Hi all.

I'm in the market for a used SeaRay 240da, and I'd like some opinions about the head options.

My understanding is that the standard option is the squarish "portapotty" with a pump flush, with a holding tank that can be pumped out.

Then there's the optional VacuFlush. Is the only advantage of the vacuflush that you can flush it without pumping? Can they both be emptied in the same fashion?

If I buy a boat with a portapotty, can I retrofit it with a vacuflush? What would it cost?

What is a macerator?

I haven't had any experience with either (I haven't ever owned a boat, so I've never had to deal with cleaning the head), so I'd appreciate anyone's opinions.

Thanks!

Jonathan
Buffalo, NY

In my opinion, the vacu-flush head system is the BEST on the market.

I would not own a boat (cruiser) that had a head w/o it being a vacu-flush.

The porta-potty can not be converted to a vacu-flush without a total replacement of the head unit.

Yes, they are both emptied in the same fashion (pumpout station at a marina via the deck fitting) as long as the porta-potty has a holding tank seperate from the base of the unit.

A mascerator is kind of like a garbage disposal for the head. It is commonly used as an overboard discharge pump from the holding tank to an above the waterline thru-hull fitting.

The vacu-flush system will have the head, a line going to the vacuum pump, and then to a Y-valve (if so equipped) which will divert the waste to either a direct overboard thru-hull, or to the holding tank. The vacu-flush system also requires a water line to use for the flushing. It is HIGHLY recommended that the water supply line be fresh water, rather than raw water.

I have installed a complete vacu-flush system in a friend's Bayliner which had a manual pump head.

It cost him about $1,500 in parts, and took us about 4 hours of time.

Is it worth it?

Yes, to me.

jonathan - you';re likely to get as many opinions on which type of system is better as there are butts around here, so here are some facts. some portapotties must be emptied by detaching the tank portion and physically carrying it out of the boat and dumping it. others have a relatively small (5 gallon max), integrated holding tank and have a hose, plumbed to a deck fitting. they're emptied by going to a pumpout station and attaching a vacuum to the deck fitting and sucking the contents out of the small holding tank. permament heads either use a manual hand pump or vacuum system (like the vacuuflush) to move waste from the toilet down a hose into a separate, relatively large (20 gallons or more) holding tank. the holding tank is then plumbed to a deck fitting and emptied at a pumpout station. a macerator is a kind of grinder, cutting up waste so it can easily exit the boat. however, i think macerators are for grinding up waste before they're dumped directly overboard, which is not allowed unless you're several miles out to sea. the advantages of a portapotty is simplicity of installation, maintenance (no trying to find a clog in a waste hose) and usually less odor because of it's small holding tank and no hoses (over time, the hoses of a permanent head become the weak link in the system and leak odor). the advantages of a permanent head is the larger holding tank that will hold stuff more for day or overnight trips, meaning less trips to the pumpout station (which in some cases, you'll be charged for), and ease of use. retrofitting a permanenelty plumbed head into a boat that only has a portapotty will be expensive. our first boat (a 26' express cruiser) had a plumbed portapotty and it was fine for our uses (mostly day trips with few guests aboard) but it had to be emptied fairly frequently. our current boat has a permanent manual head and it works for us as well. with any type of system, you need to drill into everyone's heads NOT to put anything in the head other than the marine toilet paper you supply and whatever comes out of their bodies that was once food or drink.

^^^^

Yeah, never put anything into the head unless you have eaten it first!!!

(they even sell "joke" placards that say that)

LOL

I prefer the Jabsco manual head pump because of the simplicity and ease of rebuilding. Also I prefer to use the lake water instead of carrying around fresh water (vacu-flush requires)for the flushing of the head. I am sure MANY will disagree.

Not me Brian. Al may love them, but my dad's vacuflush head in his Chap was "troublesome" all the time. However, his manual flush head in his Regal was troublesome too, as it lost prime all the time.

The head that he had no trouble with, other than it was 10 years old and had to have a couple of seals replaced... his portipotty in his 1989 Searay 268. And I know some of you don't believe this, but it was a true portipotty in that you could remove it from the head compartment and dump it in a toilet, or you could open a valve, and let it fill up the onboard holding tank, and have it pumped out. This system allowed the best of both worlds, no pump out needed for little weekend trips, and the ability to have a large waste tank for week long trips.

Of course, ANY product might have issues, but the SeaLand vacu-flush system, when properly installed and maintained, is a very reliable and effective waste system.

I went to SeaLand school quite a few years ago, and have installed a few systems myself, and I have never personally seen an issue with them that wasn't caused by operator error.

Sure, pumps do wear out, and pieces eventually will break, but that is true with anything.

Even Rolls Royce's...



Yeah, the manual pump heads that I have had all lost their prime every now and then. I finally learned to take the hose clamp off of the water intake line so I could easily slip it off and put my thumb on it to "prime the pump".

I have the vacu-flush on my 260da and its great. Very tidy and no smell. As far as the macerator, you can't use that most places and it can provide a way for you to get a huge fine if some with you uses it without you knowing. As far as retrofitting, my personal opinion is to spend the extra money to get what you want in the beginning. Just my 02.

I have Jabsco manual toilet and had no problems this summer. It gets raw water. Which is one less thing to worry about.

Is it the same as vacuflush?

^^^^^^

No, other than the toilet seat, they are totally different.

The vacuum flush has a different base, and is pedal operated.

You should really do a final "rinse" with fresh water, unless of course, you want the smell and critters that follow with the salt water sitting in there.

It's real easy. Just take about a half a gallon of fresh water and pour it into the bowl as a final "flush".

And actually, the raw water has "worries" of its own.

The intake can get clogged with sea "creatures".

The intake itself can have issues.

The intake should have a seacock, which should be serviced regularly (but are usually in hard to reach spaces).

And you know what can happen when/if the intake line ruptures, cracks, or becomes unattached to the seacock.

Just be sure and have a reliable bilge pump!


The entire fresh water line of a vacu-flush system usually consists of a "t" fitting attached to an existing pressurized fresh water line in the cabinet under the sink in the head.

If there was a break in that line, and IF the water pressure system was powered on, the maximum amount of water leaked into the boat would be whatever water was in the storage tank at the time.

Of course, this is assuming that there is a fresh water system installed in the boat in the first place.

But most boats with a built-in head usually have some sort of fresh water system for a sink as well...

Good luck!

Well sure, but if it corectly utilized and maintained then no worries. Same can be said for any through hull for AC, generator cooling, etc.

There are way more pieces on a vacu-flush system to wear, break, malfunction than the manual pump. If you stay on the hook for many days (in smaller cruiser) and have limited fresh water supply which is being used for showers, dishes, hand washing, etc, do you really want to be "flushing" it too?

Cap'nBrian does have a point on the complexity issue, as I have become somewhat confident in maintaining my 260, when I look back under my floor to where all the stuff for the vacu-flush is, I hesitate to thing about trying to resolve any major issues with it. The gen-set would have to be removed just to get access to it. The only thing so far was the seal in the bowl and that should not be a problem again because I now lube it before storage to keep it soft.