Mainship 400 2006 Head Feed Thru hull

[IndigoStar]

Where is the thru hull for the raw water feed to the head located? The Mainship Manual shows it located under the sink in the head. But I can't seem to find anyway to get to it.

Need to shut off the water to check the pump and hoses. The pump is not pumping to the holding tank.

Just bought a Mainship 400 Year 2006

 

[HeadMistress]

I suspect you'll have to trace it from the head to the thru-hull to find it.

The pump is not pumping to the holding tank.

The problem may not be in the toilet. First thing to check is a blocked holding tank vent. A blocked tank vent will pressurize the system, creating back pressure that prevents the flush from going anywhere. If the boat has been sitting for a while, that's highly likely because dirt daubers LOVE to build nests in tank vents.

I'll be glad to help you trouble shoot the problem.

 

[HopCar]

Indigo Star welcome to the forum. Peggie is the expert on marine sanitation systems. I suggest you buy her book.

You really need to find the inlet as it is a safety issue. If the hose ever failed you'd need to be able to shut it off.

If you're lucky, the toilet intake will share the sink drain seacock. That way you can occasionally flush with fresh water to clean things out. You close the seacock, fill the sink with fresh water, and flush. I learned that trick from Peggie.

 

[IndigoStar]

Mainship 400 Head Thruhull

I can't find the thruhull for the head raw water feed. So I can't trace the hose. The hose goes under the head platform to who knows where. I am hoping someone can tell me where the thru hull is located and how to access it.

 

[HeadMistress]

Are you sure your toilet uses sea water...that it's not one that's designed to use onboard pressurized fresh water--in which case, the inlet line wouldn't be connected to a thru-hull, it would be connected to a cold water line in the head?

One big clue: Is it a manual toilet that you pump by hand, or is it an electric toilet? The boat's manual will show the standard toilet the builder installs, but it's highly likely that a previous owner replaced it sometime in the last 10 years.

If it's a manual toilet (you pump it by hand), it definitely uses sea water, but if electric it could be either version. Did you get the owners manuals or any other literature for the equipment on your boat that would tell you. If not, do you have any idea of its make/model/approx age? If you don't know, post a photo of it.

 

[IndigoStar]

Mainship 400 Head

It is a Jabsco Series 37010 electric head. The manual specifically in bold letters states that it should not be connected to a pressurized and/or potable water supply. But you never know.

 

[Dougcole]

Hmmm. Our 2005 400 has a vacuflush head and uses fresh water. I thought they all had that set up. Are you sure it is a saltwater head?

Want to taste it to find out? Just kidding.

 

[HeadMistress]

That's definitely a sea water toilet. But you're right...you never know what a PO might have done.

We need to work on this one-on-one instead of swapping a dozen questions here in the forum. Send me a PM and I'll reply with my email address. Then we can report back here when we've found what we're looking for.

 

[johnma]

we have a 390. On the deck between the head and both staterooms is a 15" square access panel to the bilge. This gives access to the shower sump and head inlet through hull and shut off valve. I expect the 400 has this same set up.
John

 

[davidla]

Hi
I know this is an old thread but I am wondering if anyone has converted the fresh water to raw in the head. Our new to us boat (400) was surprising when the head wouldn’t pump water with the fresh water isolated. (The taste test free way of knowing which you have).
I am pretty sure my system is not vacuflush but a macerator pump to the tank and then another macerator from tank to sea.

 

[Comodave]

Why change from freshwater to sea water flush?

 

[davidla]

Why change from freshwater to sea water flush?

We bought this boat to live aboard for a few years and travel the east coast of Australia. It will be a couple of thousand miles in a country where marinas are not so prevalent and fresh water will need to last two to three weeks. Assuming one shower per day each. We don’t have a water maker so it will either be fit one of those at around 10k installed; or, use less fresh water for things such as flushing the head.
The other option if you refer to my earlier thread is to install some extra fw tanks in that unusual swim platform.

 

[HeadMistress]

All toilets designed to use fresh water don't have a flush water intake pump 'cuz they all use pressurized water. So if you want your toilet to use sea water, you'll have to install a remote intake pump and wire it to the flush button/panel.


You'll save a lot of fresh water if you shower every other day and/or learn to bathe in salt water, using a transom shower just to rinse off. Same for dishwashing...always pre-rinse and/or scour in salt water, saving fresh water for just one dishpan full of soapy water and a quick rinse. NEVER just let water run! Wet toothbrush or wash cloth, turn off water...same for shower, run water only to get wet, turn off till ready to rinse off. I read a definition of showering a boat described "like standing in small closet with a very wet dog."

--Peggie

 

[davidla]

All toilets designed to use fresh water don't have a flush water intake pump 'cuz they all use pressurized water. So if you want your toilet to use sea water, you'll have to install a remote intake pump and wire it to the flush button/panel.


