Marine toilets

[PeterBld]

We are cruising in Vava'u. Tonga.
We have two TMC electric toilets. They never give us a problem. But two days ago one started to really stink. I cleaned and flushed etc. etc. and then when scrubbing under the rim out came a gooey slime ribbon of slimy stuff. It appears we have sucked in a jelly fish. And try as I have I cannot get it all out.
And it still stinks.
Anyone got any suggestions??
Pete

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Disconnect the toilet intake line from the thru-hull (close the seacock first!!). Fill a bucket with clean fresh water to which you've added a quart/liter of distilled white vinegar....flush the whole bucketful through the toilet. That will clean out the intake line and the pump. A second bucketful of water and vinegar may or may not clean out the channel in the rim of the bowl...if it doesn't, the only solution will be to remove the bowl to set it on the dock and blast it out with a hose.

I suggest you also install a strainer in the intake line as close to prevent this happening again. It should be installed as close to the thru-hull as possible while still accessible to be checked and cleaned out as needed.

I've had to deal with a few of these over the years...the worst ever was the remains of a baby octopus. You have my sympathy.

 

[PeterBld]

Thank you Peggy. Practical advice as always.

 

[Parsons]

If I remember correctly, you have previously advised to re-route the sink/shower drain to the head inlet to free up a through-hull and make winterizing easier. I assume that your suggestion of a raw water strainer would be outside of this arrangement? The raw water strainer would be after a t-connection and only be for the inlet lines? The sink drain would be the other half of that line and go directly to the seacock.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I have to confess that it's never occurred to me to add a strainer to the sink drain installation...most likely 'cuz I've never heard of anyone who needed one. So I need to think about it. But meanwhile, my "top of the head" thought is, a head intake line connected to a thru-hull is only a one way street...whatever gets sucked into it gets pulled further into it with every flush. But enough water goes down the sink drain regularly enough to wash anything out that gets pulled in before it can get pulled in even as far as the tee.
Y'all's input is welcome.

 

[Parsons]

Actually, I was suggesting that if the sink/shower drain and head intake share the same through-hull, you would only want to install a strainer on the head intake. Otherwise, you would be filtering the output of the sink as it flowed out. I've not yet re-plumbed mine yet to share the through-hull, but probably will when I install a washdown pump using the current head intake.

 

[Kermit]

Y'all's input is welcome.

I'm impressed with your ability to spell " y'all's " correctly. Step to the "Head" of the class!

 

[DaveJ]

There is no proper spelling of " y'alls "........

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

If I remember correctly, you have previously advised to re-route the sink/shower drain to the head inlet to free up a through-hull and make winterizing easier.

Your memory has it backward and also added a shower drain line that doesn't belong in it....you never want to use gray water (galley, bath or shower water) to flush a toilet...all the soap scum, hair, body oils etc in it will clog up the pump.

It's the head intake line that you want to reroute to tee into the sink drain line, below the waterline as close to the thru-hull as possible. This allows you to flush with sea water normally until you're preparing the boat to sit (or find yourself in waters too skanky to want to use). Then, after you've closed all the seacocks (you DO close them when leaving the boat?!), fill the sink with clean fresh water...flush the toilet. Because the sink drain seacock is closed, the toilet pulls the water out of the sink, rinsing the sea water out of the entire system--intake line, pump, channel in the rim of the bowl AND the toilet discharge line. Just flushing water added to the bowl only rinses out the toilet discharge line.

I'm impressed with your ability to spell " y'all's " correctly.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

There is no proper spelling of " y'alls "........

You've obviously never been south of Buffalo.

Btw...I just saw that you're in Niagara on the Lake. I'll be there for several days next month...would love to say hi in person while I'm there.

 

[DaveJ]

Wow! I'm honoured. PM me and we will set something up.

Cheers

PS- Canadian spelling of honoured....

 

[Kermit]

There is no proper spelling of " y'alls "........

Yes there is. You just didn't get it right. Peggie did. (Do we need a new thread on correct usage of proper nouns?)

 

[Hagar]

Hey, hey, hey! What makes you'uns'es think you can hijack a sailing thread for grammar purposes?

 

[SFS]

I'm sitting here chuckling, because to convey "y'all's" properly, as Peggie did, punctuation is more critical than the spelling aspect. A possessive contraction, who'd a thunk it?

 

[Kermit]

I'm sitting here chuckling, because to convey "y'all's" properly, as Peggie did, punctuation is more critical than the spelling aspect. A possessive contraction, who'd a thunk it?

Plural possessive: All y'all's

 

[PeterBld]

Incidentally in NZ the plural of you is Yous. At least in some areas.

 

[SFS]

That's true in various parts of NYC also.

 

[Gene S]

Incidentally in NZ the plural of you is Yous. At least in some areas.

And most of NJ.

 

[kappykaplan]

As in youse?

 

[NotCook]

Hey, hey, hey! What makes you'uns'es think you can hijack a sailing thread for grammar purposes?

It's not "you'uns'es", it's "y'uns".