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Old 22-01-2011, 13:20   #16
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The best system I ever had was a Mansfield TDX now sold as Dometic711-M28. China bowl directly above and attached to a 10ga holding tank. Waste drops directly into the tank with little or no water, when the tank is full or at any point a macerator pump can empty it into a larger tank for storage till pump out or overboard if appropriate. Minimal water and paper products are no problem. Needs about 20 in x 20 in flat space to mount. My current boat has a high capacity porta poti which is more or less the same thing. Dave
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Old 22-01-2011, 13:34   #17
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On our previous boat we had a high capacity portapotti with marine pumpout. I liked the simplicity but I found the actual implementation to be less than desirable. With a family of four, we only had two days capacity and when pumping out it was difficult to clear all the waste. A bit on the smelly side (we tried a variety of additives). I would not go that route again although it was very cost effective.
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Old 22-01-2011, 17:18   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tia Bu View Post
Still, I broadcast this ludicrous command to my daughters and their guests when they come aboard. Of course, the wife is a different story. I didn't dare say a thing.

So of course, her second or third weekend on board, we had a problem. After I had spent several hours up to my elbows in, well... I had a failure of manhood and actually wept for a few moments.

She felt so bad we've never had another problem.
I carry a joker valve and pass it around during my speech about marine toilets. "Everything has to go through this. If it doesn't, it will clog. If it clogs I will stand in the door of the head and hand you tools and advice while you fix it." Works a treat.
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Old 22-01-2011, 17:57   #19
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Electric marecetor toilets, absolutly brilliant. Anything that does get stick is usually right at the bowl and can be fished out with a coat hanger. Sanitary towels being the worse culprit.

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Old 24-01-2011, 18:21   #20
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Smiles,
Having spent alot of time overseas{Thailand,Malasia mostly}.A few arab countries.Why do you stock Toilet paper?Why do you put yourself through the hassles of un-clogging?Sooner or later your going to be elbow deep in the comode if you use TP.So just say NO....grins. Put a water hose like you probably have on your sink at home hooked to pressure water next to the comode.Pressuer wash and drip dry.
Works for a world
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Old 24-01-2011, 19:49   #21
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Smiles,
Having spent alot of time overseas{Thailand,Malasia mostly}.A few arab countries.Why do you stock Toilet paper?Why do you put yourself through the hassles of un-clogging?Sooner or later your going to be elbow deep in the comode if you use TP.So just say NO....grins. Put a water hose like you probably have on your sink at home hooked to pressure water next to the comode.Pressuer wash and drip dry.
Works for a world
Mark
I asked earlier... but..

i have a bidet attachment that attaches to the underside of the toilet seat and it tees off the water supply to a valve... no hand held hose or random water where you dont want it...

can you plub a tee into the water supply line to the comode... and is the seat attachmetn similar to house seats?
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Old 24-01-2011, 20:08   #22
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I asked earlier... but..

i have a bidet attachment that attaches to the underside of the toilet seat and it tees off the water supply to a valve... no hand held hose or random water where you dont want it...

can you plub a tee into the water supply line to the comode... and is the seat attachmetn similar to house seats?
As long at you plump it into a pressure water source it should work.I dont know what you mean by "House seats"
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Old 24-01-2011, 20:10   #23
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Quote:
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I carry a joker valve and pass it around during my speech about marine toilets. "Everything has to go through this. If it doesn't, it will clog. If it clogs I will stand in the door of the head and hand you tools and advice while you fix it." Works a treat.
Now this idea I like. Mind if I borrow your little speech to use on my boat? I already have a spare joker valve I can pass around. Might even get an old used one to emphasize the point.
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Old 24-01-2011, 20:13   #24
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As long at you plump it into a pressure water source it should work.I dont know what you mean by "House seats"
Mark
regular land based toilet seats...
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Old 25-01-2011, 19:56   #25
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I replumbed my heads to emiminate any sag in the discharge line to the holding tank (no y valve here).
But there is one downside to this; without a pool of water in a dip, wind can blow into the vent, pressurize the holding tank, and guess where the holding tank fumes come out? This is why they install goosenecks at your sink drain in your house.

When the wind was "right" my wife would say "why does it smell so bad?" I figured it out, but since I had done it, I played dumb.

