skibum
Well-Known Member
I just spent the last 2 weekends fixing the head. We had the Admiral's kids on board for a couple of weeks and as a going away present they left me a clogged head. It sorta worked for a couple of days after they left, but the suction was not as strong as it usually was. I had to really use it one day, and that was all she wrote. I would step on the pedal and the ball would open, but there was no indication of vacuum.
Part 1, Day 1 - Checking for the "blockage" and an "almost" fix.
Step 1 - Hit pedal and use a coat hanger with a small hook in the end to fish around in the ball. No joy.
Step 2 - Plunger. A friend at the marina, Bernie, lent me a small plunger. It did not work. The plunger was a small 4" diameter plunger. It made sufficient suction, but on 2 occasions flipped inside out. Both times, I got a shower. Needless to say, that didn't work. Oh... Bernie got a chuckle both times. I still gave him another beer though.
Step 3 - Completely empty the bowl. Shortly after hearing Bernie laughing, another marina buddy, Craig, stops by to "help" (and laugh at me). He says, "Why didn't you empty the bowl first?". I gave him a beer and told him that I was just now trying to figure out what I was going to use to do that. He says, "Hang on a second.", and leaves. He comes back with this invaluable head repair tool. Wow! The tip was the perfect shape to form a seal when placed in the hole in the bottom of the head. The first stroke completely emptied the head. I discharged it into a bucket. The next 2 strokes sucked out all of the liquid from the waste hose on the head side of the clog. (Step 3a - swap step 3 and step 2 after ordering my own water blaster from Amazon) Craig didn't laugh at me, so I gave him another beer. Bernie went back to his own boat for that round.
Step 4 - Use a plumbing snake to attempt to clear clog. Drove to the house and and back to pick up a plumbing snake. Couldn't get the damn snake any further up the hose than the coat hanger. Drank my 1st beer of the afternoon.
Step 5 - Disassemble mid berth cabin wall to see WTF was going on here. Got my answer.Sea Ray apparently installed 14' of waste hose to make a 9' run to the tank. Arrrgh! I couldn't believe that I hadn't clogged it on multiple ocassions myself. The hose came off of the head, through the bathroom wall, about 10" in a straight line, into a 10" diameter U bend, straight for about 10", 90 degree bend up 20" or so to another 90 degree bend to port and 6-7' straight back to the tank. The lower 90 degree bend had a kink in the line sufficient to reduce the ID of the hose.
Step 6 - Use reverse flow to clear blockage. Realizing that I had zero chance of fishing the blockage out of the inlet side of the hose, I decided to use the water blaster to reverse flow the clog out. I removed the tank side of the waste hose and managed to pull it back and up over the tank. I went into the head and pulled about 2-1/2' of hose out of the wall and stuck into a bucket. I closed the head door to control any flying debris and took a bucket of clean water into the bilge. I filled up the water blaster, pressed the nozzle up to the waste hose, and gave it a good healthy plunge. There wasn't any back pressure, so I needed a few more shots to fill up the hose. On the last one, I felt back pressure, so I gave it a really hard shot. Success! The next shot went right through. Checked the bucket in the head and a small bit of TP was in there along with a good bit of water. No mess, either.
Step 7 - Get a "false positive" test result. I thought that I had it fixed, so I reconnected both ends of the waste hose and gave it a few test flushes. It worked, but there still wasn't 100% suction. Close, but not as strong as it used to be. I'll take it. Maybe if I just recycle beer in it for a few days, it will clear out any remaining clog material.
Step 8 - Catch up to the number of beers that Bernie and Craig had while I was working and test head for next 12 hours.
Continued in part 2....
Part 1, Day 1 - Checking for the "blockage" and an "almost" fix.
Step 1 - Hit pedal and use a coat hanger with a small hook in the end to fish around in the ball. No joy.
Step 2 - Plunger. A friend at the marina, Bernie, lent me a small plunger. It did not work. The plunger was a small 4" diameter plunger. It made sufficient suction, but on 2 occasions flipped inside out. Both times, I got a shower. Needless to say, that didn't work. Oh... Bernie got a chuckle both times. I still gave him another beer though.
Step 3 - Completely empty the bowl. Shortly after hearing Bernie laughing, another marina buddy, Craig, stops by to "help" (and laugh at me). He says, "Why didn't you empty the bowl first?". I gave him a beer and told him that I was just now trying to figure out what I was going to use to do that. He says, "Hang on a second.", and leaves. He comes back with this invaluable head repair tool. Wow! The tip was the perfect shape to form a seal when placed in the hole in the bottom of the head. The first stroke completely emptied the head. I discharged it into a bucket. The next 2 strokes sucked out all of the liquid from the waste hose on the head side of the clog. (Step 3a - swap step 3 and step 2 after ordering my own water blaster from Amazon) Craig didn't laugh at me, so I gave him another beer. Bernie went back to his own boat for that round.
Step 4 - Use a plumbing snake to attempt to clear clog. Drove to the house and and back to pick up a plumbing snake. Couldn't get the damn snake any further up the hose than the coat hanger. Drank my 1st beer of the afternoon.
Step 5 - Disassemble mid berth cabin wall to see WTF was going on here. Got my answer.Sea Ray apparently installed 14' of waste hose to make a 9' run to the tank. Arrrgh! I couldn't believe that I hadn't clogged it on multiple ocassions myself. The hose came off of the head, through the bathroom wall, about 10" in a straight line, into a 10" diameter U bend, straight for about 10", 90 degree bend up 20" or so to another 90 degree bend to port and 6-7' straight back to the tank. The lower 90 degree bend had a kink in the line sufficient to reduce the ID of the hose.
Step 6 - Use reverse flow to clear blockage. Realizing that I had zero chance of fishing the blockage out of the inlet side of the hose, I decided to use the water blaster to reverse flow the clog out. I removed the tank side of the waste hose and managed to pull it back and up over the tank. I went into the head and pulled about 2-1/2' of hose out of the wall and stuck into a bucket. I closed the head door to control any flying debris and took a bucket of clean water into the bilge. I filled up the water blaster, pressed the nozzle up to the waste hose, and gave it a good healthy plunge. There wasn't any back pressure, so I needed a few more shots to fill up the hose. On the last one, I felt back pressure, so I gave it a really hard shot. Success! The next shot went right through. Checked the bucket in the head and a small bit of TP was in there along with a good bit of water. No mess, either.
Step 7 - Get a "false positive" test result. I thought that I had it fixed, so I reconnected both ends of the waste hose and gave it a few test flushes. It worked, but there still wasn't 100% suction. Close, but not as strong as it used to be. I'll take it. Maybe if I just recycle beer in it for a few days, it will clear out any remaining clog material.
Step 8 - Catch up to the number of beers that Bernie and Craig had while I was working and test head for next 12 hours.
Continued in part 2....
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