Head Options

[glk34]

Presently using a porta potty, 5 gal holding tank, but I want to be able to pump out from a deck pump out. There is not much space in our A25 for a large holding tank. I am considering one of the Semi portable toilets that can be connected directly to a deck pump out. (ie Sealand 975 MSD) Does anyone have any experience with these units? are they an option or do we maybe go with a flexible tank and regular marine head?
Most of our boating, the regular porta potty works fine but some locations like, Lake Champlain, do not want people dumping the portables in the marina toilets. (I can understand that)
Any thoughts??

Chris
"Iron Jack"

[Nancy]

The Sealand looks like a good possibility. There's also the Thetford 365MSD to consider. The holding tank is a little bigger. I would definitely steer clear of a flexible holding tank. There's too much to go wrong and they permeate pretty quickly. Ronco Plastics (http://www.ronco-plastics.com/) has a huge selection of high-quality tanks.

[glk34]

Thanks Nancy. I do like the quality of the thetford. What part of Lake Champlain are you in? I am presently reading the cruising guide to Lake Champlain. I can't wait to see the area. Looks like it would be a busy boating area but has so much to offer

Chris
Iron Jack

[Nancy]

Chris, we're based in Malletts Bay in the northern part of the lake. It can be busy, but isn't overly crowded. It's a big lake, so there's lots of room. Would you bring the boat here on her own bottom? That would be a good adventure - would you go down the coast to New York? Going north seems very remote, lonely, and cold.

[NickScheuer]

Chris:

I am not able to find an illustration of the SeaLand 975MSD pumpout hardware, and the SaniPotti they show appeaers to be a newert model than the 5-gal SeaLand SaniPotti unit we used for many years. However we did equip our SaniPotti with the SeaLand thru-deck pumpout kit and it worked very well for us.

I incorporated one bit of custom hardware which made the setup more versatle for us. That was to install "union couplings" on both the waste and the vent hoses so that the potty could easily be removed aftre we returned home from a cruise, or when we needed to empty the potty at a location wherewas no pumpout facility. The union couplings were positioned as near as possible to the potty tank so that when carrying the tank to a public toilet, etc, there would be a minimum of waste and vent hose sticking out at an awkward angle.

I must caution you that our "modification" may not be strictly "legal". The laws specifying use of thru-deck capability read "permanently connected" and our couplings were anything but "permanent connections". We never encountered a problem with Authorities concerning my "modification".

Another factor that must be considered should you want to try this idea is that the thick white PVC hose SeaLand furnished with their kit is not exactly sized to fit standard rigid white PVC plumbing fittings available at BigBox Home Centers. I had to do a bit of judicious modification there and found that Rubber/Stainless sleeve couplings (avbailable at Lowes, etc) provided a way to accomodate two slightly different diameters (SeaLand hose-to-standard PVC pipe) of piping.

Another departure was the galvanised iron 90-degree" street elbow male thread on one end and female on the other) I used on the potty because the equivalent in PVC was not available.

BTW, our SeaLand Sani-Potti was used in the 28-ft sailing Yawl we had prior to the Albin-25 we pruchased a year ago. We now use a Natures Head composting toilet in our Albin in order to get more distance/days between emptying.

We plan to tow our Albin to Lake Champlain from Illinois in July 2013 for a cruise down the Champlain Canal and then west along part of the Erie Canal. We want to launch near Burlington as my wife has cousins from Norway who will be visiting family in Burlington at that time. The cousins would assist in shuttling our truck/trailer from Burlington to some point on the Erie Canal.

Nick Scheuer
MV NORD STJERNE

[glk34]

Thanks Nick for the info. Sounds like you have a great trip planned for July. We are looking at trailering to Lake Champlain next summer. Not sure where we are launching but we are going over the cruising guides and charts. We would go this summer but my present truck is just a bit light for the long tow to the lake. I will get the head sorted out this summer and do some local cruises. We have a great cruising area in the Canadian maritimes.

Chris
Iron Jack
1970 A25