converting from a porta pottie to a waste tank setup

L

lime4x4

Member
Jul 24, 2007
341
Palmerton,Pa
Boat Info
1986 268 searay weekender
Engines
5.7 vortec alpha
We own a 1986 searay 268 weekender. Currently has a porta-pottie in it. The porta-pottie is attached to a vacum flush setup. Where we mainly boat they don't have the equipment to pull the the waste out of the porta-pottie. So empting the porta-pottie is starting to get old. I would like to install a 30 gallon waste tank and pump. I have a clean out pipe for my sewer at home that i could pump it into or when we go to chesapeake bay i can stop at one of the marina's and have it pump out. Has anyone down this? Any good sites that show u what all u need and how to properly have it hooked up?
 
lime4x4 said:
We own a 1986 searay 268 weekender. Currently has a porta-pottie in it. The porta-pottie is attached to a vacum flush setup. Where we mainly boat they don't have the equipment to pull the the waste out of the porta-pottie. So empting the porta-pottie is starting to get old. I would like to install a 30 gallon waste tank and pump. I have a clean out pipe for my sewer at home that i could pump it into or when we go to chesapeake bay i can stop at one of the marina's and have it pump out. Has anyone down this? Any good sites that show u what all u need and how to properly have it hooked up?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I understand the vacume pump setup. Mine looks like a portapotti but has 2 lines out the back ones a vent and ones a discharge. The discharge runs to a wye valve under the sink from there, it either goes to the macerator pump and pumps overboard through a through hull fitting or is able to be pumped out through a fitting on the gunnal, depending what position the wye valve is in. You could probably rig up a deal with some plastic pool suction hose to plug into the through hull and pump that into the cleanout with the macerator pump. You would need to get a new head, a macerator pump, some hose and clamps, a through hull, a pump out fitting, a wye valve, some 12 gauge wire and various crimp ons, a keyed switch, and you should be good to go. If there is a quicker or easier way to do it I'm sure someone will chime in
 
mine has 2 hoses as well. One is the vent the other hose goes to the waste fitting on the side of my port. Both my sinks just drain thru thru hull fittings.
 
lime4x4 said:
mine has 2 hoses as well. One is the vent the other hose goes to the waste fitting on the side of my port. Both my sinks just drain thru thru hull fittings.
Click to expand...
No macerator pump or wye valve under the sink, just for the head?
 
How do you pump the waste from the head, out through the though hull fitting on the side?
 
I usually just disconnect the porta-pottie and empty into a toilet. Or i can use the waste pump at the marina at the chesapeake bay to vacum out the waste which attaches to a fitting on my hull. Which happens to be right next to my gas fill. So when i fill the boat with fuel i have to make sure i'm using the right fitting..lol
 
Just for clarification, your current set-up is a porta-potti with pump-out. The "vacuum system", or more correctly "Vaccu-flush" is a permanent bowl that forcefully flushes (via vacuum) into a holding tank.

Gotta think about this one a bit. You can't exactly count on gravity to get the junk to the 30 gallon tank. Will have to use a macerator or T-pump to transfer from potti to tank. I'm just not sure how well that will work with a porta-potti - if at all.

What you could do, is install a "manual flush" head.
 
If i decide to install a waste holding tank i'm also upgrading the head to either a manual flush or electric flush unit
 
lime4x4 said:
If i decide to install a waste holding tank i'm also upgrading the head to either a manual flush or electric flush unit
Click to expand...
So the bottom of the head is the holding tank, like mine, like on a portapotty. If you add a macerater pump and a wye valve and a through hull you could pump it overboard if thats ok where you are or make an adapter so you could slip pool suction hose into the through hull and pump it into your cleanout at your house. It wouldn't be 30 gallons but enough for a few days out at a time.
 
I did this conversion 10 years ago on my 84 270 DA. Port a pot set up was replaced by Jabsco marine toilet (pump type). Used the three way valve to select overboard or maserator on one side and the other to a 1 1/2" PVC pipe running thru the aft cabin right below the shelving unit (pulled back the wall lining in the aft cabin) and ran the raw water on the base of the aft cabin bed.

Anyway, the trick of this install was to mount the wye with the single nozzle to the pipe to the aft cabin. One branch goes to the toilet (lined up pushed to the tank) and then for emptying, aligned to macerator/overboard pump out. If using deck fitting, valve to maserator needs to be closed. I believe I installed a 20G tank and converted from hard PVC to flex line which wrapped to the rear of the boat and tank. I also tilted the tank slightly to ensure full pump out and tied down w SS straps.

Hope this helps....
 
can't discharge into the waters where we boat.We were down on the chesapeake bay for 4th of july for 5 days.By the end of the 3rd day i had to empty the porty-pottie. This is just something i'm thinking about. The wife is talking about maybe getting another searay. I already have more money in this boat then i'll get back out of it if i go to sell it. We've been talking about maybe getting another searay 34 to 38 foot and slipping it at chesapeake bay then keep our current 268 for the local lake.
 
With the 20 g tank, I never discharged....always pumped out. When I sold the boat, the maserator did not even work (from lack of use).
 
My next question. If i did this conversion. The toliet will be lower then the waste tank. Which type of toliet would i need for this conversion?
 
That will not work....the discharge line to the tank should be at a higher elevation than the top of the tank. In my boat, I pumped up may 18" and then gravity drain to the tank. If the duck bill failed, I had only 18" x 1.5" diameter pipe to worry about.

Jabsco Compact Bowl Manually Operated Marine Toilet - 29090-3000 ...usually find them for $100-140. If I did it again, I might consider using a fresh water flush system.
Good Luck....
 
Why not?? I actually got down into the midberth compartment tonight.And after removing a panel I c that the toilet and waste tank would be the same height. Meaning the bottom of the toilet and waste tank would be level. Will that work?
 
You want the toilet to discharge to be above the tank height to prevent any backflow if you had it level.
 
But in this sketch, the toilet still discharges into the top of the tank. If you have room for a second fitting to the bottom of the tank for discharge you are fine.

In my install, I used the same line to go to the tank (went to the bottom) and this same line was used to remove the waste. I used the same deck fitting that was installed in the boat (mid location). If you have room to put in a two line system, you can use the method in your sketch.

Hope this helps....
 
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