Seafari Help

[Fr. Frank]

Those marine heads are now illegal unless they're plumbed to a holding tank and the Y-valve for overboard dump disabled, although it's legal to use them outside 3 mile limit and in Bahamas.

Not exactly. If your vessel was originally equipped with a direct discharge head, and still has the head with which it was originally equipped, and that head has not been modified or rebuilt since the passage of the law in '74 which banned any further installation of such heads, you may still use the head as it was originally installed.

HOWEVER, if you have ever rebuilt the valve or replaced the gaskets at any time after 1974, you must convert it to be able to use a holding tank. This is because to perform these maintenance tasks you must uninstall that portion of the device, and installation or re-installation of such a direct discharge head is now illegal.