Toilet Engineering

[ol1970]

Originally Posted by siamese

My Thetford model 135 Porta Potti has none of those problems.

Two thumbs up for Thetford! Their products are inductively welded together and are extremely high quality for a plastic toilet.

[bgallinger]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I spent half a day swearing at a Raritan Elegance. It was not designed with maintenance in mind. When I finally got it apart, the culprit was long hair in the macerator. Its far worse than toilet paper, and some women are trained to brush their hair two or three times a day and put the loose stiff down the toilet. I think I had to use silicon to stop the leaks when I reassembled it.

My toilet philosophy these days is to get the cheapest Jabsco manual, plus a spare pump assembly, for less than a third the cost of the Elegance. With regular doses of vinegar you can get by for about 2 years between maintenance.

Donradcliffe: I must agree with your thoughts on the "cheapest Jabsco". I hate Jabsco for having designed, marketed and sold such a cheaply built bit of plastic. I have seriously wanted an electric toilet or vacuum toilet, but I will stay with the manual Jabsco.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ol1970

Two thumbs up for Thetford! Their products are inductively welded together and are extremely high quality for a plastic toilet.

Another +1 on thetford porta potties. I’ve have one that’s got to be at least 15 years old. Works perfectly and was my daily toilet for years at a time in different situations.

I’m thinking of getting a new one because this one is just gross from being so old. Still doesn’t smell though!

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I think you’re right about them all having a turn. But the cheap Jabsco manual head creates one heck of a suction when you pump it and that somehow breaks/bends the log around the corner. The Marine Elegance doesn’t pull nearly as hard so the poo log is left upright in the bottom of the bowl, before the 90 degree turn.



I’m talking about well formed, single logs here. Not diarrhea or rabbit pellets. Healthy proper logs.

Fair enough. My elegance makes one heck of a suction- but I may use more flush water as we have a spray nozzle on hose for the ultimate clean experience which save toilet paper and adds flush water

Maybe we should rate toilets on their ability to process type 2-3 stool?

[MicHughV]

I've talked about this before...my first home built boat had an antique Wilcox-Crittenden head, all bronze, teak, leather flaps, etc....I salvage it from a sunk English boat, it must have been a 100 years old or something. To use it required flipping a variety of levers, etc...the pump handle was easily 3' long, but it could and would....devour all that was placed in it...no problem...the long handle provided enormous mechanical advantage....on top of it all, it was a marvel of artistic design. By far and away, best head I've ever come across.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Literally had to go in the bowl and self-macerate so things were cut up small enough to go around a 90 degree turn in a 2” pipe. Bad engineering doesn’t even begin to describe it.

You are spot on about most marine toilets. Ever looked in the cabinet under the bathroom sink on another boat and found what looks like a breadknife in a plastic bag?

Most land based toilets are also designed to neck down and clog just past the bowl. That is why I have switched all mine to Kohler, were some smart engineer put guides in the bowl to line up the logs. No longer have to have a plumbers helper on the floor by the toilet.

[David Ess]

Composting toilets.

[MicHughV]

My fishing boat is fitted with a porta potti. It is there primarily for the ladies.
If ever their was a prize for the most awful device ever invented by man...this would win hands down.

My wife refuses to use it. She did discover a handy product, called Travel Jane disposable urinal....they come 6 to a bag. It is a small plastic oval cup type shape connected to a bag that is filled with some kind of chemical that causes the urine to form into a gel, so it can't spill. It's colored pink. It's very handy...for her anyway....to use underway, without leaving the cockpit. It can only be used for #1, for #2, requires a trip below. It eventually gets disposed off course, but is remarkably devoid of any odor.

Might be worth a consideration for some.

[Bill Seal]

How do you dump a porta-potty at sea? without donating it to Davy Jone's locker or accidently dumping it in the cockpit.

[MicHughV]

if all else fails...you can always fall back on the " bucket and chuck it" method..

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Bill Seal

How do you dump a porta-potty at sea? without donating it to Davy Jone's locker or accidently dumping it in the cockpit.

Ha ha ha. It’s tricky.

You remove the bowl and get ready.

Next, lift it near an edge.

Spin the pouring spout into position while lifting the porta potty on its edge, making sure the pouring spout is the highest point.

Unscrew the cap.

Invert it 180 degrees so the spout is over the water and press the vent button.

It empties in a second or 2.

The biggest danger is losing the cap.

