New aft head installed!

Well, another boat project is done! I mentioned briefly in my last post that we were going to install new heads. I decided to go a step at a time and just do the aft head first, see how we like it, then do the front head and possibly add a second holding tank for the aft head. The new head arrived at the house earlier this week. I pondered whether to wait until after the 4th of July to install just in case something went wrong and we'd be left with only the forward head. After reading through the instructions, looking everything over, and talking to the Raritan tech support to answer a few questions, I decided to go for it. So, about 2:00 P.M. today I tore into the project. I finished right at about 7 or 7:30 so about a 5 hour job but that included a trip the hardware store in town, a trip the marina ship's store, as well as taking the boat over to the fuel dock to pump out the holding tank. The hardest part was dealing with a very cramped area to install the plumbing, wiring, etc.

After researching the current products on the market, we opted to go with Raritan's "Marine Elegance." This is an electric head with vacuum technology incorporated. Tearing out the old head was not hard- close off the raw water thru-hull so as to not flood the boat, remove a few bolts, loosen a few clamps, and poof- the head is sitting on the dock. Only problem was I didn't pump out the holding tank prior to starting so there was some, um, er....residual fluids in the discharge line at the point of connection. NOT pretty and definitely not pleasantly aromatic! The big change for the new head, beyond the improved technology, is converting from raw water flush (i.e. pulling water up from the body of water the boat is sitting in to flush) to fresh water flush (i.e. it ties into the fresh water system which ties into our 200 gallon water tanks. Raw water flush is not a terrible set up if you are in a freshwater system such as we are in here on the Tennessee River but if you are in salt water it can lead to some problems and can definitely mean things smell more as the little microbes in the salt water die. Isn't this a fun topic??!! Hahaha.....

Anyway, our new head is in. I tied into the vanity sink cold water service line right next to the head. We got the "smart flush" controls which lets you control how the unit works and how much water it uses. Everything mounted where the old unit and switches were at so it pretty much looks like it has always been there. Tying into the freshwater system required tying into the 3/8 PEX plumbing line and bumping it up to 1/2" line to serve the head (AKA toilet for our land friends). These fittings are readily available at the local hardware store. I had to reroute the wiring for the old head to bypass the old single push button switch and tie into the new control panel and controls. One thing is for sure- this old boat is really improving my ability to work on marine systems- a couple of years ago I would have had no idea how to do this install!

Here is a picture of our old Jabsco electric head....I have no idea how old it was? It was made of plastic whereas our new unit is all porcelain just like a real land toilet. :)

And during the tear out process. I had to remove the old teak platform that the old head sat on as the new Marine Elegance unit we bought is a "tall" model which sits right on the floor of the head.

Mounting bracket for the new head installed and ready to reroute the 12V wiring to under and inside the vanity cabinet/sink and connect the plumbing.

And finally...our new vacuum/electric head installed! It's small but a lot bigger than our old Jabsco electric head. Most marine heads are smaller than a normal household toilet but our new head is a regular household sized unit.

And our "Smart Flush Controls," mounted where the old push button control was located for the Jabsco. It ties into the control module inside the adjoining cabinet via an ethernet cable. You can choose between "normal flush," "water saver flush," "water only" (i.e. just fill the bowl with more water), or "empty only."

We will see how we like it compared to our old Jabsco's. So far it is definitely quieter and nicer. I suspect the kids will soon be insisting we replace their head with the same unit for their bathroom!

My wife and the kids are on their way up to the boat as I type this and in addition to yummy vittles and happiness, they are also bringing up our new flybridge bimini top which will hopefully fit our old frame since the old top was destroyed in the tornados that came through the southeast back in April. It's supposed to be hot this weekend so we are going to need it!

Stay tuned.....