Set in a sheltered, wooded site where the Badnam Creek joins the River Hamble in Hampshire, MDL Marinas has adjacent self-catering accommodation, a campsite and touring facilities. To take advantage of the stunning views over the water and today’s trend for quirky accommodation, the company researched the idea of holiday lodges constructed on pontoons into the water.
A site with space for up to 12 marine lodges was located looking out to the estuary and an initial plan to build 3 was agreed. Specialist marine construction company, Intermarine, and Trojan Timber Products, a timber manufacturer, worked together with water resistant materials to ensure the units were fully winter and water proofed.
The most complex area of the proposed build was the issue of drainage and how to discharge the waste from the bathrooms and kitchens with least possible disruption to customers and marina staff. Pumps were always going to be needed in the lodges themselves, but collection and storage was the biggest stumbling block. Ideas such as manual collection with a waste trolley or a separate floating tank were considered, but rejected.
Tony Goodman from Trojan Timber Products approached his local plumbing merchant for input and a call to the Saniflo technical team was recommended. This was swiftly followed by a visit to site to assess the options and present a workable solution. In fact, the solution proposed by Saniflo has allowed the waste to join up with the mains drain on the quay side, courtesy of a network of Sanibest Pro macerators fitted in the bathrooms of each lodge.
The waste from each flows via high quality pipework out of the side of each building to the meeting point between the pontoon and jetty, where the discharge pipework is installed under service covers that run 20m along to an adjoining stretch of jetty. They are then connected to a Sanifos 280 lifting station that is built in to an anti-corrosion black metal box under the edge of the jetty and obscured by a large buoy. Neatly installed out of sight, the Sanifos is activated when a certain fill point is reached. The waste is then pumped into discharge pipes under the water and into the site’s mains drain.
Karl Decaux, Commercial Manager for Intermarine, initially proposed an idea for a central waste repository on another pontoon, but was delighted with the solution proposed by Saniflo;
“We really wanted to keep the waste landside, but we couldn’t work out how to do it. The drain point wasn’t far from the pontoon but smaller units couldn’t pump far or high enough. The best thing we did was to make a call to Saniflo’s technical team who could not have been more helpful. Two representatives came to site to see the proposed location and came up with the solution that we have here today which is working brilliantly well. They were able to work out that the Sanifos could pump up at low tide when the pontoon was lower than the drainage.”
“We really wanted to keep the waste landside, but we couldn’t work out how to do it. The drain point wasn’t far from the pontoon but smaller units couldn’t pump far or high enough. The best thing we did was to make a call to Saniflo’s technical team who could not have been more helpful. Two representatives came to site to see the proposed location and came up with the solution that we have here today which is working brilliantly well. They were able to work out that the Sanifos could pump up at low tide when the pontoon was lower than the drainage.”
The initial conversation took place in February 2021 and within 6 weeks the units had been installed by specialist marine installer, Shoreline.
Colin Jefferies, Manager of the holiday accommodation at Mercury Yacht Harbour is very happy with the solution and so far the lodges have performed better than expected.
“The waste solution provided is working really well. It saved us a lot of headaches on how to get the waste from the marine lodges. At one point we considered manual emptying every couple of days. The Sanibest Pro connected to the Sanifos means that the whole waste discharge process happens automatically. One year and we’ve had no issues at all. The lodges are universally liked by customers and have been constantly rented even during winter. Quirky locations are popular, but it’s important they offer excellent facilities and we’ve been able to do that with the solutions provided by Saniflo.”
Going forwards there will be additional units added to the harbour and the waste solution will make the whole process even swifter. With new understanding of the waste solutions provided by Saniflo, Trojan believe they may be able to use them in new projects going forwards;
“Saniflo has a great range of products that aren’t just for domestic use and I can see the future possibilities for them with other customers. When we supply and install the next set of lodges in the future, I now have knowledge of the waste solutions so the whole process should be quicker. Saniflo’s support was a godsend.”
