My recently purchased boat does not have a legal sanitation system. I'm going fix this but am wondering how much to do. I have a Raritan PHII toilet from what I can tell in good condition. It was connected directly to a Groco SV seacock that was nonfunctional. The backing plate of this seacock was plywood which has disintegrated. My boat is a Catalina 27 dinette and all the sanitation plumbing is under the forward dinette seat. There are 3 thru hulls in this space the Sanitary out, the flush water intake and the depth transducer. With all this stuff the only tank I can fit here is a 10 gallon tank, I've fit a box the same size in this space its tight but it can get in.
I'm planning to use the boat for 2 -3 day weekend outings in Long Island Sound with my wife and kid and possibly another couple possibly a kid or 2. Maybe longer cruises up to a week, mostly in the Sound, block Island, Martha's Vineyard etc. Not expecting much travel in open ocean.
This is my first boat so I'm open to every bodies input. One recommendation has been to trash it all and get a port-a-potty. I imagine this thing sloshing around and it skeeves me out a bit. I see my options are as follows, in decreasing cost and work.
1. Remove existing thru hull, patch hull, install new thru hull and seacock in new location, 20 gallon tank, tank pumpout to deck or manual pump of tank to sea, when in open water.
2. Replace existing thru hull with new seacock in existing location, 10 gallon tank, tank pump out to deck and manual tank dump to sea when in open water, or variation, toilet discharge direct to sea when in open water.
3. Remove existing thru hull, patch hull, 20 gallon tank, tank pumpout to deck only, no dump to sea or toilet flush overboard.
4. Chuck it all and get a port-a-potty.
Again, I image I'll be in coastal waters, ie No discharge zone 98% of the time. I want to have friends on board and use this for extended periods up to a week or 10 days.
If I go with a 10 gallon tank will that be enough for the usage I'm looking at? Is there any value in having an overboard tank dump or toilet flush directly overboard?
I'm planning to use the boat for 2 -3 day weekend outings in Long Island Sound with my wife and kid and possibly another couple possibly a kid or 2. Maybe longer cruises up to a week, mostly in the Sound, block Island, Martha's Vineyard etc. Not expecting much travel in open ocean.
This is my first boat so I'm open to every bodies input. One recommendation has been to trash it all and get a port-a-potty. I imagine this thing sloshing around and it skeeves me out a bit. I see my options are as follows, in decreasing cost and work.
1. Remove existing thru hull, patch hull, install new thru hull and seacock in new location, 20 gallon tank, tank pumpout to deck or manual pump of tank to sea, when in open water.
2. Replace existing thru hull with new seacock in existing location, 10 gallon tank, tank pump out to deck and manual tank dump to sea when in open water, or variation, toilet discharge direct to sea when in open water.
3. Remove existing thru hull, patch hull, 20 gallon tank, tank pumpout to deck only, no dump to sea or toilet flush overboard.
4. Chuck it all and get a port-a-potty.
Again, I image I'll be in coastal waters, ie No discharge zone 98% of the time. I want to have friends on board and use this for extended periods up to a week or 10 days.
If I go with a 10 gallon tank will that be enough for the usage I'm looking at? Is there any value in having an overboard tank dump or toilet flush directly overboard?
You want to be able to put 4 adults and at least two children on the boat for a 3 day weekend. The average adult uses the toilet 5x/24 hours..the avg small child up to 7x. So that would be approx 35 flushes/day. Your PH II is a fine toilet, but the avg volume/flush is about 1/2 gal...so you'd need a at least a 17 gal tank to last just one overnight...a 35 gallon tank to last a weekend! Otoh, a self-contained "MSD" portapotty (read the thread) holds 50-60 flushes...you'd need an extra tank to last 3 days, but it would be do-able. As for it sloshing around a bit...no more or less than a 20-50 gallon tank, so that's not an issue.