I believe that Moustaches still has her original head (a Wilcox Crittenden - not sure what model but it’s manual and not that large). This toilet is 32 years old and when it is pumped, water shoots out of the hole for the piston rod of the pump handle. Likely, it just needs a re-build, poor old thing, but a kit up here in the great White North is hard to find and will run CAD $150.00+.
Or, I buy a brand-new Jabsco toilet for CAD $199.00 + tax + shipping from Binnacle. The WC (interesting acronym, actually) has never really failed us and has a reputation for being able to flush an empty (or full) tin of tuna. How good is the Jabsco ???
The head on our boat gets very little use per summer. What’s the thinking - replace or (yucky-poo) rebuild ??
Next question - regardless of the brand of toilet, do any of you winterize it when the boat goes on the hard for 5 - 6 months ? I’ve always disconnected the fresh water inlet and run a hose into a jug of (non-alcoholic) RV anti-freeze. I’d, then, pump the pink stuff right through the workings of the pump and into the bowl, discharging a bit into the hose for the holding tank.
However, am I wrong to do this ?? I ask because in the Jabsco owners manual that I read online, it discusses opening a drain valve (duh …never knew that this existed with any toilet) and draining the whole thing but NOT using anti-freeze… um… sort of. It does goes on to say that if you MUST use anti-freeze (like maybe up here in Toronto where it may sit at 10 below Fahrenheit for days ??) use a GLYCOL based product. Is RV plumbing anti-freeze glycol-based ? Sounds like automotive toxic antifreeze.
There you have it - I welcome all comments and suggestions.
Ernie: Mine also came with a Wilcox C. When it started to give me trouble, I bought the rebuild kit and was not happy with the results, bit the bullet and went to a Raritan. I’ve been happy with it and it is very easy to rebuild.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
In my opinion, the Wilcox unit is the best on the market, and it is better to rebuild the solid bronze W-C than buy a new plastic toilet.
I wire brushed all paint off mine when rebuilding, then coated with clear coating.
Now I have a GOLD Throne.
Ed Collis
ORION VII
Toronto
I’ve had Jabsco heads on five different boats in my life. They won’t flush a tin of tuna. They will handle the contents in post-digestion form. I would never allow someone on my boat who I thought might test whether they’d handle the contents in pre-digestion form.
They’re reasonably easy to rebuild. How unpleasant a task that turns into depends on how long you’ve put it off and whether you have any low spots in the attached hoses.
FWIW, I had two electric Jabsco Quiet Flush heads on one of my boats. I’d recommend manual heads. “Quiet” is a valid adjective for them only if you like irony and have quote marks around the word.
I replumbed mine for fresh water flush. Very glad I did. Jabsco sells both a conversion kit and a model that comes with the fresh water set up. It’s similar to the standard arrangement except that, instead of the hand pump filling on one stroke and flushing on the opposite, there’s a lever that puts water in the bowl and the hand pump only flushes. It gives complete control over how much fresh water’s used.
Somewhere in my pile of unused stuff is a kit for the crittenden. Not sure what is in the kit, but my costs " sunk" years ago. It is yours if you want it.
( after i bought the kit, i looked seriously at the C and found it had been “repaired” once with a braze job, which was overlaid with epoxy, neither of which repaired anything. I tossed the C and bought a Jabsco. It has worked fine, only one joker valve in 13 years!)
La Reina came with a Raritan PH11 head. I have used boats with the Jabsco head. If I bought a boat that came with a Jabsco I would switch over to a Raritan the first time the Jabsco needed a rebuild kit. The long pump arm on the Raritan makes it much easier to pump then the T handle on the Jabsco. The ability of the WC to pump difficult objects such as tin cans and t shirts is less important now that everything goes into a holding tank. The WC might get the can to the holding tank but the pump out station or the macerator pump will leave the can in the tank.
If Ernie passes, I would be glad to ‘relieve’ you of the maintenance kit with appropriate consideration for your sunk costs. I have a couple of imperial Jr 51 WC units and have depleted my spares over the years. I replaced the main flapper valve and the joker this year and the pumping action improved considerably — but I fear I may have irreparable cracks in the bowl porcelain around the studs and the main seal is now frequently wet — and that seal is the one part missing from my kit. I can switch out the bowl using my spare, but its seal will be ancient.
Bill Baxter
Persistence NS 30 #507
Pushing the season in the North Channel
Carl - that is truly fine of you but, after consideration and a chat with a few others, I pass. So, Bill, it’s all yours !! I do know that the Raritan is excellent and will check into it.
Otherwise, many thanks to all for your input (or, just maybe, your output)..
Cheers,
Ernie A. in Toronto
On Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 6:08:21 PM UTC-4, Bill Baxter, Persistence, NS30 #507, Kingston ON wrote:
Bill, the kit is yours if you are still interested. We can work out details off the list, all I would request is cost of shipping. My email is in the registry. It may take me a week or so as we are headed for a short stay in Maine (by car, unfortunately, my Wife is not a sailor)
We are biting the bullet and switching to a composting unit. No tank, few moving parts…no hoses… and the 3 boat owners I have spoken to and seen their head rave about it…
Admiral wants a wine locker to replace the holding tank
Thor
Mariners Cat V
Little Current ON
On Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at 10:04:02 PM UTC-4, Bill Baxter, Persistence, NS30 #507, Kingston ON wrote:
Thor,
Can you share more details? Model you have selected, plans for running the vent line etc? We’ve been thinking about going down this route and gaining storage where the holding tank is.
