Since, miraculously, the new holding tank is done and on its way to us, it was time to start actually replacing the rest of the sewage system! We decided to start with the forward head, since that tubing is run underneath the tank. Currently, that space has a vacu-flush system installed. It flushes the waste from the toilet into a small tank located up in the chain locker using vacuum and then sends it to the main tank. This system isn’t bad, but can be unreliable if anything at all breeches the seal at the toilet. I really don’t want an unreliable sewage system and since this vacu-flush was looking pretty old and rough, we just wanted to replace it with an electric toilet. All you have to do is press the button and it has a built in macerator pump (it grinds the poop). We had this type of toilet in our old Grand Banks and it worked fantastic!
The removal wasn’t as awful as I expected. Getting the hoses off the small tank was pretty easy. We did find out that there was a small bulkhead underneath the deck that we would have to snake the tubing through.
Speaking of tubing, we purchased the best tubing we could find! It’s got a 10 year warranty against leaks and odor permeating the hose and it’s ultra flexible and easy to run!
Our boat neighbors actually brought us donuts this morning! Jason got an apple fritter and I got a red velvet! YUM!
After our unexpected treat, Jason and I finally got to work! We had realized that there was always going to be a little bit of sewage left in the hoses and that we needed a way to plug the old hose so the sewage stayed in it, but also to join the new hose to it so that we could pull the new one in as we pulled the old one out. Our solution was to buy a few hose barb nipples and fill the inside with expanding foam to block the flow!
One thing I failed to get any photos of today was the new toilet and the way that we got the mounting holes for it located and drilled! Hopefully tomorrow we can actually install the new toilet in its final resting place! We still need to run the fresh water for the flushing and the electrical for the power supply and for the control panel. We had to cut it short today to head back to the apartment and wait for a delivery that had to be signed for, but we still got a lot done!
In addition to working on the heads, we also got the old wind vane autopilot mostly uninstalled. It’s dangling from the boat still, but is ready to come off and hopefully be sold!
We also tricked out our apartment a little bit! We don’t have a TV and don’t plan on buying one, but I did have a small projector and a bluetooth speaker. We hooked that up on top of a “table” made out of one of the boxes from the new toilets and now we can watch Youtube videos on the wall!
