Mahe 36: Heads

[Randall]

has any one looked at putting in a plexi-glass divider in the bathroom. I love the mahi but was wounder why they did not divide the bathroom. I talked to some one who said they were going to drill a hole in the cabinet and put in a y connector and put in a permanente shower head.

[Scott730]

Randall
When I first got the boat I thought about a divider for the shower, but having used it, I feel a divider would be to restrictive in movement. Also, unless you place the showerhead and water valve in the shower area, it would be a real pain to operate the water flow with a divider.
All in all it is not a problem the way it is.

[lstyles]

I wanted to get some advice. I want to convert my toilet to freshwater flush and it seems this will be easy as water line can be accessed behind starboard hall closet and led quickly toilet inlet. My question is whether to take the water line off the water line before it gets to water pump or to use the pressurized line when it comes back? Any thoughts?
thanks,
Lori

[pguillemin]

you will need to convert your toilet to a fresh water ( you can use your fresh water pressure system but you will need a solenoid switch as well as a filter as you do not want bacterias running back to your tank for contamination.
Remember that the water tank are small ( an electric toilet like Tecma will use 1,5 gallons per flush) If you use your manual toilet ,,,,you are going to use a lot more

[Whimsical]

Jabsco uses a combined solenoid vent and siphon break in their fresh water toilets. It is available as a spare but not cheap.

Mike

[DtM]

Why do you want to convert to fresh water flush?

[lstyles]

I want to change because it has been my experience that it doesn't smell as much when you flush with fresh water. Maybe the location in SF Bay area is responsible for smell as it is clearly different when I flush with fresh water. Also, the toilet gets dirty from the green water and little creatures that are routinely found in the flush water. As my boat is in charter I want it as fresh smelling as possible.
Lori

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Lori, probably the smell is due to dying and rotting algae in the water inlet hose. This gives a strong sulfur-like smell after some time. Alternative solution could be to clean or replace the inlet hose from time to time, maybe every 2 years.
Regards,
Jef

[DtM]

Lori,
I reckon Jef's analysis is correct and in fact you will notice the same smell when you start the motors after a week (or more) away from the boat. The smell should be gone after the first flush.
Our solution is to put detergent into the bowl when we leave the boat and the first thing we do when we get on board is to flush and brush the toilet with the safety escape hatch open. Slightly more of an issue if they are charterers but a simple note should do the job.
I would guess that if your boat is in charter the "careful" use of freshwater may not be high on people's understanding.
Just my 2 cents worth !!
daniel

[Cotemar]

When you replace the Joker Valve, make sure to change the "Base Valve Gasket" also. This will prevent spill back into the bowl.
See diagram attached.

Always pump a gallon or more of fresh water before replacing, so the fresh water is the only thing that leaks back into the bowl. The exit pipe goes up three feet, so you have to fill it with fresh water first.

To pro-long the time between changing the Joker and Base valves.
1) keep the intake valve closed.
2) Leave a cup in the sink and when flushing just use a cup or more of fresh water from the sink. The problem is that the urine takes the salt out of the ocean water and creates calcuim deposits on the rubber valves and then they can not seal shut.

3) The Joker valve can be cleaned and stored with a rubber band holding it in the closed position for a month and than can be reused again.
4) The Base valve usually has to be replaced every time

[Scott730]

Mark
Thanks for the info, I'm pretty much doing what you suggest, but I haven't replaced the Base Valve everytime. I'll start doing that now.
Lonnie, If you stop in my area on your way to the Bahamas, would love to get together.

Scott

[jean1146]

hi everyone.
I am reading about all the problems you all have had. I am very lucky so far.About the toilet,every week I pour about half a cup of cooking oil to keep everything lubricated,so far I haven't had to replace anything yet. The hot water line blew up,steam everywhere,but it was fixed,what I do is turn off the hot water heater switch off when not in use,no sense to use power when we are not expecting to use hot water.My electronic so far is doing good.I still do need to go up the mast and ckeck everything,I am not to crazy about doing that.....JC.

[lstyles]

We have recently started to have problems with backflow into the head. We changed the joker valve and it hasnt helped. I am thinking that what is coming back is from the sewage remaining in the hose between top of tank and head itself. It would seem that a basic problem with the system is the height of the holding tank and so the hose is long and has some pressure due to the height of the tank. Is there some other valve that might be better to stop this backflow? I have asked around and no one seems to think that any of the other types of valves would work in this setting.
thanks,
Lori
PS. The 30 HP engines are great!

[Scott730]

Lori
I had the same problem, I think you have to replace the bottom gasket at the base of the hand pump as well as the joker valve. It seems to be working for me. It has been 8 months since doing that and no problem.

[Cotemar]

Istyles,

Go back to post #10 for a full explanation with pictures of your Jasco toilet. You needs to replace two rubber valves.

Mark