How are your Marine Heads working out?

[escape]

Tim Bastian appeared to have done a nice installation job. Now I am wondering-how is it and others working out? How much water does it take to flush? Are they holding up? How much more space are they taking up compared with a porta potty?

We have a 24 gallon badder serving both galley and head. Will there be enough water to serve light cooking needs, regular handwashing and a marine head over a two day, two night weekend?

If not-suggestions for how much water you all find is adequate. We will be bringing drinking water on board so that is not a need that will be drawn from the bladder.

[Highlander]

Sounds like an all female crew !!!
no offence intended just teasing thats a lot of water for 2 days ? All right I figured it out you'll need all that water for making Ice , So why not just take the ice on board
Oh dont forget to take lots of toilet paper Ok I'll go hide in my corner now
J

[Navyvet]

1 gallon a day for drinking(most sailers use only 1 gallon all day for everything they need) per person figure about 1 gallon a day for flushing per person and another for hand washing and cleaning and I'm giveing you alot of water to play with so if you use 3 gallons of water a day per person I will be suprised. With the 24 gallons figure 8 days 1 person at 3 gallons used a day (man that's alot of water) 2 people figure 4 days and so on. Remerber I am figureing you are drinking nothing but water on board and drinking heavly at that. To be honest fill it up make sure you pick up one of those 2.5 gallon bottles and go out for a weekend with everyone you would usally take on the boat. The second you start to run out of the 24 gallons use the 2.5 and head yourself back in if you don't use the 24 then you know your fine. I think you will find out you will use only about 1 gallon a day per person if they don't have bathroom issues (like flushing ever 20 mins) and you like to drink more then just the water on the boat. Don't use cans of pop use a 2 liter or somthing large cans also take up alot of space in the trash bag. (Same thing for beer cans. You drink alot more beer if in cans or bottles the mini kegs will suprise you how long they last "and tast better too" that way you aren't trying to keep up with your boys drinking 1 can after another with them. If your a drinker "and the mini keg can be used a float too") Most beautiful thing in the world you see a bass boat flipped over and a guy next to it using a mini keg as a PFD. God has his ways of even of keeping his "special" people alive too. And people wonder why I don't drink and drive/sail.

[pokerrick1]

You could DROWN in all that water

Rick

[DaveB]

On a 5 day cruise I have a 10.5 gal. bladder under Gally sink (27x27 inches holds 13 gal.) it is wedged between hull and stringer and works great. I only use 6 gal. of that in 5 days. I carry 2 other 2.5 gal. for drinking water (only used 2 gal.) and another 10 frozzen 12 oz bottle water in cooler.
Porta potty 5 gal. use conservatively. We still had another 3-4 days to fill it.
Use the toilet paper to clean bowl in #2's and rince with 1/2 pint of Toilet Purifier /w/water to min. filling porta potty.(point is ,more water in porta potty ..faster it fills)
When you are on a boat, water is very presious and you take only what you need. If you have a elect. pump you can kiss the water away very fast if it doesn't have small shower head and quick shutoff.
Above is sailing in salt water, if you are in fresh water and have to keep gray water in tank than I would do a lot of cleaning in bucket for dishes.
Dave

[Night Sailor]

My setup has been in place for 9 years now and works fine with no repairs required yet. It may or may not work for you in your location.
I installed a Raritan PII manual marine head (smallest model) connected by solid PVC pipe to a 12 gallon heavy poly Todd waste water tank immediately aft of the head compartment, which can be flushed by a deck fitting in the gunwhale overhead at pump out stations, or overboard via a ball valve just above a Jabsco macerator pump leading to a fitting on the lower side of my head sink trap then to the ouside via the factory head sink drain. All is PVC except for joints for the pump and the hull outlet for the pump out deck fitting which have sections of about 1/2" of heavy duty sanitation hose for flexibility, vibration reduction and ease of removal for repairs or replacement if ever necessary.
The Todd poly tank is additionally wrapped in four layers of Saran Wrap. An opaque heavy duty vinyl cover is fitted over the whole tank with a small viewing port on the forward end to see at a glance how full the tank is. The waste tank vent hose leads from the tank to the uhderside of the cockpit coaming, then down to four inches about motor well level next to the steering linkage port. I believe it is effective and safe from sinking or rollover conditions, though not the easiest way to install. No odor has ever been noticed inside the head, cabin or cockpit with this setup. Flushing the head usually consists of about three pumps of tthe Raritan handle or 8 oz of water for urine, maybe six to ten for feces, depending on how easily it cleans the bowl. Always so far, less than a quart per flush under the worst conditions.