Thanks,
It started when a friend got a “new to her” boat. The first thing she had to show us was the composting toilet… now on our boat the head is the last place you might be invited to visit but hers was clean, no odour and to hear her explain it very easy to manage … and they got 20 plus days for 2. Where we sail pumping out is a PITA, we’d like to go further afield for longer and gaining the storage aft is a plus. Best we can linger is 10 days. And if weather closed in it could be less than fun.
We have seen 3 boats with Airhead and Natures Head toilets, all three owners rave about them. They get 20 to 25 days per couple. We often have grand kids on board for a couple of weeks so this will, as I mentioned, allow us to travel and linger in more remote areas.
The WC we have works fine, but the whole pump out business with older hoses and a rebuild coming in a year or so time to decide.
The units vent with a 1.5 inch flexible hose driven by a .06a muffin fan. I will most likely use the existing vent for the cat heater, option 2 is to run the vent out the aft clam shell vent. I will install a Marine “Airhead”
On the Great Lakes there is no overboard discharge so pump out is the only option and honestly when you think about it sailing around with 150 to 200 lbs of raw sewage on board is a strange concept.
I think the composting is a better option in fresh water and may have some advantages in salt water. I can also convert the holding tank area to essential ship’s stores (AKA wine) and ensure a happy Admiral and as we all know how important that is.
Thor, we have an Airhead on our Cape Dory 27 and love it. I wanted to move it to or NS26U, but I could not find a place for it. The shelf that the Jabsco electric head sits on would make the Airhead way too tall for anyone to easily use. This is the only situation, so far, where I wish we would have purchased a 26C instead of the 26U. Good luck with the conversion, I am sure you will love it. We vented our Airhead through the pump out fitting and screwed in a mushroom vent. It works great in our Cape Dory.
Todd,
This thread should be old enough now that you have had time to put that wheel to good use. Are you happy with it? Are there any changes that you would make if you were to make another wheel. We too, have a NS26 and that 28" wheel is just to big to walk around, so I am going to be following in your footsteps this winter. Any advice would be most appreciated.
Tim in STL
White O’morn NS26U #216
Harbor Point Yacht Club
I installed an Airhead on my N30U (sold 2011) 10 years ago and used for local cruising and then 6 months round trip to Bahamas from MD. Very pleased - REALLY didn’t like having to deal with pump-outs and never noticed any bad odors from Airhead.
Buyer of my 30 insisted on marine head so had to have it reinstalled and kept airhead which I’ve now installed on my N22OB. Nice to be rid of that holding tank.
All composting heads have a feature to keep urine separated from feces so must dump urine bottle frequently (day or two). Urine does not “pollute”. Feces are the disease bearing stuff.
In general, for summer sailing season (weekends, week long cruises) you won’t need to empty the main tank. Wait till Spring when it’s all nice and dry and dump it into a plastic bag - think baby diapers without the stink.
Airhead comes with a 12 volt fan pulling air into toilet and out a hose which you pipe topside. Fan is very low current draw. I think I had a solar fan doing the fan work.
Also check out C-Head. Sounds like a nice compositing toilet. Cheaper than Air Head and no fan.I also like its vertical churner rather than Airhead’s side churner.
C-Head site also has good discussion of the wood shavings/sawdust and other stuff you put in toilet to absorb moisture. I bought (from Amazon) Kaytee Aspen Bedding Bag by Kaytee for $30, 8 cubic feet which I really like. (It was about $2 more for 8 cubic feet than 4 because free shipping) Far more than I need. If you live nearby I’ll give you a bunch.
Here is the way we winterize the head on Lionheart, without disconnecting any hoses. I bought a simple red rubber toilet plunger, the diameter of its bowl large enough to surround the sea water toilet inlet on the hull. With the plunger handle removed I attached a short section of vinyl tubing in place of the handle, the diameter of which will fit into the neck of a gallon bottle of non-toxic antifreeze. With the tubing inside the bottle one person will support the antifreeze bottle on a step-ladder or similar just below the toilet inlet and press the plunger against the hull over the inlet. A second person inside will operate the flush handle with enough speed to begin the suction to bring the antifreeze up into the head and ultimately into the holding tank. This gets the antifreeze distributed through the toilet pump, bowl and hoses.
To winterize the head…
I spliced a T joint in my flush intake hose, with the T going to a ball valve.
To winterize, I close the valve to the thru-hull and open the ball valve on the T joint.
I attach a piece of hose to the ball valve and put it in a jug of anti freeze.
Just pump the head with the “flush” pedal pressed and it gets totally winterized.
I use -50 windshield washer fluid.
Cheap, easy, and Perfect.
(It sounds more complicated than it is.)
To Ed (interesting and conventional idea) and Bill (funky, funny but perfectly good idea) -
Thanks, guys. I have been disconnecting the intake hose from the toilet and sticking a short piece of hose onto the toilet which goes to a gallon of antifreeze. I, then, pump away, filling the pump, etc. with anti-freeze.But, both of your ideas are perfect.
I’d originally asked just to find out if, indeed, others used anti-freeze up here and the answer is a resounding YES. I will continue to do this.
