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Is there a way to take a 5 gallon sanipottie and hook it up to the standard pumpouts at most marinas? I have always gust poured the mess into a toilet. This is way to messy. The version that I have does have the ability to hook it up to a holding tank..........HELP

I should think either way is pretty bad. My solution is to find 'somebody else's' toilet, you know, like City Park. Wait for a rainy day when no ones around and cover it with a big grocery sack. Walk in like you own the joint and avoid eye contact.

Finish off the job back home from about fifteen feet out with a spray nozzle on the garden hose as far down wind as you can get from the residence.

Waiting to hear how the guys using pump outs make out.

I suggested this idea to another Mac sailor last week. He has a cleanout for his house sewer that was slightly elevated in his yard. He was going to cut it off and put it below ground level. After telling him how it was a convenient way to dump his porta-potty, he's thinking about leaving it. That way the whole clean up job stays outside. Everybody happy--except the one doing the job.

At a marina I worked at a few years ago, we had a pvc attachment that threaded on to the pump-out systetm hose that we used to pump out porta-potties. The attachment was inserted directly through the top hole of the toilet down to the tank. Once empty, we would fill with water and pump out again, and repeat at the owner's request.

Worked great. Should be easy to make one yourself if your marina does not have one around.

My Mac has the 5 gal "Sanipottie" brand that was converted to be a pump out unit by the PowerSailing Center. The PO had this done. I took it apart this spring and gave it a real good scrubbing and reconected it. I think it would be an easy mod to do. Basically you need to buy the correct parts, and drill for a vent hole and a hole for the Pumpout fitting and connect the hoses.

Here are the instructions and parts you need. See "MSD Permanent Installation" on page 7. It appears to me that the MSD (pump-out capable) versions use different tanks. It also appears to me the potty will have to be mounted 2-3" more aft of the bulkhead than a non-MSD model to allow room for the hoses. I'm not sure I'd want to lose that much space to not have to dump a potty.

I'm really interested in the attachment of which Rick speaks. I wonder if having one would satisfy the Ontario authorities... not that I'd use it.

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Moe

we have the MSD 5.x gallon unit. I was considering installing a pump out...but was not sure if the tank could take the pressure of being sucked clean over and over.

I try and find a public rest room to dump it in on the way home..then rinse it out at home in the back (way in back) yard.

so far so good

Not sure if I will ever hook it up to a pump out. It may be just a bit more complicated than it needs to be. This way is working fairly well.

Paul

When we are at a Marina with a pump-out station, I just bring the unit over and "suck it Dry". Use the water supply to refil a few times and empty. I have done the home bathroom bit, but man that is bad! I would love to have a "real" marine head, but will just live with the portapotty. I would like to find some tank additive that doesn't smell so bad itself! Any recommendations? I use the standard Blue stuff now that smells of formaldehyde!

Rich

There are a lot of non-formaldehyde based deodorants available. It kills off the good bugs in septic systems, and is not popular in the RV world any more. Check RV supply places. We use Odorlos 4oz dry packets in the Airstream. It does not contain it. Our Mac's PO left a six pack of 8 oz bottles of liquid Thetford Aqua-Kem in the boat, which I believe does contain formaldehyde.
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Moe

Paul S wrote:we have the MSD 5.x gallon unit. I was considering installing a pump out...but was not sure if the tank could take the pressure of being sucked clean over and over.

I don't think that's a problem... with a pumpout, you need to install a vent, which, as the nasty stuff is sucked out, lets air come in to the tank to take its place (preventing an implosion!). Here's the mod that details our head...

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... record=232

Most of the install was done by the previous owner (well, probably the dealer), but these photos of the changes I made should give a pretty good idea of how the pumpout was installed.

--Mike

Our Mac came with the MSD Permanent Installation already done. The mod looks fairly simple as I have already ripped it apart and replaced the toilet. There is a parts kit you can get with the proper connections. You just run a vent hose out the side of the boat (mine is right under the head window) and a deck pumpout straight up out of the toilet (mine is located about 9 inches behind the starboard winch and is flush mounted. My head was still mounted almost flush against the head wall so the hoses don't take away from leg room.

I say I ripped it apart already because I found the porta-potty sorely lacking when it came to odor. Since I keep my Mac in a marina, the head would only get pumped out about once a week by the pump out boat. The smell got to be too much since the porta potty tank isn't really sealed very well. Also the pump out never really got everything out, especially toilet paper since the inner pipe isn't positioned very well and this led to further odor although the unit itself stood up fine to countless pump outs.

So I recently took a cue from a mod on this site Real head instalation and replaced the porta potty with a Sealand Traveler with a real holding tank, better seals and a water hookup for better flushing. I was able to use the exact same vent and pump-out hoses so the installation was easy and boy what a difference. The whole toilet is much higher, the porcelan pot a whole lot more stable and the smell is non-existant. I got the toilet from Defender for $350.

I thought about a deck pumpout and adding a T for a macerator to a below the water line discharge for my Sanipotti. This system would be nice for our frequent trips into British Columbia.

I had a quote done to see what the cost for materials and labor would be. The quote came back at roughly $750.00.

OK, someone stop me before I try this if it's a mistake. I have a Thetford 6.5 gallon porta pottti that came with the following accessory: The accessory replaces the standard swing-out spout that you would normally use to dump the holding tank. Instead, it's a fitting with a vent tube as well. The fitting is a standard 1 1/2 " that you can attach a hose and then ultimately a deck mounted coupler for the marina cleanout hose. My thinking is that rather than installing all the hoses and deck fitting, just to remove the holding tank to the cleanout dock, insert this accessory fitting with a foot long length of 1 1/2 " hose that is connected to a standard deck mount coupler for the cleanout apparatus to connect to. Can you think of any reasons that that would not work before I create a scene and some marina some day?

I would use plastic plumbing pipe everywhere I could, hose only where I have to.
I'm not sure about the rest because I'm not familiar with that particular head.

The attachment that I referenced above is similar to the following:

http://www.edsonpumps.com/CoastalData/s ... roup_ID=28

The attachment is great for two reasons:

First, its not messy because you just insert it directly into the potty and pump away. Fill with water and repeat as desired.

Second, if the station hose is long enough, you can send hose directly through the fore hatch without removing the potty. But use towles and becareful not to drip doody water in your Mac!

You can make one of these yourself with pvc, a pump-out coupler and a ball valve. But for 16 bucks, I would just rather buy one.