Home : Blogs : Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector : Charles's Blog

Why is the “toilet lid” always down?

I am enjoying remembering my recent sailing adventure.

It only took a week for my sea legs to go away---and that was on calm seas and only a four day trip. (My first soccer game after the trip was interesting to say the least.) From a home inspector's point of view, sailboats like the Zodiac are interesting studies in building (I know----I was supposed to be on vacation---Home inspectors are never really on vacation!)

One of the many things that interested me about the boat was the toilets (yes the masts were real cool too). But think about the importance of the toilets on a boat. What a catastrophe if the toilets ceased to function for---------let's say---------20 minutes?--------20 hours? "How long can YOU hold water?"----"tread" water? Whoops----don't want to be doing that either!

Guess who was in charge of the toilets on the boat?

The Captain.

If you guessed the "Captain" you can go to the "Head" of the class. What I find particularly interesting is that if toilet-drains on boats followed the same rules as their landlubber cousins, there would be lots of times the drains wouldn't drain due to the boat listing this way and that. It didn't take too long to figure out why the toilets were located in the center of the boat and were back to back in adjacent rooms. In this position---depending on which way the boat was listing---there would always be a toilet where the lid would stay open. Obviously designed by a real man! Sorry----no pictures of the toilets---they were boring---and functional (mostly). Here are a few pictures of what we were really there to look at:

distant olympic mountains

Lighthouse

mt baker in the distance

Charles Buell

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed) all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

Posted by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector on 04/25/2008 08:52 AM

Comments (10)

Post is included in group: Independent Thinking Inspectors
Post is included in group: Property Inspection Discussion
Post is included in group: Ethics and the home inspector
Post is included in group: Puget Sound - WA Real Estate
Post is included in group: Home Inspectors across the country

10 Comments on Why is the “toilet lid” always down?

Is that the easy way to put the seat down or what!

04/25/2008 09:04 AM

by Shannon Aldrich ~ NH & Maine Real Estate Seacoast (Keller Williams Coastal Realty)

Charles,

You deserve a vacation! I love the sea and your pictures were great!

04/25/2008 12:07 PM

by Mary PAUL, ABR, CRS, e-PRO, SEARCY, AR RE/MAX (RE/MAX Advantage Realtors)

Charles, That's not just any lighthouse. It is the New Dungeness Lighthouse on the end of the Dungeness Spit. It just celebrated it's 150th year. Sequim is proud to include the lighthouse in it's history books. That is a fabulous picture with a new point of view that most of us around here don't get to see.

04/25/2008 12:43 PM

by McHugh Realtors

Mary, thanks!

Kathy, you must be a native of the area! My sweetie spent a week in the lighthouse last December---so I knew its name. The boat trip was a cruise of Puget Sound lighthouses of which the Dungeness was one. Glad you recognized it. Here is another pic for you: New Dungeness Lighthouse

04/25/2008 02:11 PM

by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com)

HHMMM, I see snow on top of them Mountains in the distance.....Looks cold. I'm sure it was an enjoyable trip.

Sean Allen

04/25/2008 10:05 PM

by International Financing Solutions

Sean, lots and lots of snow this past winter---still coming down in the mountains I guess.

04/25/2008 11:03 PM

by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com)

Charles, It looked as if you learned quite a bit while on the schooner. Neat pictures. I really miss sailing.

04/26/2008 03:26 AM

by Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector (Complete Home Inspections, Inc.)

Beautiful scenery! I'm sure it was a great trip .... water and I don't do well in enclosed spaces, so that is one I would have to live vicariously thru others on.

04/28/2008 10:39 PM

by Derek Bauer, Associate Broker - Door To Dreams Team www.DoorToDreams.com (Real Estate One, Inc.)

I wish I lived nearer the ocean. I try to get there a couple times a year, but it doesn't always work out, so then I just settle for Lake Erie (only 35 miles away), and some walleye fishing instead, which is nice, but not the same.

04/29/2008 04:49 AM

by KEVIN CORSA H.I.S. Home Inspections Stark & Summit County, OH Home Inspector (H.I.S. Home Inspections (Summit, Stark Counties))

Michael, so you lived somewhere else for a while? Ever sail on boats like this?

Derek, I am kind of the same way----it was still fun anyway

Kevin, having lived on the shores of lake Ontario for 18 years, I can say that the great lakes can "behave" like oceans at times---just without the smell of the salt air!

05/02/2008 07:29 PM

by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com)

Leave a response…

Name:

Notify me of new comments:

Comment:

What does the graphic say?