The Best Marine Toilet

[HopCar]

I know Peggy really hates the Jabsco electric toilets but for the money, they aren't bad. You should get several years service out of it if you follow the rule about eating anything you put in it first. You can even use toilet paper that you haven't eaten first! When it does fail you can replace the whole motor pump assembly for about $160.00 ( Jabsco 37041-0010 Toilet Motor / Pump Assembly 12 v. ) or you can rebuild it even cheaper. Raritan makes fine toilets and you can't go wrong with any of their products. Eric, I've never heard anyone call a Raritan PHII a "Cheapo" toilet! Throwing one away every year is just silly. Have them throw them my way! If hoses are clogging, it's because people don't flush enough water through the toilet to get the poop all the way through the hose. This applies to the Levac as well. The old Wilcox Skipper was the toilet all marine toilets should be compared to. It had a piston at least 3 inches in diameter and a shaft about an inch in diameter. It was way overbuilt. The only manual toilet in production today that comes close is the Groco model K. This toilet has been in production for over thirty years. The price has gone up but the quality hasn't gone down. I've had my Groco K for over twenty years. I suppose I'll have to put a second repair kit into it pretty soon. A rebuild every ten years or so isn't bad. If I were shopping for a toilet today, I'd probably buy a Raritan PHII Manual or a SeaEra Electric, best bang for the buck. What ever toilet you have, don't go putting any type of oil in it. The toilets are designed to not need lubrication and oil just causes trouble in the long run. Acid including vinegar won't help either, dilute vinegar probably won't hurt if you feel you must put something in there. The best thing you can do for your sanitation system is to flush long enough to get clean water through the whole system after every use. An occasional fresh water flush is a very good thing as well. If you look for toilet threads on this forum you will find a description of a very easy way to flush with fresh water by using the sink drain as a source of fresh water. I think Peggy invented the method and I'm sure she would be glad to answer any questions.
If anyone is in the market for a new Jabsco, Raritan, or Groco toilet, I'd love the chance to quote you on it.

[peghall]

A couple that went cruising for a few years in the Carribean I spoke with told me they had the cheapo Raritan PHII plumed for direct discharge. They replaced the head and all the hoses every year whether they needed to or not.

I'm sure you've mis-remembered the brand...'cuz MANY people replace Jabsco manual toilet pumps every year as "preventive" maintenance, but I've never heard of ANYone who replaced a PH II pump every year...or much more often than every 10 years. 'Cuz although I just saw a Jabsco pump on sale for $55 (nearly half the price of a rebuild kit), a PH II assembly is $150+, making it unlkely that anyone would spend that much to replace one annually as "preventive" maintenance. They'd replace it with a Jabsco instead.

[zeehag]

funny how i have had on this boat for duration of ownership and from day one of previous owner tenure with this boat, making 7 years now, same pump on same jabsco.....just now starting to give problems..... i have 2 pumps from which to choose to use for replacement--one is raritan , one is jabsco..... wishing i had that baby blake about this time.....
the raritan on the boat i sailed in gulf of mexico didnt work well--kept having problems. this jabsco must be made of gold....i know it cant be the only one still functioning after so many years-- but i live on board and cruise and use it every day , many times daily......

[Dockhead]

I have come around to not liking the Jabsco manual toilets. It is truly an advantage that the rebuild kits and pumps are dirt cheap and universally available. But they are flimsy, leak, etc. I am getting tired of mine and think about putting in something else.

I have the Jabsco electric conversion kit in my other heads. I like this better. It works well, although it is remarkably noisy. If the motor fails, you can pop it off in about 5 minutes and pop on your spare manual pump. This actually happened to me -- and at 10 years old, I didn't blame the motor for failing. But I was in the middle of last year's summer cruise, and it would have been a nightmare if I had not been able to put on the commonly available manual pump.

I guess the moral of the story is to keep spares -- if you go with something better -- albeit rarer - than a Jabsco.

