I met with my host, Kim Shinn, Raritan’s sales
manager and granddaughter of Arthur Bretnall Sr., at the
company’s sprawling warehouse in Millville, which is
surrounded by sand and pine trees. I had met Kim at a
few boat shows and we had discussed Raritan’s products,
which she is extremely passionate about. In one email to
her in anticipation of my visit, I mentioned two words
that have spawned a debate that rages within the marine
sanitation industry and in state political circles: “no
discharge.” This, too, is a subject about which Kim is
passionate. She is a firm believer that the products
Raritan manufactures are the last word in preventing
contamination to our nation’s bays, estuaries, and
waterways. In fact, if you get her going on this subject,
it’s hard to stop her, but with good reason—she has
reams of data on this topic that she believes show
undeniably that holding tanks and shoreside pumpouts
are not the panacea to reducing pollution that many
perceive them to be. Kim and others at Raritan believe
that fully treating and discharging small amounts of
sterilized waste is better for the environment than
Top: New parts are thoroughly tested to ensure reliability and to reduce the likelihood of leaks. Above left: Completed electric
head pumps await final installation in toilet assemblies. Above right: A Lectra/San awaits inspection and service. Raritan prides
itself on its support of the products it sells.
pump was the largest part ever to be fabricated from
Delrin. The rest, as they say, is history. Raritan toilet
pumps are still made from plastic today.
Other firsts followed: the development of the
macerating head, thermal cutoffs to prevent damage
to water pump motors, and fully automatic single-unit
battery chargers. Raritan no longer offers battery
chargers, but I routinely encounter their familiar
blue boxes aboard many vessels I inspect.
lugging around a hundred gallons of waste in a holding
tank, only to find the pumpout station isn’t working,
at which point a boater may have no choice but to
discharge highly concentrated, fermented waste.
Kim cites statistics showing that municipal sewage-treatment facilities routinely discharge effluent that is far
more harmful than that discharged by Raritan’s latest
treatment device, the Electro Scan. (The Electro Scan is
deemed a Type I marine sanitation device, or MSD;