[jtsailjt]

My best boss ever, now deceased, had a pristine wooden Hinckley Pilot but then he also got a 25’ cabin cruiser for local excursions. It had a head in it and whenever someone new came on the boat and said they had to go, he’d give them the briefing about how it worked, and as part of that briefing he’d point to a button mounted in the bulkhead next to the toilet and tell them it was to switch the toilet to turbo mode and for them to press on that button for 5” when they were ready to flush if they went number 2 and it was big enough so they thought it might not flush normally. But the button was really connected to a very loud horn so the poor victim would get a very big surprise end up announcing to all aboard that they had just made a very big turd. Ladies especially seemed to always get SO red faced after being pranked like that. know it’s childish but it was always very funny and almost nobody would use his head for the first time without pushing the button to see for themself how “turbo mode” worked. Part of the initiation for being on his boat. I haven’t added “turbo mode” to my boat yet but I’ve thought of doing it in honor of him. Like I said, he was easily the best chief pilot I ever had and I’m sure he’d think it was a fitting way to memorialize him! He deserves to be remembered in some way so I might just do that!

[Simi 60]

Having just had ours clog (plunger fixed) and reading through these posts in the search for the "Perfect Crapper" I once again come to the conclusion that the TMC that we have and have had previously on several boats is better than many

Sure, its not perfect but it was ten years old when we got the vessel and we have used it a few times a day every day for the next 5 years and have only put a kit through it once, more of a preventative maintenance than actual problem.

https://www.theboatwarehouse.com.au/...le-large-bowl/

Originally Posted by MicHughV

if all else fails...you can always fall back on the " bucket and chuck it" method..

Yep, have a lifetime supply of robust 20 litre plastic paint buckets on board and have used one of them for that very purpose.
Buckets are the right height and can take full weight.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Ha ha ha. It’s tricky.

You remove the bowl and get ready.

Next, lift it near an edge.

Spin the pouring spout into position while lifting the porta potty on its edge, making sure the pouring spout is the highest point.

Unscrew the cap.

Invert it 180 degrees so the spout is over the water and press the vent button.

It empties in a second or 2.

The biggest danger is losing the cap.

You're going to do this at sea? on a moving sailboat? In heavy weather?

And if you live on your boat permenantly, yu're going to do this daily for the rest of your life?

I can't believe that people would actually prefer to deal with this instead of simply having a well maintained, (and simple), marine toilet. No electricity, now vacume, no 1 cubic meter of poo and dessicant, no stiring, no seperating urine, no collecting dessicant. At anchor or sailing does your dessicant float when you toss it?

Good Lord, how much trouble people will go through to avoid a simple marine toilet, no wonder people move off their boats rather quickly. (And Chotu, it does not have to smell. I've got a good nose and mine usually does not smell, at all. If it starts to, I find the problem and fix it.)

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by wingssail

You're going to do this at sea? on a moving sailboat? In heavy weather?

And if you live on your boat permenantly, yu're going to do this daily for the rest of your life?

I can't believe that people would actually prefer to deal with this instead of simply having a well maintained, (and simple), marine toilet. No electricity, now vacume, no 1 cubic meter of poo and dessicant, no stiring, no seperating urine, no collecting dessicant. At anchor or sailing does your dessicant float when you toss it?

Good Lord, how much trouble people will go through to avoid a simple marine toilet, no wonder people move off their boats rather quickly. (And Chotu, it does not have to smell. I've got a good nose and mine usually does not smell, at all. If it starts to, I find the problem and fix it.)

I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. I was answering a question on how to use a porta potty at sea. Some small boats only have space for one. My first boat was like that. Other times you can use them in a pinch when your head breaks (as the POS marine heads invariably will).

Guess you’ve never had a porta potty before. They aren’t emptied daily. They last around a week or so for a couple people if I remember correctly. I’ve used them camping, in my boat during construction, on my first boat in the 1990’sz.

They are remarkable for the face that they never fail to work and they never leave you cutting up poo with a butter knife. 15 years. Not a single malfunction of any kind.

Marine heads are absolute garbage. Do I expect to fix a toilet at home, a porta porta potty or a toilet in an RV constantly? No. Only these trash heads in boats come with spare parts to carry and work to be done maintaining the. No other type of toilet on earth requires maintenance like that.

If people enjoy the hobby of working on sewage systems, more power to them. Enjoy. Me? I’m done working on things like that.

I do think the porta potty is a better solution than a marine head, but it’s not even what I use, so I don’t know where you are coming from with that. I have used a desiccating head most recently. I like it, but I think I’d like an RV head best. Can’t have one though due to having almost no boat below the waterline. So I’m sticking with the desiccating (compost) head.

PS: the composting head lasts 6 weeks with 2 people. We dispose of it ashore like baby and dog doo. It’s not something you put in the water.