A head and a shower
December 2008
Toilet
Here is a list of some deficiencies that I found in the head compartment:
- The intake hose for the toilet had no venting loop, which may result in flooding and sinking due to siphon effect
- The deck pumpout hose had a manual pump inline for a unknown to me reason
- The unused seacock was not properly secured to the hull - bad thing
- The pumpout seacock had a suspicious plywood sandwich
- The chainplates were grounded to the seacocks for a lightning protection - wrong!
- The vent need to be replaced with a solar powered one
I am also looking into replacing a Groco HF head with an air head dry toilet, which can be integrated with a holding tank to increase the holding capacity for liquids beyond two days for a couple. The holding capacity for solids is about a month of continuous use for a couple.
A shower addition
I decided to get rid of a wardrobe closet in the head compartment and install a shower, just a hose with a head, nothing else, so called all wet shower. Wooden bulkheads will be painted with a few coats of epoxy and an additional fresh/rain water tank will be installed somewhere.
Holding tank
I'm also thinking to get rid of a t-valve and a venting loop by suspending a holding tank above the water line. With the air head dry toilet, its size may be reduced.
Sink
A sink may be replaced too.
April 2009. New waterless head and solar shower
After throwing away the old toilet, holding tank, all the hoses, through-hulls, valves, seacocks, cleaning, painting and installing a new waterless toilet, I decided not to proceed with the shower addition and re-assembled the wardrobe.
The shower nevertheless does exist...in the cockpit, solar one!
I have also installed two solar vents: one for the toilet and another for the entire head compartment.
May 2023. Gulf Harbour, New Zealand. A storage box instead of a sink
I normally don't use the toilet and the sink. Therefore, I replaced the sink with a storage box.