Jabsco vs Raritan Head

[SV Liberty]

I've had 2 Raritan PHII manual heads on Liberty since we bought her 7 years ago. We are ready to replace at least one of them.

Any reviews/advice on the Jabsco twist & lock head? Or maybe I'll just replace with what we have, a new Raritan.

We will be full time liveaboards, so the heads get pretty well used.

Comments welcome. Thanks.

[roverhi]

I really like PHII. Our last boat survived without a problem for 4 years of live aboard/and cruising and and another 6 years of days sailing until we sold the boat. Replaced the WC head on our current boat with a PHII.

Why do you want to replace the heads. You should just be able to do a rebuild and get another 10 years before the next rebuild. The rebuild kits include everything that wears in the heads so you have virtually a new head after a rebuild. Besides, rebuilding a head is fun, yeah right???

[donradcliffe]

the bases on both our raritan PHII heads cracked within a month of each other after 4 years.

[SV Liberty]

Cracked bases on both heads; the piston on one head cracked, and wouldn't build up pressure to draw in flushing water - until I patched/resealed the piston face while in the Bahamas last year; the pump handle fitting has broken 2 or 3 times; leaking around the base, sometimes (but not always), even after replacing the base gasket; and more little things. Basically, after over 3 years full time living aboard (family of 4, two heads), I'm just ready (the admiral is even more ready) for new heads. I may still go with a new PHII, but at 1/2 the price we may try a Jabsco for a few months and if we like it replace the other with a Jabsco. At $60+, rebuild kits for the Raritan are 1/3 the price of a new Jabsco.

We're in a place where making this kind of change is not that hard. That's why we're considering it.

[JiffyLube]

We have a plain old Jabsco head that came with our boat, and I rebuilt it once...pretty easy. I have no experience with any other head, but ours works fine to me. I don't mind pumping the contents (I'm just glad I have a working head), but my wife doesn't like seeing the contents while she pumps it down. She would like a vacuum head where she would only have to push a button (must be a woman thing), but I don't really care myself. What would be nice is if the Jabsco bowl was a little more oval shaped, instead of the round shape it is. The oval shape feels more natural, and the contents seem to fit better.