The Best Marine Toilet

[Iriemon]

Originally Posted by JerseyJoe

Ancient Wilcox-Crittenden Winner after rebuild because I can't afford a LAVAC or BLAKE.

According to the Lavac website (lavac.com) the manual pump version is about $450. Not cheap compared to the Jabsco el cheapo model, but you can certainly spend more on a head.

[HopCar]

Iriemon, There is a solution to your Sea Era Toilet bowl filling to the rim. Any toilet that is mounted below or at the waterline should have the intake line run above the waterline with a vented loop at the top. For an electric toilet, like the Sea Era, the loop should be equipped with an electric solenoid that closes the vent when the pump is running.

Jabsco Vented Loop Solenoid Valve 37068-2000


If your Lavac is at or below the waterline, it should be equipped with a vented loop as well.

[Iriemon]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Iriemon, There is a solution to your Sea Era Toilet bowl filling to the rim. Any toilet that is mounted below or at the waterline should have the intake line run above the waterline with a vented loop at the top. For an electric toilet, like the Sea Era, the loop should be equipped with an electric solenoid that closes the vent when the pump is running.

Jabsco Vented Loop Solenoid Valve 37068-2000


If your Lavac is at or below the waterline, it should be equipped with a vented loop as well.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into it.

[Cottontop]

OK, stupid question, I guess, but why aren't commercial toilets used (Sloan valves)? They flush very reliably. Is it a water volume thing, or some other reason. I looked on Sloan's website and they have marine versions (salt and fresh water) although they use the word "ship."

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Cottontop

OK, stupid question, I guess, but why aren't commercial toilets used (Sloan valves)? They flush very reliably. Is it a water volume thing, or some other reason. I looked on Sloan's website and they have marine versions (salt and fresh water) although they use the word "ship."

Biggest problem is that they need to be on top of or have downhill plumbing all the way to the tank. My tank is above the head, as well as most of the head being below the waterline. Can't flush that with a Sloan!!


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[peghall]

Originally Posted by Cottontop

OK, stupid question, I guess, but why aren't commercial toilets used (Sloan valves)? They flush very reliably. Is it a water volume thing, or some other reason. I looked on Sloan's website and they have marine versions (salt and fresh water) although they use the word "ship."

Sloan valves are very fine valves...but that's ALL they are--just VALVES that open and close to ALLOW pressurized water into the toilet bowl. Electric marine toilets designed to use pressurized flush water have solenoid valves that do the same thing--open to allow water into the bowl, but manual marine toilets and electric toilets that use sea water need a pump to PULL water to the toilet. NONE of the Sloan valves are pumps, so they can only work for pressurized water. None of 'em seem to have any electrical components either, which makes it kinda hard to connect 'em to a flush button on any electric toilet that uses pressurized flush water.

However they could work in the new Raritan "Fresh Head"...'cuz it's manual toilet--the first ever designed to use pressurized flush water--and so doesn't require a pump OR a solenoid....that is, if Sloan valves didn't cost almost as much as the whole toilet.

[peghall]

Originally Posted by peghall

However they could work in the new Raritan "Fresh Head"...'cuz it's manual toilet--the first ever designed to use pressurized flush water--and so doesn't require a pump OR a solenoid....that is, if Sloan valves didn't cost almost as much as the whole toilet.

Neglected to include any info about it: FRESH_HEAD Promo Sheet

[Cottontop]

Thanks, Sailmonkey and Peggie.

I just read all these threads about people up to their elbows in poo. Not part of my retirement dream.

And the toilets in my house and office have worked pretty much flawlessly for, well, my entire life.

Now, I understand that a traditional home tank-type toilet just won't work. And I appreciate that, as Sailmonkey pointed out, you might have to pump uphill, or might be water limited, or electricity limited.

But I'm none of those. I'm looking at a 50' cat, relatively stable, toilet well above the waterline, holding tank almost directly below, lots of fresh water and electricity.

Why can't I get something that will work as well as the toilets in my office building do?

[Sailmonkey]

I've never been on a sailing cat with the commode on the bridge deck. So again same problems. I've also never had a blockage or any other type of drama with the head.....it just works. I do maintain the moving parts on a regular basis, and do flush the tp........maybe I eat healthier than the people with all the head problems?


