converting to electric head

[Rick Williams]

All:
I'm planning a cruise up the ICW this spring with lots of new crew coming and going so I was going to replace the manual head with an electric model as the pump unit takes some uncomfortable getting used to and I wanted to make the overall cruising experience as fondly memorable as possible. I'm doing research to shrink the vast array of possibilities but my go-to Practical Sailor hasn't looked at this market in 10 years and all the other evaluations seem to be written by the various marketing departments so I'm looking for some real life recommendations of electric head users. I'd like to be able to use fresh or salt water depending on how far we are from access to water and something with a macerator pump which it seems most have.
Thanks!

[peghall]

Raritan toilets are top rated...their Marine Elegance Raritan Marine_Elegance Promo.pdf is an all china "throne" designed to use pressurized fresh water Raritan's SeaEra Raritan SeaEra Promo Sheet is their sea water toilet. They also offer a pressurized fresh water version--the SeaEra QC. The Marine Elegance and the SeaEra QC are the only toilets I know of that can allow switching between fresh and sea water, but only with an add-on--Raritan's SeaFresh kit. The price of the SeaEra QC is so close to that of the Marine Elegance that I would go with the ME.

Don't be spooked by the list prices of either these toilets...there are retailers who have them for considerably less.

I've only provided information on the top rated toilets...there are others that, while not top rated, are good quality, durable and can provide trouble-free service if correctly installed and maintained...and some you definitely don't want. What other makes/models are you considering?

Btw...If your boat has two heads, you might consider putting a fresh water toilet in the most used head and a sea water toilet in the other one.

--Peggie

[Rick Williams]

Peggie:
Thank you so much for the information. Those were actually the two that stood out in my informal survey. I like the fresh/salt water option but I was stumped by the various flush methods with catchy names. I'm wondering if you can shed any light on which might be the most user friendly? Push button, hold the lever, wave your hand, etc.
Thanks again

[double u]

the more the operation of your head(s) will resemble "home-toilets", the more your landlubber-guest will use them like home toilets, including all the things they usually flush down...
You want the operation of the head(s) to be as different from what your guests are used to, so they have to actually think before they operate. Otherwise you yourself will be in for "uncomfortable, memorable" times...

[peghall]

I think "momentary wall control" is the best option for you...the ones with catchy names are good choices only for high tech gadget happy owners. It provides 3 options: bring in water ahead of use (essential before solid waste), "dry" flush (no incoming water, just discharge) and simultaneous water in and discharge, same as a single button flush.
(Showing here on the Defender site because I couldn't find a detailed description of it on the Raritan site)
Raritan Momentary Wall Control - Multifunction Flush Panel | Defender Marine


Which toilet are you leaning toward buying?



--Peggie

[BAD ORCA]

I was thinking of the same upgrade (Marine Elegance fresh/raw water) but am confused. It says requires 'pressurized fresh water'. Does this mean there needs to be an inline pump between the fresh water hoilding tank and the toilet or does the toilet internals have the power to pull water from a standard vented holding tank??

[dougweibel]

I had a Raritan ME on my previous boat.

Yes, there needs to be a pump, but not a separate pump. Just your usual house fresh water pressurization pump. The toilet is plumbed in to the same line as the cold side of your sink, for example.

Switching between fresh and sea water involved changing position of a rocker switch, and opening/closing your sea water seacock if you want to do that. I generally never explained to guests anything about the fresh/sea water part and just handled changing that myself at appropriate times. Generally I always ran it on sea water whenever we could dump the tank with regularity and only switched to fresh water if we would be holding waste in the tank for more that say a day or two.

[peghall]

Yikes! I don't know who installed your Elegance, but while no pump is needed for fresh water, but correctly done, the ability to switch between pressurized fresh water and sea water requires a remote intake pump and the SeaFresh kit. Installing it as you describe the installation on your previous boat is not only likely to contaminate the portable water supply with sea water, but a good way to sink a boat!

The "Installation, Operation and Maintenance Instructions" (aka owners manual) includes complete instructions for installing it to use only pressurized fresh water, only sea water or both Raritan Marine Elegance Owners Manual It doesn't matter to me whether you read it or not. I posted it for the benefit of others who are considering installing an ME.

--Peggie

[Hermia II]

I can recommend SANI-Marine toilets (https://www.sanimarin.com/en/categor...compact-range/). We have two since 6 years and the work flawlessly. You use it lika a normal toilet, no need to put the paper in a bag for example. You can flush with sea or drinking water. We use seawater, it works fine. If you have been gone a week or more, the first flush smells of old eggs (the seawater) then it's business as usual.

[Flatswing]

I replaced 2 vacuflush toilets with the ME’s on Peggy’s recommendation 2 yrs ago.
Very happy with them. Unless you have very limited fresh water, I would hesitate to spend the significant extra for the sea water flush kit.
The multi option panel, allows you to minimize water use but still fully flush the lines daily. If the hose run is down hill all the way to your black water tank, you will need very little water.

[dougweibel]

Originally Posted by peghall

Yikes! I don't know who installed your Elegance, but while no pump is needed for fresh water, but correctly done, the ability to switch between pressurized fresh water and sea water requires a remote intake pump and the SeaFresh kit. Installing it as you describe the installation on your previous boat is not only likely to contaminate the portable water supply with sea water, but a good way to sink a boat!

The "Installation, Operation and Maintenance Instructions" (aka owners manual) includes complete instructions for installing it to use only pressurized fresh water, only sea water or both Raritan Marine Elegance Owners Manual It doesn't matter to me whether you read it or not. I posted it for the benefit of others who are considering installing an ME.

--Peggie

Hey Peggie,

You are right and my answer was easy to interpret differently than I intended. I was intending that paragraph about the need for a pump to address only the freshwater side of the system. If you have the fresh/sea option, as we did, there is a separate pump for the sea water side.

You could install a ME as a freshwater only system in which case there would be no extra pump, correct?

[sail sfbay]

Except for my first entry-level sailboat all my sailboats and powerboats since had/have electric heads with fresh water like the Raritan Elegance™ electric marine toilet. I assume you already have a raw water intake all you need is a eaw water pump, fresh water supply from the vanity and a dedicated power supply withbreaker at your eletrical panel. Recently replaced 2 electric raw water toilets with fresh water Reaitan Elegance™ electric marine toilets. Reason for fresh only was to mitigate the risk of holding tank and toilet sewage smell from raw water.

[sailing_gal]

I am currently in the process of converting the 2 heads on my sailboat from Vacuflush to Sanimarine. One is done. It works great and I am extremely happy with it. It is very quiet. Currently working on the second one. I can also vouch, therefore, for the Sanimarin with one qualification- the installation instructions are basically one page long- takes a bit of figuring out. I am only installing the pressurized fresh water heads.