Installing a head

On the list of to do's this winter is installing a head. Our boat came with a suitcase style one that was pretty much useless and just a waste of space. Looking to install a full sized electric one with a macerator.
It is my understanding that for the areas we boat, it is ok to discharge (no solids) overboard but the system does require a holding tank if it is to be fixed mounted. Am going to put in a 3 way valve to be able to select between the two. The unit I am looking at is the Jabsco 37010.
Jabsco 37010-4092 Electric Marine Toilet Regular Bowl 12 Volt Boating Head : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors
Planning on using high quality thru hulls and valves. Am a bit unsure where to best locate them though? Was thinking of having the intake on the bottom between the chine and (but closer to) the strake and the discharge out the side just below waterline.
Does this sound right or will there be too much pressure on the intake line with it on the bottom? Curious where they are mounted on other boats?

I'd suggest a quick call to Sea Ray. I expect they'd be able to tell you where to best locate a thru-hull so as to avoid damaging any critical features of the hull.

Have you considered using fresh water for the head? Using river/sea water can be stinky...

Thanks. I did initially think about using freshwater, but believe it has to have it's own source. From what I've found, it is not allowed to be plumbed from the potable tank for bacteria concerns?
The FW tank is only 30 gal on our boat. It is always filled and used during our outings. The boat rides/handles better that way for ballast when all loaded up. Was thinking of adding a washdown pump to it though for rinsing gear and the rear deck off. It is always emptied out on the way in anyway.
Have a cousin with a '94 250EC. His has a suit case style toilet with built in macerater (and tank) that sits in the bow. It is also removed as it's not a practical size. His thru hulls are both straight out the bottom in the bow. It also pulls the RW for the engine thru the outdrive which I am going away from for a full closed cooling system. The RW intake for mine is between the motor mounts. The main reason for me thinking the head discharge should go out the side.
There is a closet behind the helm in ours where I am installing it. Not sure if the intake on the bottom in that location is the right spot. Would hate to put a hole there if it wasn't going to work.
Initially thought, both out the side would be best? With the intake maybe 18-24" in front of the discharge? Not sure, but was told by someone that the thru hulls are supposed to be in the bottom.

Thornton69 said:

Thanks. I did initially think about using freshwater, but believe it has to have it's own source. From what I've found, it is not allowed to be plumbed from the potable tank for bacteria concerns?
The FW tank is only 30 gal on our boat.

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This is not correct. Every boat I've owned or helped maintain that had a fixed head used a single source of water for every fixture, including the head. There was not separate water source for the head. Fresh water heads will use valving to prevent backflow. A Vacuflush generally has a foot operated valve. An electric head will have a valve operated by a solenoid. Adding an anti-backflow valve is easy.

30 gallons fresh water tankage is more than enough for a head. My 270 AJ had a 28 gallon tank and it was plenty for multiple weekends of head use, plus using the fresh water washdown and transom shower. Modern heads don't use a lot of water. If you're already using the tank and emptying it after every trip, I really don't see the problem with using maybe 5 gallons of water for an outing. You're only talking ~40 lbs here, (5 gallons x 8.34 lbs/gallon = 41.7 lbs.) and that's not going to impact the trim.

As suggested before, strongly consider using a fresh water head. Using raw water introduces organisms that contribute to a very smelly system. They are also generally manually pumped, making them harder to use. You will need to consider the system design with a vented loop; if you don't have this done right you can siphon the raw water into the boat and sink it. I'd much rather have a fresh water system that's easy to operate, doesn't stink, and doesn't have an additional thru-hull.

I would also urge you to revisit the discharge aspect. When it comes to overboard discharge there's no distinction between #1 or #2 (solids as you said). No discharge is no discharge. I don't where you are, but most places require a minimum off-shore distance before discharge is allowed. And discharge in fresh water is even more restricted. And do you really want to be discharging your waste in the same water in which you're boating / swimming / fishing?

We boat in the northern (most) part of BC. Can see Alaska for the most part. We often have to shut off the roaming on our phones to avoid international charges to give you a better idea. 20 mins out of port and we will usually only see another vessel at a great distance if we see one at all.
Here is a link to our previous sewage regulations for pleasurecrafts from 1991-2007. We are well clear of all the waters listed in it's table and never inland on rivers and lakes. At least not with this boat. We usually take a walk in the woods in those situations.
SOR/91-661 | Pleasure Craft Sewage Pollution Prevention Regulations | CanLII
It has clearly been repealed, but the new version has little to reference small pleasurecraft. Mostly large tonnage with 15 passengers or more. It does have a similar table which lists discharge areas in the same waters for the most part.
SOR/2007-86 | Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and for Dangerous Chemicals | CanLII
Maybe not most, but a lot of the smaller boats (like ours) use a bucket or just the swim platform up here. What we have been doing. I am trying to better that and pass it thru a macerator first to break it down. No chemicals. Just a bit of human waste.
I struggle a bit with what the current regulations are saying as for what I am trying to do. Maybe someone here can point that out to me if it is in error.
Thanks.
To add, been out in the -18 C elements for a 16 hr day today. Time for the sheets. Will find the info that said not to plumb from the potable water tank tomorrow. As I said earlier, doing so was my original plan.

