continued quest for sweeter smelling head

[Kit_L]

The dockmaster at the Shellharbour Marina recommended that I buy this:

I have not used but a fraction of the recommended amount (I started with about 50ml, put in the bowl, and flushed) and have only added in 10-15ml amounts every third day since then. The recommended amount in the first instance is 1ml/litre of holding tank. Ours is ~170 litres, but I thought I'd try a lesser amount as a test—glad I did.

This stuff costs $35 a container (1 litre).

A complete transformation for our head: no odours at all now. I am sure that all the plumbing is original (so ~15 years), but we do have fresh water flushing.

I can't recommend this highly enough.

[s/v Jedi]

The final solution to prevent all the smells and mess around marine toilets is to switch to fresh water flush toilets. For boats with a watermaker this is a no brainer.

After our switchover I ordered the spares I was used to carry with salt water flush but there simply wasn’t any maintenance for the first 10 years after which the pump was worn out and required rebuilding. With the old toilets there would have been yearly headaches, if not more often.

[Greg theHijacke]

Are you living aboard in a marina and using the tank in emergencies? I think the first place to start is in the tank, the cheapest and best tank cleaner is Nappy San or any other Nappy Sanitiser powder, Thetford Aqua Chem or similar is expensive, a good dose of Nappy San, leave it in the tank as long as possible with a reasonable amount of water, Agitate the tank if possible, maybe repeat after emptying the tank, If you are at sea why are you not discharging direct to the sea through the "Y" valve, don't let the tank be in the system, also there is a possibility that wrapping the hoses in foil tape may be containing any weep and that is where the odour is coming from, don't just empty the bowl, flush several more times to clear the pipes of waste, When I am in a marina and have access to fresh water I regularly flush the bowl with fresh water from the shower hose and leave fresh water in the bowl, there should be no reason why you cant flush water through. Happy Sweet Smelling

[markxengineerin]

I am living aboard mostly at anchor, using the head regularly.

The head systems must be the most unintelligible on the boat, so many strong opinions and conflicting information. I guess that's because it's a nasty subject, no easy way to get apples to apples test data, and too many variables. Thanks for the continued input- I will start trying things one at a time over the next couple months, starting with getting to toliet itself to stop re-circulating, then pressure testing.

[MVDarlin]

My aft head had a horrible smell when left unused for a few days. The problem was the salt water feed line from the through hull to the toilet. It is an 8 ft run. It would turn into a petri dish of funk. I added a 2" "T" fitting with a screw cap to the line at the toilet so that I could add broken pool chlorine tabs to the hose system. Some chlorine would leach back down the line atter flushing. This keep the hose odor free. I do not have the problem wiith routine use.

[smj]

Composting head, very little odor but not for everyone.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by MVDarlin

My aft head had a horrible smell when left unused for a few days. The problem was the salt water feed line from the through hull to the toilet. It is an 8 ft run. It would turn into a petri dish of funk. I added a 2" "T" fitting with a screw cap to the line at the toilet so that I could add broken pool chlorine tabs to the hose system. Some chlorine would leach back down the line atter flushing. This keep the hose odor free. I do not have the problem wiith routine use.

This is why I and others write that the final solution is a fresh water flush toilet

[peghall]

There's a very simple and inexpensive way to prevent odor caused by sea water left to sit and stagnate in the toilet intake...I is necessary for the toilet and head sink to be on the same side of the keel and the sink drain thru-hull to be below waterline--which it is on most sailboats:

Re-route the toilet intake hose to tee or wye it into the sink drain line as close to the seacock as possible because the connection must be below waterline to work.
This will allow you to flush normally with sea water. After you’ve closed the sink drain seacock in preparation to close up the boat (you do close all seacocks before leaving the boat to sit??), fill the sink with clean fresh water and flush the toilet. Because the seacock is closed, the toilet will draw the water out of the sink, rinsing the sea water out of the entire system—intake line, pump, channel in the rim of the bowl and the discharge line,(Water poured into the bowl only rinses out the toilet discharge line). If your toilet is electric, be careful not to let it run dry…doing so can burn out the intake impeller. Or you can keep the sink drain seacock closed except when it's needed to drain the sink and flush with fresh water down the sink all the time...your choice.

It may also be necessary to keep the sink plugged except when in use, with a rubber sink plug (available from most hardware stores and even Walmart) or by installing a conveniently located shut-off valve in the drain hose. Otherwise the toilet may pull air through the sink when you try to flush, preventing the pump from priming or turn the sink into a fountain on one tack.

Tartan sailboats used to plumb their toilets to use the sink drain thru-hull as the toilet intake...I got this idea from the owner of Tartan that was, and have been recommending it ever since.

--Peggie

[Greg theHijacke]

to Cruiser MVDarlin,
Be very wary of pool chlorine in your hoses and rubber seals, it will destroy them, whilst it does a great job it it a potent corrosive chemical.

[markxengineerin]

Well, one mystery solved. The additional smell during pumping overboard was coming up through the sink drain. The sink thru-hull is right next to the pump out thru hull. Closing the sink thru-hull when pumping out fixed that, duh!

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by markxengineerin

The sink thru-hull is right next to the pump out thru hull. Closing the sink thru-hull when pumping out fixed that, duh!

One of the things that they don't teach in Naval Architect school.
Any boat builder with half-a-brain would know not to do that.

[markxengineerin]

The source of the odor was the cheap-o head hoses. The foil tape may have worked if the hoses didn't need to bend but it was quite ripped in some areas I didn't see until I removed the old ones. The other thing that I noticed made a HUGE difference was temperature. What stunk pretty bad in Florida (80s) hardly smelled at all in Maine (50s).
The smell does not seem to have sunk into anything, as it was gone right away after getting rid of the hoses. Those cheap ones should be illegal to sell.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by markxengineerin

The source of the odor was the cheap-o head hoses. The foil tape may have worked if the hoses didn't need to bend but it was quite ripped in some areas I didn't see until I removed the old ones. The other thing that I noticed made a HUGE difference was temperature. What stunk pretty bad in Florida (80s) hardly smelled at all in Maine (50s).
The smell does not seem to have sunk into anything, as it was gone right away after getting rid of the hoses. Those cheap ones should be illegal to sell.

Like we expected it to be. Good to put this behind you

Remember the part about fresh water flush. If you have ample supply of fresh water (watermaker) then it is a game changer