Making friends over faulty pump out.

We set off from our overnight moorings on the Old West just before the Fish and Duck this morning to go into Ely and fill up with water at the services. Upon arriving in Ely there was a narrowboat on the services and a widebeam already waiting, so we joined the que. When the Narrowboat left we followed the widebeam in and rafted up to them, they needing to pump out and us just needing water. Whilst going about our respective tasks we got chatting, as you do, and found them to be very likeable. It soon became apparent that the pump out wasn't performing anything like how it should so I offered to help trouble shoot the problem, and it soon became clear that there was a split in the hose just behind the probe. We cut back the pipe and reconnected it and we made some progress, but it was still less than perfect so investigations went further. It transpired that they have the Vetus holding tank system the same as ours, but being relative newcomers (18 months) they weren't completely au fait with how it was put together. We dismantled their bed for access and when the pump out was connected I could then hear air being drawn in around the tank probe fitting, even though it was done up correctly. I had an open tube of sanitary silicon on our boat and smeared some round the fitting to see if it allowed a vacuum to form, and voila, the tank started to empty as it should. Unfortunately, the vacuum kept drawing the uncured silicon through the gap and braking the seal, so we got the tank 3/4 empty, re-siliconed it and they were then going to come back in a week or so after the sealer had set, to finish the job. I know it's been a long winded tale, but we had a thoroughly present time chatting to this couple whilst helping them, even though the job wasn't the most pleasant of tasks. It's little things like this that stop me losing completely my faith in humanity.😀