[Blue Stocking]

Groco EB--The Rock of Gibralter 1 joker, 1 bowl flap, 1 woodruf key in 13 yrs of salt water in the bowl. Dilute vinegar pump-thru twice a season, and a shot of Listerine for "sweetness"

[HopCar]

Blue Stocking, The Groco EB was a good toilet. Unfortunately it is no longer in production. Get a spare diaphram for yours, that's the next thing to go. Those silly little check balls go bad as well. They can look fine, but sometimes they just don't seal.

[sarafina]

Getting ready to move to a composting head, but we have always had old manual Grocos on the boats and never had trouble with them. On the Chris Craft we had maceraters in line, but on the Cal we just have the plain old head and it works well, pumps strongly after (counting on my fingers) 45 years. Wow. I hadn't counted up how old it is. If we were keepin it I would do a rebuild soon as the joker is wearing out and allowing back flush.

But over all they have been mannerly components.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by peghall

A couple that went cruising for a few years in the Carribean I spoke with told me they had the cheapo Raritan PHII plumed for direct discharge. They replaced the head and all the hoses every year whether they needed to or not.

I'm sure you've mis-remembered the brand...'cuz MANY people replace Jabsco manual toilet pumps every year as "preventive" maintenance, but I've never heard of ANYone who replaced a PH II pump every year...or much more often than every 10 years. 'Cuz although I just saw a Jabsco pump on sale for $55 (nearly half the price of a rebuild kit), a PH II assembly is $150+, making it unlkely that anyone would spend that much to replace one annually as "preventive" maintenance. They'd replace it with a Jabsco instead.

You're probably right on the brand. Just seemed like an interesting technique to swap out the whole thing every year.

[david samuelson]

We have lived and cruised on our present boat 32 years. The boat was built in 1969. The original head is still working and I have never had to take it apart because it got clogged, but we do tell everyone not to put certain things in. I have done 3 complete overhauls in the time I have had it (the best part of a day each time) and it has never missed a beat. Baby Blake for me.

[peghall]

Originally Posted by david samuelson

We have lived and cruised on our present boat 32 years. The boat was built in 1969. The original head is still working and I have never had to take it apart because it got clogged, but we do tell everyone not to put certain things in. I have done 3 complete overhauls in the time I have had it (the best part of a day each time) and it has never missed a beat. Baby Blake for me.

Have you seen the price of a Baby Blake lately? BLAKES LAVAC BABY BLAKE TOILET - Blakes Lavac - Discount Marine Chandlery and Sailing Equipment. Bargain Boat Spares and Clothing

That price does include 18% VAT, though....But it's worth it, 'cuz at only 42 years old, it's barely middle aged. It'll last forever if you maintain it. People don't leave it behind they sell their boat...they take it with 'em to the next boat.

[Sabbatical II]

Originally Posted by HopCar

If anyone is in the market for a new Jabsco, Raritan, or Groco toilet, I'd love the chance to quote you on it.

1 Raritan Elegance quote required here delivered to Australia for a new boat. Sea water only with elongated seat & electric control panel please.

Greg

[cat man do]

I had one of these in the boat while I owned her for seven years with never an issue
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_i...133&item=89672

This time I have gone fore the more luxurious version of the same
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_i...AbsolutePage=1

[Sabbatical II]

The old designs are sometimes the best. This is the "seat of ease" at the bow of the Endeavour replica. It has never clogged and best used when running downwind.

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

The old designs are sometimes the best. This is the "seat of ease" at the bow of the Endeavour replica. It has never clogged and best used when running downwind.

True...seems like not much in true advancement has been made...maybe the opposite in most over-engineered cases.

The Vacu-flush system has some good intentions...but it is still not ideal in many situations (overall noise, install problems, etc...)

The problem with most toilet designs are they have to acccomodate being placed anywhere in the boat versus boat design that allows simple toilet design.

Thats why I decided to use pieces and parts and ideas from the nicest setups and mate them within my head. Clean install, very quiet, nice looking, simple, simple to repair, inexpensive to repair, easy to convert to manual in emergencies and inexpensive.

[ReMetau]

We replaced our Raritan PHEII with a Jabsco electric about a year ago and have been very pleased.