I think sometimes some sensitive issues need to be said.
The porta poti and myself in confined quarters dislike each other intensely. We are thrown into an uncomfortable arrangement, it crammed into a crevice, only seeing light when it is forced to the indignity of it's task, and myself hating it's screws and plastic, and it's shoddily assembled components. If there ever was a product that for reliablility is crucial it is the boat toilet. I feel it should be has precision made and robust as a Rolex. With the poti I use these things with apprehension, and with a prior guesstimate of the volume of the offering, if you get my ..... drift. I say "What accident is going to happen next?".
I found it hiding shamefully under my Halman's prow V birth while I was prepping the boat for winter, concerned mainly about standing water. Studying it closely looking for cracks, I was glad the previous owner spared me the unpleasant task of tank cleaning, and it turned out to be spotless,dry and without odor. Someone wrote "not in use" under the lid. I don't know if that was something that was foreboding the future, or just a fact. The "flap" waste port was as usual for poti's not seated properly and ajar somewhat by a 1/8 inch crack, and I am sure the poor children in the upper births suffered through the night from the tanks odors.
The trap mechanism was the same inefficient arrangement has years gone by, reluctantly squeeking into position as I moved it back and forth, it's weak spring power trying to make a feeble attempt to close the trap. I wondered how this company managed to stay alive, since every poti I saw through the decades had the same problems with the "trap door" from hell.
The bowl itself was a shallow piece of work, it's restricted volume obviously designed by office clerical staff of Poti Corp. who are accustomed to the occasional nibble of paper bag sandwiches, chocolate bar, or quasson in the morning prior to a busy day. Full course meals to them must be rare indeed. I thought of the eating habits of some of my burly pizza eating sailing friends and wondered if "Poti" made a seat extension so has to give some distance between the offering and the benefactor.
Now I'm not against the system itself. The ships of the past used this same trap door and bowl fill system in their standard height screw down porcelain and steel models. The tortion spring had some "womp" to it and you really needed to press hard on the foot peddle to flush. In these there was no concern of a heeling boat and it's consequential spillage of a cereal bowl sized waste basin such as found in the typical poti. The bowl was deep and steeply tapered. I recalled in my father's boat back in the 50's, that when you pressed that floor pedal, what was there was gone in a flash. Boeing 747 toilets had nothing on these.
So, I guess my option for this boat will be, yes, yet again a new poti(The saying should be "old poti's never die, they DON"T EVEN fade away"). Not trusting black water plumbing strung through my cabin to outside the hull, and frowning on drilling yet another through hull port, maybe a carry tank system is the next best. Manual and unpleasant, but at least I get to escort the waste downwind to the outside and I know where it went. While I'm at it, I'll take a tape measure and see if I can install it stand alone under the cockpit space with a pullout roller system.
This way new poti will have an advantage over it's predecessor. It will get to see daylight while it carries out it's task, and who knows maybe it will be kind to us.
The porta poti and myself in confined quarters dislike each other intensely. We are thrown into an uncomfortable arrangement, it crammed into a crevice, only seeing light when it is forced to the indignity of it's task, and myself hating it's screws and plastic, and it's shoddily assembled components. If there ever was a product that for reliablility is crucial it is the boat toilet. I feel it should be has precision made and robust as a Rolex. With the poti I use these things with apprehension, and with a prior guesstimate of the volume of the offering, if you get my ..... drift. I say "What accident is going to happen next?".
I found it hiding shamefully under my Halman's prow V birth while I was prepping the boat for winter, concerned mainly about standing water. Studying it closely looking for cracks, I was glad the previous owner spared me the unpleasant task of tank cleaning, and it turned out to be spotless,dry and without odor. Someone wrote "not in use" under the lid. I don't know if that was something that was foreboding the future, or just a fact. The "flap" waste port was as usual for poti's not seated properly and ajar somewhat by a 1/8 inch crack, and I am sure the poor children in the upper births suffered through the night from the tanks odors.
The trap mechanism was the same inefficient arrangement has years gone by, reluctantly squeeking into position as I moved it back and forth, it's weak spring power trying to make a feeble attempt to close the trap. I wondered how this company managed to stay alive, since every poti I saw through the decades had the same problems with the "trap door" from hell.
The bowl itself was a shallow piece of work, it's restricted volume obviously designed by office clerical staff of Poti Corp. who are accustomed to the occasional nibble of paper bag sandwiches, chocolate bar, or quasson in the morning prior to a busy day. Full course meals to them must be rare indeed. I thought of the eating habits of some of my burly pizza eating sailing friends and wondered if "Poti" made a seat extension so has to give some distance between the offering and the benefactor.
Now I'm not against the system itself. The ships of the past used this same trap door and bowl fill system in their standard height screw down porcelain and steel models. The tortion spring had some "womp" to it and you really needed to press hard on the foot peddle to flush. In these there was no concern of a heeling boat and it's consequential spillage of a cereal bowl sized waste basin such as found in the typical poti. The bowl was deep and steeply tapered. I recalled in my father's boat back in the 50's, that when you pressed that floor pedal, what was there was gone in a flash. Boeing 747 toilets had nothing on these.
So, I guess my option for this boat will be, yes, yet again a new poti(The saying should be "old poti's never die, they DON"T EVEN fade away"). Not trusting black water plumbing strung through my cabin to outside the hull, and frowning on drilling yet another through hull port, maybe a carry tank system is the next best. Manual and unpleasant, but at least I get to escort the waste downwind to the outside and I know where it went. While I'm at it, I'll take a tape measure and see if I can install it stand alone under the cockpit space with a pullout roller system.
This way new poti will have an advantage over it's predecessor. It will get to see daylight while it carries out it's task, and who knows maybe it will be kind to us.