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[Reiheld]

Originally Posted by h20

Dear Zeehag, seems like you have been around the block! WHY? is a compost bad?
It does not look like a factory made compost will fit in my
Smelly O’Day 35. So whats in a composter?
A vent, dump tray, pee holder, stir mechanism for peat moss or other.
Seems like for a thousand dollars I should be able to make a perfect fitting box for the bathroom. Ply wood, fiberglass paint and a vent motor. If it was just me, I would just use a bucket. My wife won’t go for that. Anyway maybe the top can come off my box and I can have a trash bag liner. After she poops maybe she can throw a cup of peat on it and in a couple days use a kitty litter stir with some more. Has anyone here made a composter?
It just seems like If i cahnge all the hoses on the convetional
head and maybe the holding tank it's gona smell bad no matter what. I have been on expensive fancy boats that smell bad. The boats that I can't smell have compost heads.

The Bucket-and-Chuck-it method is a time-honored way of dealing with it. And if it were just you and you used the plumbing you were born with for disposing of liquid waste over the side, the peat bucket and stirring stick ought to work adequately, if inelegantly. You're right, though. In my limited experience the boats that don't stink, ever, do use "Composters." This is an inaccurate description, as there is too little time for real organic breakdown to occur in most situations. The better name might be "desiccating head."

What stinks is the mixture of urine and feces. Separate the pee from the poop, and empty and rinse the pee jug frequently, and your poop dries out, coated with sawdust or peat or coconut fiber, to non-smelly lumps covered with sawdust. In my somewhat limited experience, this is easier to deal with than my cat's litter box, doesn't have components that are finicky about solid items that are disposed of accidentally, and best, Our £#*} Don't Stink... Ever.

The model we chose cost nowhere near what the big "composters" cost, nor what all the systems, chemicals, and repair components for traditional heads run. Needs very little storage space for compressed coco fiber bricks. If we had wanted to devise our own separating bowl and bucket, it might have cost even less. As it was, our time was more valuable than the $500 we threw at the problem, and we have been content with its construction, sturdiness, and design for three years so far. It still works, looks, and smells like new.

It took a whole 20 minutes to install, from the time we carted the box to the boat until we were sitting on this throne, to see how we liked it. It is as compact as a household john, doesn't wake the dead with a startling midnight whoosh-and-pump racket in a crowded marina, doesn't need pumping out, comes in several sizes, heights, and shapes, depending on the boat's space, complies with all the nanny-state-regulations I know of, needs no power, through-hulls, valves, hoses or plumbing, has no holding tank, unless you count the secondary five-gallon solids bucket that comes with it, and doesn't risk sloshing water all over the place on a rough crossing. The cleaning, every couple of weeks in our case, involves only lifting the bucket out, dumping the lumpy peat stuff into a doubled plastic bag,(or into a vented secondary bucket) and pouring out the urine jug daily, which in our case is just a simple, free, gallon water jug. We find ourselves stopping often enough for fuel, water top offs, or meals, that emptying properly ashore is a quick no-stink cinch.

As I watch the line waiting for our town's pumpout facility on a beautiful hot summer afternoon, I wonder why anybody would ever consider, as I did for years before we got far enough in construction to need one, the traditional flushable marine head.
YMMV, but for us it turned out to be very little ongoing expense, almost no maintenance, very light weight, and freed up a lot of storage space.

[Simply Sailing]

Reiheld, I couldn't agree more. I know there are "do-it-yourself" composting head plans, but building them (and then wondering what you had done wrong later on) wasn't worth the money we spent on our Air Head. We actually ripped the entire plumbing system out of two boats we have owned and installed an Air Head in both of them. The only thing you ever smell when you row past a boat with a composting head is a slight earthy smell which makes you wonder where the garden is instead of wrinkling your nose at the poo smell.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Reiheld

and your poop dries out, coated with sawdust or peat or coconut fiber, to non-smelly lumps covered with sawdust. In my somewhat limited experience, this is easier to deal with than my cat's litter box, doesn't have components that are finicky about solid items that are disposed of accidentally, and best, Our £#*} Don't Stink... Ever..

Now, what's needed is a wood stowe and you can burn the lumps

[Reiheld]

You try it, and let me know how that works out, ok?. You may be onto the next ever-so-sustainable good idea. It isn't a product we're likely to run short on.

[Singleprop]

Just adding to the confusion, but Planus toilets was chosen as the best toilet in this Jabsco/Tecma/ Raritan and Dometic test....

One thing to consider is that Planus doesn't have the worldwide support as the others do....but it's on the way.

Planus| Press

[peghall]

Planus is made by the Italians who originally made Tecma toilets, which literally revolutionized the macerating marine toilet industry in the '90s. They sold Tecma to Thetford. Not happy with the changes Thetford has made to Tecma, they founded a new company to make an even better toilet than their original Tecma. Not surprising that they succeeded. If history is any indicator, they'll again drive major improvements in toilets from other mfrs.

However, keep in mind that there is no such thing as THE best toilet...only the best choice for YOUR boat, budget and the people who'd use it.