Need help with pottie

[kito]

My 79 H30 project boat needs a new head. I believe it still has the original toilet which looks to me to have it's own built in waste tank at the bottom. It's rigged up illegally I believe. It's waste line goes to a hand pump located under the port v-berth and exits to a through hull. There is a deck fitting for waste but the line is tee'd to the waste line before the hand pump. I am not sure how it could be pumped out through the deck fitting when the hose is connected to the branch connection of the tee (90 degrees to the line). It also has a line running to fresh water tank to fill the bowl. Question is, are these type toilets still available or is a remote holding tank required on permanently installed toilets now? It seems to me to be a good design for a boat toilet. No need to install a expensive remote tank and run hoses. Just so the pump out line is connected straight to the deck fitting. Were these type toilets problematic as far as leaks and smell? Can someone enlighten me on this subject?.

 

[David in Sandusky]

Porta-potty with pump-out

Our '77 h27 has a portapotty rigged with a pump-out on deck. This is a legal, and very effective solution:

- it pumps out just like a holding tank.
- because we use no or minimal flush water, it has similar capacity to a 12 gallon holding tank - 4 to 5 days for two of us.
- proper use of Odorlos oxygen treatment eliminates odor.
- the simple design means that there is next to no maintenance!

The installation sounds like yours except there is not a tee to an overboard thru-hull. I believe that must be sealed in the shut position to use in the US.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Our '77 h27 has a portapotty rigged with a pump-out on deck. This is a legal, and very effective solution:

- it pumps out just like a holding tank.
- because we use no or minimal flush water, it has similar capacity to a 12 gallon holding tank - 4 to 5 days for two of us.
- proper use of Odorlos oxygen treatment eliminates odor.
- the simple design means that there is next to no maintenance!

The installation sounds like yours except there is not a tee to an overboard thru-hull. I believe that must be sealed in the shut position to use in the US.

David,

I heartily agree. When I downsized from a Catalina 30 to my Ericson 26-2 a year ago, I went with a Thetford 550P MSD portapotty. It has a built-in 5.5 gal. tank and it is plumbed for overboard discharge through a macerator for when I am more than 3 miles offshore.

The actual working capacity of this is greater than what I had on my Catalina 30, which had a conventional 14 gallon holding tank. That's because of the large amount of flush water needed with a normal head/holding tank, as you noted. So, on my single handed trips to Catalina, I could go about 5 days or so on the C30 before I had to think about dropping the mooring and motoring offshore to dump. With the porta potty on the E26 I can get by for 6 or 7 with no problem.

I have no issues with odor, either. Plus, the thing is so simple there's really nothing to maintain. It does have a pump to rinse the bowl from the built-in fresh water reservoir, but there's nothing to service with that. Worst case, I'd just unlatch the thing from the platform in the head, toss it in a dumpster, and latch in a new one. But again, the thing is essentially just a glorified bucket so what's there to go wrong?

The one complaint I did have about the Thetford is the exceedingly flimsy plastic mounting bracket. Old Skool Neil, a friend of mine who posts here occasionally, designed a sweet stainless latch that he had a metals fabricator friend of his work up. This holds it securely and makes for easy removal. But just a heads up (pun intended) that if you did buy one you should think about a better bracket.

Here's a link to the model I have:
http://www.thetford.com/HOME/PRODUCTS/PortableToilets/PortaPotti550PMarine/tabid/884/Default.aspx

 

[kito]

Alan, thanks for the heads up on this toilet. I think I am going that route too. I don't have to mess with adding a holding tank under the v-berth now. The Admiral didn't like the idea of sleeping over a tank of crap. I think I can easily re-plumb my existing lines to be able to use the pump out or the overboard hand pump when in legal waters. Found one for $120 shipped too. Saved me at least $500 over the toilet/holding tank setup.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Alan, thanks for the heads up on this toilet. I think I am going that route too. I don't have to mess with adding a holding tank under the v-berth now. The Admiral didn't like the idea of sleeping over a tank of crap. I think I can easily re-plumb my existing lines to be able to use the pump out or the overboard hand pump when in legal waters. Found one for $120 shipped too. Saved me at least $500 over the toilet/holding tank setup.

Well, for what it's worth, you can tell your wife that my wife really likes it. That's because she is fairly tall and the porta potty fits her frame a bit better than the conventional head we had in the C30. Of course, if your wife is really short then that might be a negative. I'm just over 5'7" (i.e., short) and don't find it uncomfortable to use at all. And again, no issue with smell. I didn't really have an issue with that in my C30, either, where I used Odorlos. I tried Odorlos in the porta potty and got good results, but I find myself using the Thetford Ecosmart holding tank chemical, which is very effective with immediate results. Either one should be good and there are probably others as well.

 

[ggrizzard]

Kito,
I had the same head when my H30C was new until a friend came for a visit and broke it in the first year. Now I have the thetford. It works well, but be aware that something caused my first one to crack in both tanks. Perhaps the cold caused it to become brittle, and since I live in a no (rarely) freeze location, I don't think that did it in the first two years.