New Head Project

[Lance Jones]

Well, living aboard has its ups and downs. One is having to get under the sink to open and close the through hull to pump the head. New project adds a one-way valve between the head and the seat. That way, you simply reach down and open valve instead of getting under the sink... pics later.

[waterdog]

Lance, I am not sure I understand.  You turn off a thru-hull every time you pump the head?   Why? 

What does a one way valve do?    Like a check valve?   

Are you trying to stop the boat from flooding from a siphon into the head?   Or are you guarding against the risk of a ruptured hose?

 

[Ken Heyman]

Hi Lance,

I also have a 88 vintage c34 without the "anti siphon loop". Hence, I do keep my head sea-cock closed and use a bit of fresh water dumped into the bowl to flush. Do you feel allowing sea water into the bowl as a necessary convenience ? I know there are many varying opinions on the forum regarding this subject.

Best regards,

Ken

[waterdog]

Lance is on a lake.  I don't think he worries too much about sea water in his head.  Every bowl is a fresh flush.

[Lance Jones]

Our head instructions state to turn off through hull when flushing to dry. When doing this, you have to get under the sink. Now, I leave the trough hull on; but, have added an on/off valve to the exposed hose inside the head. Pictures at 2300.

[Ken Heyman]

Steve,

I still refer to Lake Michigan water as "sea" water even though it isn't the "briny",  I assure you that our inland sea has lots of organisms that can breed and smell albeit not quite as efficiently as salt water.

Ken

[Ken Heyman]

Lance,

I thought we were instructed to flip the bowl lever to "dry" but didn't realize the instructions also suggested (mandated) closing the seacock.

Thanks,

Ken

[Lance Jones]

It is recommended. Now, it must be 2300 somewhere.....

[Stu Jackson]

Nice.  Now you have belt (thru hull), suspenders (wet dry switch on head pump) and a drawstring (your new valve).  If you have any issues with your head, it'll be because you forgot to open one of 'em.  

You had me confused when you mentioned a one way valve.  That isn't one of 'em.   FWIW, we leave the head in dry bowl and the thru hull open when we're on board.

[Peggie Hall]

Our head instructions state to turn off through hull when flushing to dry. When doing this, you have to get under the sink. Now, I leave the trough hull on; but, have added an on/off valve to the exposed hose inside the head. Pictures at 2300.

Either you have a VERY old (at least 25 years) toilet, or you've misinterpreted the instructions. How 'bout giving me the make/model/age of your toilet so I can download and read 'em.

If your toilet is that old, the directions could very well advise keeping the seacock closed except when the toilet is in use.  'Cuz once upon a time boat builders and owners understood that a boat isn't a condo that floats and were more concerned about safety than about decor (let's face it, seacocks are NOT high on any interior designer's accessory list).  Standard procedure in those days was, "...keep ALL seacocks closed except when the thru-hull is actually in use."  But that was only half of it. The other half was,  "All seacocks should be readily accessible."  So head intake and discharge thru-hulls were right next to the toilets, right out in the open.

But then the marine industry decided that boats needed to be "sexy"...appealing to anyone with a pulse including people who have no more business owning a boat than I have owning an Indy car.  So because things like seacocks and vented loops are "ugly," builders began hiding 'em....not only because those things lack sex appeal but because the sight of valves etc might scare off buyers (IMO only those that SHOULD be, but I didn't get a vote on it).   Lance, you're lucky that your toilet intake seacock is only under the sink where it's PITA to get to...most of 'em are in settees, engine rooms...behind drawers under aft cabin beds...IMPOSSIBLE to get to!

You don't need a shutoff valve to keep you off your hands and knees in the head...what you really need  is vented loop in the intake. Unless your toilet is a W-C Skipper, Groco EB or K or similar bronze "throne" from the days when boats were boats, not condos, it belongs between the pump and the bowl, to replace the short piece of hose that the mfr used to connect 'em. If your toilet is one of those, I'll explain what you need to do to install it And it needs to be at leat 6-8" above waterline AT ANY ANGLE OF HEEL, which on most sailboats puts it 2-3 FEET above the bowl. 

[SD Diver]

My 87 also said to close the sea cock after each use.  But it's closed most of the time any how because we use fresh water from the sink.  Smells a lot better then the sea water in San Diego harbor.

Ralph
Ciao Bella

[SD Diver]

See page 36 of the 88 manual.  Says valve should be left shut when not using the tiolet.

Ralph

[Stu Jackson]

But then the marine industry decided that boats needed to be "sexy"...appealing to anyone with a pulse including people who have no more business owning a boat than I have owning an Indy car.  

Peggie, that is of your best-ever sentences.

It's a keeper!  

One of the things I like so much our C34s is that we can all get to almost anything on the boat for repair and preventive maintenance.  One of your favorite topics...

[Craig Illman]

When I bought my boat, it was hauled out getting a bottom paint job, among other things. Next to it was a Benateau 50. I walked around it and counted. It had twenty-three thru hulls. I wonder how many minutes it took to check their open/closed state?

[Stu Jackson]

Craig, very good point.  We bareboated a B50 in the BVIs some years ago.  It had four guest cabins, three (or maybe all) of them with heads!  Plus a main head, the galley and then the engine thru hull requirements.  Each head had a series of separate thru hulls (they were all pretty far apart), since they didn't have holding tanks back then and I doubt if they'd have ganged them up, either, the runs would have been too long.

Amazing when you start to think about the details of the system requirements.

I'm so glad that when Catalina designed our boats (and the C36) they appeared to have given serious thought to access to the thru hulls.  There's not one single thru hull valve that I can't get to easily.  Compared to what I hear from other boat owners, it's rare, but certainly very welcomed.