The concern from using the potable water tank for the head water supply comes directly from the Jabsco installation manual. Ya, some guys look at them occasionally.
43000-0612.qxd (pdxrvwholesale.com)
For the washdown I referred to, it is only for rinsing sea water, (fish blood/slime) and other marine life off the rear deck. Imagine it would be handy for rinsing the road grime off the windows before launching as well. There will be no shower. We have multiple natural hot springs we can swing into if needing a soak.
We don't use our boat as a lot of others in the south do for hanging at beaches or social gathering. It is a tool for us. It takes us into remote areas away from others and keeps one of our deep freeze chests full with a variety of sea food.
Thanks again.

Thornton69 said:

The concern from using the potable water tank for the head water supply comes directly from the Jabsco installation manual. Ya, some guys look at them occasionally.
43000-0612.qxd (pdxrvwholesale.com)
For the washdown I referred to, it is only for rinsing sea water, (fish blood/slime) and other marine life off the rear deck. Imagine it would be handy for rinsing the road grime off the windows before launching as well. There will be no shower. We have multiple natural hot springs we can swing into if needing a soak.
We don't use our boat as a lot of others in the south do for hanging at beaches or social gathering. It is a tool for us. It takes us into remote areas away from others and keeps one of our deep freeze chests full with a variety of sea food.
Thanks again.

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The manual says that because this particular head is designed with it's own pump specifically for raw water applications. If you were to link a freshwater head, which is what most of us have, you will not find that comment in the manual.

If you do end up going with the raw water head you may want to look into the auto-chemical injection systems. I had a dock neighbor retrofit his raw water toilet with such a system to eliminate the nasty mess and stink anytime he'd leave the boat for more than a couple days. I think this is far less ideal than going with a fresh water head but you seem pretty dead-set on this Jabsco unit. Best of luck either way...

Not at all set on that unit. It just popped up in an online search on the weekend and looked like it would work. When I looked up it's installation manual, I was steered away from using the freshwater onboard and looked to the sea water.
I see now there is other models available. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I would also much prefer one less hole in the hull.
I was initially looking to add a better water pump with accumulator tank to the freshwater system at the same time. The current one does not power off when up to pressure. It just stalls out and leaves a steady draw while the switch is on. It is a simple system that only supplies water to the sink. Will be revisiting that avenue. The system I was looking at was 3 GPM and 55 PSI. Looks like the flow is a bit light for a head? What about the pressure? What do most boats with heads run for that? It will be about 16' from the pump.
Thanks again.

Thornton69 said:

Not at all set on that unit. It just popped up in an online search on the weekend and looked like it would work. When I looked up it's installation manual, I was steered away from using the freshwater onboard and looked to the sea water.
I see now there is other models available. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I would also much prefer one less hole in the hull.
I was initially looking to add a better water pump with accumulator tank to the freshwater system at the same time. The current one does not power off when up to pressure. It just stalls out and leaves a steady draw while the switch is on. It is a simple system that only supplies water to the sink. Will be revisiting that avenue. The system I was looking at was 3 GPM and 55 PSI. Looks like the flow is a bit light for a head? What about the pressure? What do most boats with heads run for that? It will be about 16' from the pump.
Thanks again.

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3 GPM is PLENTY for a head. Heads don't use a lot of water to start with. Consider that a standard low-flow shower head for home use is 2.5 gpm, and you have enough for a toilet. You might not be operating multiple sinks and washdowns, but that doesn't seem to be your objective.

A quick look at West Marine shows that pump capacity ranges from 1.9 - 5 gpm. Most of them are 2-4 gpm, so I'd say 3 GPM is plenty for your purposes.

55 psi is also pretty good pressure. Most dockside water regulators will have a max of 40-45 psi so as not not blow our your plumbing.

Thanks guys. You've helped steer me in the direction of getting this right the first time. There will be a holding tank installed (as required by law) that can be selected when desired. It will be set up in the engine compartment in away that it can be removed for clean out along with it's overboard venting.