Toilet Seat Fiddles

[Anduril]

My first offshore adventure (Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda and return, May-June 2011) revealed a weakness in the design for the basic toilet seat. The seat itself is typically held on with two fasteners is not stable and when under sail and heeling (or just rocking and rolling) the seat slides off to the side, particularly when you are sitting on it.

I saw a presentation by Pam Wall ( cruisers university...West Marine consultant); she showed a solution where blocks were secured to the underside of the toilet seat, kind of like "fiddles" to prevent side to side slippage.

Has anyone else experienced this or "fixed" their toilet seat? Securing a suitable block of material to a typical toilet seat is not straight forward considering sanitization and the typical plastic toilet seat.

Any suggestions or thoughts?.... I was surprised to see no other post or remark on the forum.

[Greg S]

Rubber toilet seat bumpers worked well for us. They are bendable so you can shape them to the curve of the bowl, hard enough to do the job, soft enough that they will not mar the bowl and, best yet, they are made just for this type of environment. Install them on the bottom side of the toilet lid, just inside of the bowl perimeter. Use stainless steel screws, of course. It might depend on the make of head though, check clearances first. These are about 1/2 inch thick. Amazon.com: Lasco 02-3241 White Rubber Toilet Seat Replacement Bumpers with Screws: Home Improvement

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Anduril

My first offshore adventure (Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda and return, May-June 2011) revealed a weakness in the design for the basic toilet seat. The seat itself is typically held on with two fasteners is not stable and when under sail and heeling (or just rocking and rolling) the seat slides off to the side, particularly when you are sitting on it.

I saw a presentation by Pam Wall ( cruisers university...West Marine consultant); she showed a solution where blocks were secured to the underside of the toilet seat, kind of like "fiddles" to prevent side to side slippage.

Has anyone else experienced this or "fixed" their toilet seat? Securing a suitable block of material to a typical toilet seat is not straight forward considering sanitization and the typical plastic toilet seat.

Any suggestions or thoughts?.... I was surprised to see no other post or remark on the forum.

The two screws at the back of the seat have to remain tight with the proper plastic washers. And thats all it needs. If you can't get them tight then you need a new seat.

[Greg S]

Well....I have to say in my experience that replacing the seat, AND the bolts, did not solve the problem. In seas that set us to rock-n-rolling those two little bolts were definitely not up to the task of keeping my 180 pounds over the designated target area.

[Samantha ann]

Throw away the seat just warm the bowl before seating!

[Ziggy]

Bill Seifert, in his excellent book Offshore Sailing: 200 Essential Passagemaking Tips describes in detail a design for under the toilet seat blocks to stop it from sliding.

[Vyndance]

Originally Posted by Samantha ann

Throw away the seat just warm the bowl before seating!

+1

[bobconnie]

A sliding seat is still better then a Bucket !!! LOL Connie and Bob (i know cus bob made me use one for almost a year when we first got together)

[Blue Stocking]

TRUE STORY.

REBEL is a 40ft cold molded sloop built back in the 80's IIRC, and is locally owned (Bermuda owner)
Built like a big dinghy, pipe berths and very little else.
Head was forward, to port, and consisted of a manual toilet, platforms mounted, with 24"high granny bars and low curtains for privacy.
Driving hard to windward, on the way to Bermuda, in a Newport-Bda race, she climbs up, and drops off a big wave.
Skipper yells to hold on below.
BANG!!
Roger, on the head, says "OH NO"
Big Baby Ruth bar had jumped back out of the bowl, And landed in the crotch of his smallies.

[Paul Elliott]

On VALIS I used two pieces of Starboard (plastic), about 1" x 1" x 2". I shaped them for a snug fit inside the bowl rim and screwed them to the underside of the seat. They have held up fine for many thousands of sea miles.

Make sure that the screws don't punch through the seat -- that could be painful.

[boden36]

We did the same as Paul. A short length of round white plastic bar, (say, 2" diameter) split lengthways and then with a trench routed transversely across the rounded edge, just wide enough to straddle the toilet bowl. Two of these screwed to the underside of the toilet seat work very well and have done so for years.
Regards,
Richard.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

On VALIS I used two pieces of Starboard (plastic), about 1" x 1" x 2". I shaped them for a snug fit inside the bowl rim and screwed them to the underside of the seat. They have held up fine for many thousands of sea miles.

Make sure that the screws don't punch through the seat -- that could be painful.

Amen. Absolutely correct. For a little added safety in very hard weather, add a seat-belt. We picked up seat belts for the two heads on out boat and the seat at the navigation table, at a local junk yard very inexpensively.

FWIW...

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Samantha ann

Throw away the seat just warm the bowl before seating!

For years hubby insisted on that. As a result, we have a few spare seats knocking around (we have dive boats too, and customers are **** at sitting carefully, so we simply didn't give them a seat!) so we can now afford to break one or two!!

I'd suggest lifting the seat during heavy weather though...

[compassrose]

I too saw the hint in Bill Siefert's book about toilet seat fiddles. I liked the idea so much that I had a set fabricated. PM me and I will send you a picture if you are interested.

Ed

[mdvick]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

On VALIS I used two pieces of Starboard (plastic), about 1" x 1" x 2". I shaped them for a snug fit inside the bowl rim and screwed them to the underside of the seat. They have held up fine for many thousands of sea miles.

Make sure that the screws don't punch through the seat -- that could be painful.

+1 Works like a dream!