Water for the Throne

[Stan Linado]

When the Admeral declares she won't go out on the boat because she thinks using the head is waaay to complicated there are only two possible solutions.
1) Sail solo (sometimes the simplest.)
2) Make using the head as simple as can be (more work for the maintenance crew.

While checking out the boat plumbing system I determined that one of the PO's had run a line from the fresh water tank to the head sink drain/seacock/head flush intake. Oh yes, there was a basic one-way valve in the line to prevent the nasties from contaminating the fresh water supply. Getting rid of that was easy.

The next step was adding a fresh water tank to be used only for flushing the head. Fortunately the Catalina 25 has a compartment just aft of the bow holding tank area. A search of the internet found a supplier of poly tanks. A 4 gal. tank seemed large enough to handle the flushing needs for a long weekend.

Using mostly the parts and hoses that were already there and reconfiguring the layout I came up with a manifold that allowed flushing the head using: 1) the dedicated head flushing tank water, 2) sink drain water or 3) sea water. Mostly, we will have the system set for using tank water.

Now the Admiral only has to contend with switching from Flush to Dry and pumping the handle.:dance:

 

[Kestle]

Look into composting heads like Airhead. I'd use it if I had more vertical clearance.

Jeff

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

The next step was adding a fresh water tank to be used only for flushing the head. Fortunately the Catalina 25 has a compartment just aft of the bow holding tank area. A search of the internet found a supplier of poly tanks. A 4 gal. tank seemed large enough to handle the flushing needs for a long weekend.

Overnight, maybe...but a long weekend? I don't think so. The average flush uses about 2 quarts/liters (.5 gal), so that's about 8 flushes per tankful of flush water. You MIGHT be able to double that number if you only dry flush urine.

There may be another issue: I hope you didn't set it up to be filled from the fresh water system...'cuz if you did, you defeated the whole purpose of installing a separate flush water tank (which, since you said your head intake is teed into the head sink drain line, you didn't need). USCG regs require that any flush water tank have NO connection to the potable water system, not even shared venting, 'cuz it exposes the potable water system to e-coli contamination, same as connecting a raw water toilet to the potable water system does.

As for why you didn't need a separate flush water tank, search the archives for articles pertaining to eliminating head INTAKE odor...unless you also undid the intake line connection to the sink drain line when you removed the connection to the fresh water system, you're already plumbed to solve that problem.

It's always a good idea to ask for advice about how to solve problems BEFORE you do any work...