You'll save a lot of fresh water if you shower every other day and/or learn to bathe in salt water, using a transom shower just to rinse off. Same for dishwashing...always pre-rinse and/or scour in salt water, saving fresh water for just one dishpan full of soapy water and a quick rinse. NEVER just let water run! Wet toothbrush or wash cloth, turn off water...same for shower, run water only to get wet, turn off till ready to rinse off. I read a definition of showering a boat described "like standing in small closet with a very wet dog."

--Peggie

Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated. Perhaps a water maker might be the best option. I should have mentioned that we sold a 35’ yacht to move aboard the trawler. We survived with 300 litres for two weeks no problem with room to spare. So conserving is not an issue for us. But the head does seem to gobble water at a rate. Perhaps learning the correct flushing technique will go a long way to alleviating the issue. To date we have assumed a saltwater input so not paid any attention to it. .

As for bathing in saltwater, we have a saying in the northern reaches of Queensland. No, there are no sharks in the water here. The crocodiles ate them all.

 

[Comodave]

What head do you have onboard? We love the Raritan Marine Elegance head with the Smart Flush control panel. It lets us pick the type of flush we want to use. We can do a normal flush that uses a fair amount of water, a short flush which uses way less water, we can drain the bowl without adding any water or just fill the bowl with water and no flush. So you can selectively choose how you are flushing depending on what you need to flush down. It really saves a lot of water. And you can choose to use either 1” or 1.5” discharge hose. We use 1” because it takes way less water to flush the poop into the holding tank. We also were able to use the old 1.5” discharge hose as a conduit to run the new 1” hose. It went extremely fast running 36’ of new discharge hose, less than an hour.

 

[Jeff F]

We use 1” because it takes way less water to flush the poop into the holding tank. We also were able to use the old 1.5” discharge hose as a conduit to run the new 1” hose. It went extremely fast running 36’ of new discharge hose, less than an hour.

Good trick.

I'm guessing the OP pumps overboard regularly, so switching to salt water and using lots to flush seems like the best solution.

Sent from my moto g play (2021) using Trawler Forum mobile app

 

[davidla]

Thanks again everybody. It is a jabsco electric with similar functions as described. So with a bit of learning we can get used to it. That said there are some great new 12v low maintenance water maker options out there nowadays. But that is for down the track. The new boat has some higher priorities like solar and an inverter. Not a fan of running the generator every time I need coffee - which is often.

 

[Cold Duck]

I too wanted to change over from fresh water to sea water for the head for the same basic reasons of saving fresh water. With the fresh water there is a valve that opens to the pressurized system. Mine was leaking so if fresh water system on, water was going into the holding tank and overflowing just after a single days run. Since I now not staying out for more than a week or two, I finally bit the bullet and decided to keep the pressure system and just replace the valve. It does make me nervous when out that suddenly holding tank is full and no pump out around. On the 350/390s as has been described, there is a seawater pick up by the shower sump pump but on mine, I can't find or see the other end of hose to be used to run to the head. It has to be capped off as with the sea cock open there is no flow. Very tight quarters in that area of the boat making it difficult to plumb in that area.

 

[Dougcole]

My suggestion is to get a portable rainman watermaker, that's what we use on our 400 and while not perfect, it works really well. And more like $4k than $10k (depending on the model) with no install to worry about. Probably not a heck of a lot more than you would spend on a new head, and a lot less trouble.



LOTS of benefits beyond not having to modify your head as well. We spend 4 to 8 weeks on our boat on the hook in the Bahamas, often far from fresh water. We did it without the watermaker for a while, but I sure wouldn't go back to doing it that way.

 

[davidla]

My suggestion is to get a portable rainman watermaker, that's what we use on our 400 and while not perfect, it works really well. And more like $4k than $10k (depending on the model) with no install to worry about. Probably not a heck of a lot more than you would spend on a new head, and a lot less trouble.



LOTS of benefits beyond not having to modify your head as well. We spend 4 to 8 weeks on our boat on the hook in the Bahamas, often far from fresh water. We did it without the watermaker for a while, but I sure wouldn't go back to doing it that way.

That’s 4$K in USD and around $7.8k in South Pacific pesos (AUD). Everything costs more here due to little competition in the various markets.

 

[Comodave]

That’s 4$K in USD and around $7.8k in South Pacific pesos (AUD). Everything costs more here due to little competition in the various markets.

Wow, that sucks…

 

[Capt Mike]

Raw water seacock for head

My raw water intake for the head is located next to the shower sump in the forward main stateroom.
My boat was converted to a fresh water flush by the previous owner, so the seacock is just blocked off and normally closed.

Where is the thru hull for the raw water feed to the head located? The Mainship Manual shows it located under the sink in the head. But I can't seem to find anyway to get to it.

Need to shut off the water to check the pump and hoses. The pump is not pumping to the holding tank.

Just bought a Mainship 400 Year 2006

 

[sailorskip]

On my 2004 MS400, the raw water valve for the Jabsco head is at the base of the forward berth. Outboard, to starboard of the sump pump. The inlet is shared with the freshwater washdown pump. When I bought the boat seven years ago, none of the sanitation hoses had ever been changed. To change out the raw water hose for the head, I had to create an access hatch on the starboard step up in the forward cabin.