Head Reboot
Rowing my dink ashore one day, I overheard this…”What’s that smell? Oh, it’s that damn Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth anchored upwind of us.” That’s how it started one day. I knew it was time to rebuild the head and replace it’s associated hoses. But I kept putting it off. I mean, who willingly wants to get shit all over their hands, legs, arms and face? The real wake up call came the other day when I climbed aboard Elizabeth late one night, slid open the hatch and nearly threw up in my mouth from the stench of rotten piss and shit… all over my salon. How was I ever going to have guests over? What a mess. I waded through the disgusting sludge and crawled into my bunk without even brushing my teeth or cleaning off my shit dripping feet. I don’t know how I fell alseep that night, but it reminded me of a time in college when my roomates had a party with tons of hot girls and all these fat dudes. Of course they all got obscenely drunk, and naked, then one by one, as if on cue, they all started puking on each other, sorta like a chain reaction. The morning came to find them all sleeping on the floor… in their own vomit. Not just the guys, the girls too. Beached whales and mermaids in a brown sauce.
Anyways, actually, none of that happened at all… but I do need to rebuild my head and replace the hoses. I pulled out the head to find it lived firmly bolted to a lovely piece of plywood encased in epoxy then painted. Despite the head always leaking and it being generally a nasty moist place 24/7, this piece of plywood looked unscathed. Sam L Morse knows how to make a good perch for the throne.
So I’m into it a bit now. The Raritan PHII is out on deck, enjoying the South Florida sunshine, and my rebuild kit has been ordered, along with some Sealand odor-safe hose ($7.99/ft) for the run to and fro the holding tank. I love starting projects and taking everything apart and then stalling out. I wonder how long the head will sit on deck before I get around to rebuilding it and replacing the hoses. Another few weeks? Shall we start a poll?
Have you ever thought about one of these?
http://www.airheadtoilet.com/
I used to have one on my old wooden boat, and boy, they’re awesome. No smell, no work, no problems!
After you replace all the tiny gaskets, washers, o-rings, circlips, pins, needles and lord knows what else, you will realize how cheap the Lavac head really is and you will turn your PHII into a lovely planter on the foredeck.
Good luck!
I agree! Time to move to the Lavac! Carpe toilet!
Hi
I’m the guy you met in West Marine today (the one with the strange accent). Great blog, great boat. Best of luck with the project - but….buy a Lavac.
http://theincrediblehull.blogspot.com/search/label/Heads
Fair Winds
Gerry
Guys, I’m accepting donations for the Lavac Fund… I would love one, just not in the budget right now. Also accepting donations for a wind generator, another solar panel and a dodger
@Gerry — thanks for the mag! Hope to see you again soon. Great blog yourself, let’s stay in touch — go for a sail even!
Rebuild the Raritan, clean everything up nice, and sell the whole thing (”Freshly new rebuilt system!”) Then put the money towards the Levac!
As you guessed the Lavac is fool proof. Just keep the lid seals clean. Oh, the choker valve in the Henderson pump is problematic and you can not just buy the choker valve. You have to buy a complete rebuild kit to replace the choker valve.
Our policy is replace the head hoses every 5 years. I write the date on the hose before I install it. We started following this practice for all our overboard discharge hoses. Hoses are a cheap investment compared to losing a boat. We stagger the swap-out dates to spread the cost out.
Rod
BCC IDUNA
Bleh, not the best of subjects, but I agree, its a good idea every fw years to replace the whole mess. Last summer on my Morgan 34, well the boat sat on te had for a few years and the y valve couldnt be turned from the ilegal pump out the bottom of the hull so i bought a new y valve. Well naturally the old hoses wouldnt bend to fit on it so had to replace them all. then as I was getting it onto the toilet I noticed the big plastic nut at the bottom was drippin a tiny bit and tried to tighten it and naturally it broke. So I feel your pain of shit all over. I am giving thought about ordering one of these.
http://www.natureshead.net/?gclid=CKHAouav3J8CFRKfnAodinRUHg
looks interesting and I could deal with the space the holding tank takes up for other shit lol
Benji, This story is gross. I’m not coming over for a visit.
Get rid of the head, stop using the sink, and get a bucket.
T
Ben, I agree with T, and for God’s sake man, take last night’s dishes and forks out of the sink before you “use it” would ya?
PS, just what exactly did she mean by that by the way????
Ben I sailed across the Atlantic on a 54 footer, they had a lavac head and that sucker would not suck, they are not all that they say they are.
Looks like a perfect place to plumb the head! Right there on deck! haha
When I purchased JUNESSA, she had a porta-john up forward that will hold about three days of “honey”. Then the fun job of taking the thing apart and carrying it to a dump station or over the rail at sea… NOT A FUN JOB!!
I’ve looked into “upgrading” to a holding tank and man-sized pot, but find it’s going to be a major job to install. I did find a larger bottom tank for the porta-john that also has the ability to pump overboard or get sucked out at a station.
Good luck with the new project!
Rick
BCC JUNESSA
Ben, your story made me laugh. I want to tell you a real shit story!!!! My wife and I built a house in Derry NH in 1981. The house was almost completed and the only thing that really needed to be done was the attachment of the septic system. Of course all the family was at the house including my 92 year old grandmother. We had a portipoti in the bathroom for everyone. You can guess what happened. As I was connecting the pipes in the basement I heard the FLUSH!!! I turned just in time to get hit in the face with about 5 pounds of shit. I was sure I was going to kill one of my boys that day….but as it turned out it was my 92 year old grandmother who used the portipoti then didn’t know what to do with it so she scooped it out put it in the toilet and flushed…Needless to say that is a story that will be told in the Patton family for a long time. The next time the plumber gets to do it…
Hey Ben ,,,, Rosie has been your friend, for such a long time,,, is his advice , not important ?
Well ,,,, Gosh ,,, I Think that Rosie , has very good advice, and that comes from experience , doesn’t it ?
The Lavac head on Calliste , has been a very good choice ,,,, I would make that same choice , yet , again , because it works so well .
We do have a back - up- system , too , but , that is what you have to determine , what will work for you !
Douglas
Douglas, have you ever had a failure with the seat-sealing gasket? I suppose the main thing is to keep the sealing surface intact, so a major gouge in the bowl top might be trouble….Whats your feeling?
That is one of my favorite jobs. Invest in paper towels, garbage bags and 409. We were on a boat the other day with a Vaccu Flush toilet. It is the shit (pun intented.) Uses a cup of water per flush, but no stink and no pumping.
Ahh…the head. I hope it’s fixed by now…