Heads (toilet) in 1970's Catalina 22

piedpiperIII · May 17, 2015

Not really sure what you have but it should be a portable chemical toilet that you put water in a holding tank with a solution and pump it to flush then empty when full. we can even buy new ones here at Walmart.

Jacktar · May 17, 2015

Pie eyed piper is correct, what you have is some sort of jerry rigged chemical toilet, a container with if your lucky a toilet seat. Replace this with a standard RV or marine porta-a-potty like ones by thetford etc. It has a lid, seat, flush handle, water pump and water storage and separate wasted container. The waste container is removable to take to a regular toilet and dump and then just refill the water storage when it gets low. Probably set you back maybe 150 bucks US or so. Clean, easy to use and maintain. Also fits is nicely and you can fabricate a couple of wood strips to confine it or even add a bungee to hold in place. Many happy flushes!

Gene Neill · May 18, 2015

Your head is definitely not a factory job, as there was no such thing. But I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd love to see a pic of it, though! One member here did build in a head with holding tank and pumpout capability, if I'm not mistaken (CaptDon?).

Jackdaw · May 18, 2015

Remember his boat is in the UK, and probably has some 'device' that met the UK MSD (non)requirements of 40 years ago.

I've seen several of these UK-made Jag22s, and some had fixed sea toilets, which simply discharged straight down to the sea!

To me, the big question is if it a self-contained unit, or plumbed into the boat.

Pictures??

Ken · May 18, 2015

Ah, but there were heads installed on several of the early boats, NOT, a porta pottie, but a head with holding a tank.... You should be able to find the brand name on the head, parts for a rebuild may not be available any longer so a replacement might be in order... Or remove it and the holding tank to gain the stowage...

Jackdaw · May 18, 2015

Ken said:
Ah, but there were heads installed on several of the early boats, NOT, a porta pottie, but a head with holding a tank.... You should be able to find the brand name on the head, parts for a rebuild may not be available any longer so a replacement might be in order... Or remove it and the holding tank to gain the stowage...

Again. This boat is a Jaguar 22. It was built under licence in the UK. The head situation is TOTALLY different than USA Catalinas. If it originally came with a plumbed in head I'm sure it was a direct draining Sea Toilet. No tanks.

Ken · May 18, 2015

Not to beat a dead horse, but there are three of those boats here, one used to be my own and it did NOT dump over board... Holding tanks were installed in the forward hold port side.... I got where the boat is located on the first read, but these three boats are right here in the USA. All are plumbed exactly alike and all came here from different parts of the country, the one I owned was originally sold in Texas, one from the north East, one from here...

Jackdaw · May 18, 2015

Ken said:
Not to beat a dead horse, but there are three of those boats here, one used to be my own and it did NOT dump over board... Holding tanks were installed in the forward hold port side.... I got where the boat is located on the first read, but these three boats are right here in the USA. All are plumbed exactly alike and all came here from different parts of the country, the one I owned was originally sold in Texas, one from the north East, one from here...

Ah interesting! Are you saying there are three Jag22s in the USA? Or 3 Cat22s in the UK?

Ken · May 18, 2015

Three old style Catalins 22's with heads complete with holding tanks, mine was a 1981, not sure of the second but the other is a 1984, Not Jaguars, boats built, sold right here in the U.S. All have ended up on the same lake (inland) all came with the heads installed.

Peggie Hall HeadMistress · May 18, 2015

Before the early 1980s boat builders didn't put holding tanks on boats, so manual marine toilets that discharged overboard were commonplace. But that's no longer true, here or in the UK...so what was originally on a 1970s boat is no longer relevant, even if you could get it to work again...which you won't without spend more money than the whole boat is worth, which would only possibly make sense if you were restoring a museum piece, but makes no sense at all on a boat that will be in use. Everything has a lifespan...for marine toilets, that's 10 years or less.

So the only question is, do you replace it with a marine toilet and separate holding tank, along with all the plumbing and maintenance that will require...or go with a self-contained system.

The only thing that makes sense on a 22' boat is a self-contained portapotty (I believe they're known as a "cassette" in the UK) toilet. Reason: A 5 gallon self-contained portapotty ("MSD" versions are fitted to be plumbed for pumpout) holds 50-60 flushes. No moving parts to maintain, no plumbing and tank using more than half your storage...just a vent line and a pumpout line.

Otoh, the average flush from a manual marine toilet is about 2 liters....which means you you'd need a 50-60 liter holding tank to hold as many as a self contained "cassette" system. There's no room for more than about 10-12 liters on a 22' boat....and even that much would use up close to half your storage space.

Thetford, whose products are both good quality and readily available in the UK, makes a full line of "cassette" toilets, both "MSD" and portable versions.

CaptDon01 · May 21, 2015

Our original C-22,(1980), came with a full marine head set-up. There was a 12 gallon bladder holding tank under the forward section of the V-berth. Was a neat set-up!

Don