitted out. On retirement we had a 57ft built and are at the moment having our third narrowboat built. There is no way we would have a holding tank, a cassette toilet has every advantage, in fact if we were given a boat with a holding tank I would want it removed!
Nine years continuous cruising
In nine years of continuous cruising we have never had a problem emptying a cassette, occasionally we have had to pay at a boatyard, but only pennies compared to a pump-out, we have however met boaters who are desperate having found a pump-out out of order and got to the next one to find them closed, mid day Saturday, and not open till Monday.
One winter we got frozen in, I was able to wrap up the cassette, put it in the shopping trolley and catch the bus to the neatest sanitary station, like to see you do that with a holding tank!
I could perhaps recommend that any boater should buy either a Pearson's or a Nicholson's guide to the waters they intend to cruise, they will find all sanitary stations marked.