Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: Y


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Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper
Extracts from Adam Hart-Davis's book.
(Buy the book from Micheal O'Mara Books, ISBN 1-85479-250-4, hardback 1-85479-245-8, or in the US, ISBN 1570760810.)
Yachts
DHD Photo Gallery---The Photo Lav Ocean-going craft have plenty of sea water for flushing and disposal, and do not want to carry sewage about in sloshing chemical bins. Most systems pump sea water into the lavatory and pump the sewage out into the sea, even though this is illegal close inshore. That does not stop people from doing it however, and a hundred yachts moored up-river can mean a deadly early morning swim!

In order to install one of these lavatories you need two holes in your hull, fitted with seacocks (taps). The inlet seacock should be well below the waterline and if possible on the other side of the boat from the discharge seacock, or at least further forward; you do not want to pull in fresh sewage with every flush. The discharge seacock should also be below the waterline.

The Baby Blake
The Rolls-Royce of small-boat lavatories was the Baby Blake; all mahogany, porcelain, and brass, and built to last a lifetime. When you had finished (I have been told by a proud user) you pumped the large handle and witched the turd circle the bowl, align itself with the exit hole, and then stand upright like a torpedoed ship before vanishing. A second pump handle pulled in fresh sea water to flush the bowl. The Baby Blake had a waterline marked half-way up the bowl, and the idea was to fill to the mark after flushing.

See also boats, submariners, Royal Navy.


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Text extracts from "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper" copyright (c) 1997. Web extracts first published , updated ✎2018-02-25
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