Boat Toilet on my 22 ft boat

[jorgeoliva]

I have a 2000 bayliner with a 5.0 mercruicer finally got everything running great thanks to this forum now the last have a toilet in the boat don't have any idea how it works this is what I found see pictures any help is appreciated

 

[Old Ironmaker]

It appears you have a toilet that has a macerator and a pump that transfers waste into a holding tank. The macerator turns solid waste into a slurry to make it easier to pump into the holding tank. Checking to ensure you have power at the pumps etc. would be a start. I'm not a electrical guy that can help you there. Of all the people I know with smaller boats that have them never use them, even most cruisers. It is very expensive around here to pump out the holding tanks near the waters edge.

 

[Mikeopsycho]

I don't know anything about the macerator operation, I've only ever had manual heads. Is there a black water holding tank on your boat? If you can use the head manually, here's how you do it;
-ensure the ball valve at the through hull intake is open
-move the switch above the pump handle to the left
-use full strokes on the pump handle to put some water in the bowl
-move the switch to the right
-use the head. Do not put anything into the toilet besides single ply toilet paper unless you ate it first
-using full steady strokes pump the waste out of the bowl and into the holding tank. It takes about 7 strokes per yard of waste hose. Move the switch to the left if more water is needed
-leave the bowl empty with the switch to the right and the pump handle pushed in when not in use.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Mike it sounds like your Head is manual and the head in the pics has an electric pump. The OP probably has 1 pump rather than the 2 that I suggested. It chops and pumps waste into the tank. Look at photo 2, there is definitely elec. wiring.

 

[Mikeopsycho]

^^^Yup. you're right O I, my mistake. Jorgeoliva, please disregard my post (#3), I should have paid more attention. :embarassed:

 

[jorgeoliva]

there a valve on picture #2 where does that lead to looks like the bottom of the boat should the valve be open or close

 

[gddavid]

I have a 2000 bayliner with a 5.0 mercruicer finally got everything running great thanks to this forum now the last have a toilet in the boat don't have any idea how it works this is what I found see pictures any help is appreciated

You are going to have to look around some more and trace those hoses to find out how your system is configured. Where does the large diameter white hose lead to?, I would be willing to wager that it goes to a holding tank. If you cannot see where it leads, look around your deck for a fitting that says waste on it. The thru-hull with the black hose pictured looks to be sized for waste, so it would be connected to the macerator on the other side, look for the smaller of two hoses connected to the head and trace it, that is the supply line for flushing the head.

Assuming the system is the original, I expect you have a smaller thru-hull providing sea water to the head for flushing, the manual pump (grey handle) moves waste from the toilet bowl to a holding tank. The holding tank can be suctioned empty through a deck fitting or pumped overboard by the macerator, many newer boats setup for inland use don't have the macerators to pump overboard. The lever just above the grey handle controls whether the manual pump is flushing the bowl (water going in and waste pumped out simultaneously) or just pumping it dry. In some cases the water to flush the toilet is supplied by a fresh water tank onboard, rather than sea water, in which case you would only have one thru-hull (if this is the case there should be a vacuum break devise to prevent a backflow of flushing water to your fresh water tank).

It would be uncommon for a mass produced boat built in the last 30 years to not have a holding tank, however it may have been removed or simply bypassed by a prior owner, (it would not be a legal system for most bodies of water I would expect to find a recreational boat of that size). If this is indeed the case you would turn the macerator pump on, before operating the manual pump so as soon as it leaves the manual pump it goes overboard. The macerator will probably not suck waste through the manual pump, it would have to be operated in order for waste to leave the bowl but again I think it is most likely that your head goes to a holding tank anyway.

 

[Mikeopsycho]

there a valve on picture #2 where does that lead to looks like the bottom of the boat should the valve be open or close

What size is the hose and valve in pic #2? It's hard to tell in the pic, but if it's 1 1/4" or so it'd be the thru-hull discharge as David suggests.

 

[jorgeoliva]

No Title

I did find the waste cap next to the water fill cap (my boat has an electric water sink in the cabin) on the port side now I did find next to the stern drive an open hole see picture

 

[David Young]

My boat toilet is an empty Folgers plastic coffee can . I have the lid for it

 

[gddavid]

I did find the waste cap next to the water fill cap (my boat has an electric water sink in the cabin) on the port side now I did find next to the stern drive an open hole see picture

I doubt either hole on the transom of your boat has anything to do with the head (typically deck, cooler and/or live well drains) because they are out of the water when the boat is on plane and it would be a long hose run. Trace the hoses from the head and see where they go. If the unit uses fresh water to flush, you can test it on the trailer. Put some water in your fresh water tank, move the grey lever (on the head) to the left and pump the grey handle up and down.

 

[shrew]

I didn't really see an answer to the original question. My apologies if I overlookeed it. You've pictured a 'Seacock'. There is a through hull fitting which acts as a 'pickup' on the underside of the boat that goes to the seacock. This allows you to pump water from outside the boat to be used to flush. When you flush the toilet the pump will draw water in from the through hull fitting on the up stroke and push the contents of the bowl to the holding tank on the downstroke,

The seacock is a safety feature which allow you to shut the valve to prevent the boat from flooding in the event the intake hose ruptures.

When you haul the boat, especially if freezes in the winter, this valve should be open. The handle indicts direction of water. When perpendicular to the hull as shown in the picture, it is open. When parallel to the hull, it is closed. I wet slip my boat, so I close it when I leave fro extended periods, such as when I leave on Sundays.

These should be opened and closed on a regular basis. When left in the open position for extended periods of time, then have a tendency to freeze. Then when it's needed in an emergency, they can't be closed. A Bilge pump will never be able to stem the inflow of water from a through hull like that.

 

[njlarry]

To learn all you'll need to know about marine head installation, maintenance and use get a copy of Get Rid of Boat Odors by Peggy Hall. I look at my copy every season. It even has parts diagrams for all the major brands.