speaking of holding tanks - we once had our holding tank (located under the v-berth) pumped. It sucked and sucked to no avail. Apparently there was an obstruction. The thing was full (opaque tank). No solution except to take the inspection lid off, reach down to the pipe and remove the (big) piece of shit blocking it. OK - no problem, it was our shit after all. Bicep-deep in it, I broke it up and went to retract my arm and it would not go back through the opening. Of course, the more I yanked the bigger my arm swelled up. I imagined the shit solution eating away at my arm. No time to panic I thought as I continued to panic. This was at a yacht club and many of the blue bloods were smirking of course as my wife was giving them a play by play description.

Anyway a little teflon grease mixed with olive oil poured down my arm allowed the arm to slip back out.