Self Contained Head

[Jim S]

Peggy,I revived my '76 hunter 30 last year after a long dry dock, I tore out the original head and hoses (put new valves on the thru hulls and plugged them) it had no holding tank. I used a portable I got at walmart for $55. I'm weighing my options for an upgrade.Although I still have the original head, it would probably need a rebuild (the seat would also need to be replaced) and it sounds like you often recomend replacing rather then reviving old economy marine toilets. That means I'd need to do buy a head, hoses, fittings and tank, and cut in deck and vent fittings go to a remote holding tank system.I'm also considering using one of the permanantly mounted higher capacity self contained units.I keep my boat on a mooring and need to go a bit out of my way for pumpout, but it still would beat the daily ritual of carrying the tank home and emptying ino my home toilet.My questions:I'd be putting any tank into the port storage locker under the forward v-berth of my '76 h30 do you know what capacity tank I might be able to fit there?What would be your rough estimates comparing what I'd spend on a head and holding tank system vs. a permantly mounted self contained system? I'd be doing the work myself, so how much more labor would be involved in the holding tank project vs just installing the piping and fittings for the self-contained?I saw your recent comparison of a 18-20 gal holding tank to a 5-6 gal. self-contained. Not to be labor the point but is this what I should use when figuring the pumpout frequency difference between the two options?Do the self contained units I see that have fresh water piped to them and a larger tank, fill the waste tanks any faster than the ones with the manual fill fresh water?If I were to pipe up one of the portable/ permanents, do you think it would be to difficult to make provisions to take the tank off to empty it and/or swap it to a back up if it filled up when I couldn't get it pumped out? (initially, I'm thinking my walmart model kept on the boat might be a more convenient back-up)

 

[Ed Schenck]

H30 holding tank.

Jim, I don't know much about the H30 layout but I know something about v-berth lockers and holding tanks. I just finished that project on my H37C. But I had to use the center v-berth locker, the side lockers were just too irregular in dimension. They have adequate capacity but there were no tanks available in that shape.Then there was the problem that the locker cover was much smaller than what it covered. Even in the center locker(which I don't think you have) I had to enlarge the opening(see "Related Link"). But it's worth checking all the possible sizes and shape at http://www.ronco-plastics.com/. Go to "Tank Search" and play with different sizes, probably 20 gallon and smaller. Good luck.(Forgot "Related Link" - see Photo Forum and "Avoid This Project".

 

[John Visser]

To Jim S.

You can easily estimate costs by getting a West Marine catalog and sketching out a system. I would guess that with a low-end marine toilet, it would be about $400. if you did all the work yourself ($150 toilet, $60. tank, then double it to account for hoses, clamps, and valves).As far as the idea about disconnecting and swapping the tank for a spare - why on earth would you want to do that? My advice is to do what everyone else does, which is fill the tank, pump the tank.

 

[Peggie Hall/Headmistress]

Permanntly installed tanks can't be swapped out

at will. you'd have to disconnect the vent hose pumpout hose...literally un-install the tank. A new manual marine toilet, 18-25 gal holding tank, plus the assorted hoses and fittings will run you $400-600 total, depending upon the quality of the eqipment and whether you include y-valves, overboard discharge pump to dump the tank etc.