I have two 9 gallon Todd poly potable water tanks in the bow compartment under the v berth, one on either side of the centerline. ONe for the galley, one for the head only. This assures that head water will run dry before the holding tank reaches capacity since most flushes are of urine. Both tanks are filled from a single water inlet installed on the starboard side of the motor well space, just under the wraparound rubrail. I use a common filtration unit of 4gpm to treat all water going on board, and this in line after water pressure reduction device so excess pressue is avoided on board. Both tanks share a air vent hose leading to the the same area as the inlet fitting via the underside of the cockpit coaming after it passes the head, and has a one way valve to prevent back siphoning in event of a capsize or flooding.
A 24 psi on demand Shurflo water pump pressurizes the water to the galley and head sink, and is located also in the forward compartment with the tanks. The shurflo switch is mounted with a guard over in on the aft side of the galley, and includes a red "power on" light to remind us not to leave it on when not being used.
The head tank relies on the Raritan head manual pump. Since initially sanitizing the lines on installation, there has been no taste, odor or other problems in these lines.
The galley tank is usually used only for food prep and washing face and hand. We drink bottled water from bottles refilled at home for the convenience of storage and portability and starting out with them frozen in hot weather. In addition, two heavy duty poly lab bottles of 6 gallons each hold potable water in reserve and can act as moveable ballast as needed. Dinner wine or sundowners reduces the water demand. Our water system has been good for two people for 10 days to 14 days depending on weather and menu, which is always tasty but not water wasteful.
Maintenance is simple for the head. Add one or two drops of vegetable oil, I use olive oil from the galley, to the empty head and smear around the seal and wait a few hours. Flush it down with a few pumps of water. I do this about twice per year.
The tank and hose system is filtered to begin with but once per year I flush the tanks, then refill again after adding a few drops of liquid bleach to the intake fitting before attaching the filter and hose.
I know there are simpler ways perhaps, but this setup accomplishes what we want in both water and sanitation. IN addition, the location and weight distribution under average conditions balances the X's tendency to lie bow up with our 50hp Merc, 18 gallons of fuel, two crew, two solar panels and three batteries on board.
Hope this helps.

[John McDonough]

I have the original mac porti potti.(7 years) Used less than 5 times. Too much aggrivation to clean.

Offical toilet. 5 Gallon decor dry-wall bucket with snap on toilet seat. Plastic bag liners for emergency use only. (much more comfort than the porta potti)

Man Urinal. 32oz Bottle or take a swim.

Lady Urinal. The decor drywall bucket or take a swim.

Main stategy. Go #2 at the Marina.

You stink up my boat, you will walk the plank..

[John McDonough]

You could DROWN in all that water

Rick

You wont drown if you keep your Empty Mini-kegs close-by in case of emergency.

If you ever come across a un-ballasted Macgregor capsized, with crew floating close-by holding on to mini-kegs, we will know he read Macgregors Sailing Pages.It could save your life.

[escape]

Sounds like we will havy plenty of water and I appreciate the marine head installation guide from night......(sorry-could not remember your name). Hope to install one next year. There will usually be my sailor boy and myself on board most weekends with the exception of our grandson once a month so I think we have all the water we need in that big ole bladder! Ha! Ha!

AND...while reading all of your generous replies I had a DER DUH moment! We will be sailing on a fresh water river most of the time. We can filter drinking water whenever we need it! Our little backpack filter pumps out about a quart in two minutes-really fast!

We do not drink and boat either. It amazes me how many people do putting all of us at risk. Our Coast Guard course said drunkedness is the major cause of boating fatalities but right along with men in powerboats falling off of their boats while they take a leak.

[David Mellon]

I agree, I never drink while boating...except for rowing out to my Mac after a few Buffalo Milks at Two-Harbors, Catalina. I figure I can't hurt anyone in a rubber raft at three knots max