Plumbing the Head

[Nereussailor]

The plumbing for the head on my "New to me" boat is kind of backwards. The PO replaced the hoses but plumbed them wrong. When I had the survey done the surveyor said that the lines couldn't be plumbed to drain directly out a through hull.(which is the way mine is hooked up). I sail on an inland lake and probably won't take this boat any further than the great lakes. My question is, Do they have to be plumbed to the through hull or can they be plumbed directly to the tank and bypass the through hull? none of the hoses are connected to the tank so which hose goes where? There is a high inlet, a low one, and a vent. the vent is easy. also, does the hose comming from the head need to go through the vented loop before going into the tank? Thanks,Dave

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Your surveyor is right.

On inland waters, it's illegal to flush a toilet directly overboard OR dump tank...so the toilet MUST go only to the tank, which can only be emptied by pumpout. There should be no plumbing connected to a thru-hull except the toilet flush water intake.The line from the toilet goes directly to the inlet fitting at the top of the tank...no need for a vented loop. The discharge line goes from the fitting at the bottom of the tank to deck pumpout fitting. If the boat is gonna stay on inland waters, the thru-hull really should be removed and the hole glassed over while the boat is out for the winter. You COULD just close it, put a plug in it and it leave it alone...but with no plumbing connected to it, it becomes an "out of sight, out of mind" thru-hull/seacock that'll never be inspected or the seaock exercised--which means it'll seize up...and you won't notice that the fitting needs to be rebedded till it starts to leak. If it's never gonna be used, best thing to do is get rid of it.Btw...why are YOU doing this work??? Why didn't you make it a condition of sale that the seller correct it? That's one of the reasons for a survey...it's not just to let you know whether there's anything wrong that's a deal breaker or reveal what YOU'll have to fix, it's also to find all the little things the seller will have to fix if he wants to sell you the boat.

 

[Nereussailor]

surveyor

Instead of the PO having the repairs done, We opted for the reduced price and are going to do the work ourselves. So far, I've only put about $300 into the boat since I bought it. most of the stuff that needs fixing is only taking time. With all of the extra stuff that I have laying around the shop from the last boat(wire, varnish, etc.) I don't need to spend a lot to fix this one up. All of the hoses for the head are new, all I have to do is put them in the right place. When the boat is bought for less than 10k and the survey comes in at 16k I can stick a little time and money into it and still come out ok. With the boat being a lawn ornament for the winter I'll have something to do. besides sailing, isn't that what sailboats are for?Dave

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Hokay...just checking

 

[Nereussailor]

;D

Thanks for responding Peggie!