My remedy was to put a second vent on the opposite side of the hulls. Problem solved!Will increase the oxygen flow as well.
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Old 25-01-2011, 21:04   #26
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The sight of the Lavac head in our boat persuaded my wife that we should close the deal more than the collision bulkheads did for me.
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Old 25-01-2011, 21:50   #27
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This is great. Speach with an old joker valve as a prop - noted and will do. Hose up the jxie - noted and will recommend. That should prevent a repeat of what I had to do a few weeks ago - sometimes a man's got to do ....... only to find - and this is the confession, that the o/b was blocked with growth on the outside. Oh my, what a cock up. Need a haul out !
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Old 18-02-2011, 11:11   #28
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If minimizing hassle is your primary goal...

On 28' or smaller boat, I'd strongly consider going with a self-contained system...i.e a 5-6 gallon MSD portapotty. The "MSD" designation means it's designed to be permanently installed and fitted for pumpout. A 5-6 gallon model holds 50-60 flushes...you'd need at least a 30 gal tank to hold that many from a manual marine toilet. No plumbing needed except a vent line and pumpout hose--so no new holes in the boat...and -0- maintenance needed except for rinsing out the tank--which you can do with a bucket while it's being pumped out. And you don't lose a major chunk of your storage space to the plumbing and tank. All for about $200--about what you'd spend just for a new tank OR a new toilet.

Check out the Thetford 365 MSD
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Old 18-02-2011, 11:26   #29
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Now to answer all your questions...

[QUOTE=alanrothenbush;589761]

While I'm at it, I'm giving serious thought to a new toilet as well.


I'd give that more than just serious thought...even the best compact manual toilet is worn out after 30 years.


1. How far does the pump push the waste?

That's a variable...but 6' is about as far as bowl contents will move without a lot of help from gravity in the amount of time that anyone will spend pumping a manual toilet. That's why the tank should be no further than about 6' from the toilet.

Does it just leave the bowl or just get past the pump or get part ways down the hoses or will it get all the way to the holding tank (assuming enough pump strokes)?

It will keep moving as long as you keep pumping or until the next user pushes it a little further.

2. Are some manual toilets better than others at pushing it all the way to the tank?

Oh yes! The Raritan PH II or PHC (compact version) has been rated the best in the industry for about 30 years. The Lavac is also one of the best.

I'm trying to be mindful of not leaving waste in the hoses.

Rinsing it out before the boat will sit is more important than filling up a tank with flush water.

3a. Can manual toilets really deal with quantities of toilet paper?


Depends on what you mean by "quantities"...most will choke on the half-roll/flush that most landlubber women seem genetically programmed to use. However, if only quick-dissolve TP is used, even an overload will dissolve in an hour or two, so it's not a major problem.

3b. Are some toilets/pumps better than others at quantities of toilet paper?

Better to learn to use less. Half a dozen sheets is adequate for most situations...but another half dozen isn't gonna clog any decent toilet. It's the huge wad of 50 sheets at once that marine toilets can't handle...nor can they handle the premium "extra strong, extra soft" TP. The test: tear off a couple of sheets and put 'em in a mason jar or glass of water...come back in an hour. If the water is milky and all you see is "snow" you can flush it on the boat. But if it's still an intact sheet, try another brand. I've seen Charmin and Cottonelle stay intact in a jar of water for a month!


I'd rather not go with an electric macerating toilet if I don't have to (I'm assuming here that they would handle this without difficulty). But an electric toilet is perferable to repeated unclogs at sea .. or even a single unclog.

I wouldn't go with an electric toilet on a 28' sailboat either.

Cost is not the primary issue here; low hassle is the issue.

See my previous reply.
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Old 18-02-2011, 11:33   #30
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Learn to use the "dry" mode

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The pump will push everything to the holding tank, each stroke pushes more water thru the system.
Most people, you included I suspect, only use the "dry" mode to move the last bit of water out of the bowl...not realizing that any manual toilet that's working anywhere near factory spec can move bowl contents up to 6' (4' vertically) in the dry mode. You can double the number of flushes your tank can hold if you learn to use it more. Before use, pump just a couple of times to wet the bowl (or add water with a cup ahead of solids)...use the dry mode to send the flush to the tank, or over the top of the vented loop. Then switch to wet for only 2-3 pumps to rinse the bowl and bring in rinse water...then back to "dry" to pump THAT all the way through. Before the boat will sit, run enough water through to thoroughly rinse out the discharge hose.

Try it...it works!
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