Head replacement?

[Duetto]

hi all,

we have a 2003 mainship pilot 34 with a jabsco saltwater electric toilet. over the years we've never been satisfied with the performance of the jabsco. i've finally decided to switch to a manual toilet. we live in ct and go by defender on the way to the boat, so i'm trying to pick something they carry. i've gotten the choices down to: 1) raritan super flush 2) jabsco twist lock manual 3) johnson aqua-t.

so, my question, does anyone have any experience with any of these? just for info the raritan is about $450, the jabsco about $300, and the johnson about $200.

oh yes, i'm not interested in going to a vacuflush system. the head area is also fairly small and thee 3 just fit.

 

[ranger58sb]

we have a 2003 mainship pilot 34 with a jabsco saltwater electric toilet. over the years we've never been satisfied with the performance of the jabsco. i've finally decided to switch to a manual toilet.

What did you not like about the Jabsco electric? Did it not work, or was it the salt water? Or...?

We had a Jabsco electric, freshwater flush, worked like a champ. Near as I could tell, it'd probably chew pencils...

We have Vacu-Flush systems now; seems to me a step backwards, but at least they work and I've got other fish to fry (fix) before I worry about that...

-Chris

 

[Duetto]

dislike a couple of things: 1) noise 2) takes a lot of water/spinning to truly clean the bowl. i have rebuilt twice over 13 years which hasn't seemed to make much of a difference. we have a manual on our other boat and it does a way better job.

 

[Comodave]

I don’t have any experience with the manual flush heads but we really love our Raritan Marine Elegance head. It is more money but it just works so well.

 

[Moonfish]

Second the Raritan Marine Elegance rec. We replaced one of our two Vacuflush toilets with it, and are looking forward to replacing the other one soon.

While I understand the desire to go simple/manual/affordable, the Raritan technology is so good. In the end, it's really a very simple system to install/operate. But they aren't cheap. And although there are likely other electric marine heads that have good reputations, none came close to the ME. I'd say 95%+ of all comments online regarding the ME toilet are positive.

 

[Duetto]

thanks for me feedback. it fits, so i will add it to list. it also pumps up hill with 1" output which is a problem we have and hose size we have.

 

[PhilPB]

I also recommend the Raritan ME. We had Jabsco electric flush and went to the Raritan ME with freshwater flush. Aside from my new bowthruster being the first best decision, the Raritan ME was the 2nd best decision that I put on the boat.

 

[PhilPB]

And 3rd best decision was all new sanitation lines.

 

[HopCar]

Wether you go manual or electric, go Raritan. Of course if you want the very best manual toilet - Groco K is it but $$$.

 

[Comodave]

I especially like the ability to use 1” discharge hose with the ME. It saves a lot of water when you want to flush the poop out of the hose and into the tank. In my setup the hose holds 1.5 gallons compared 3.3 gallons with a 1.5” hose. Huge difference in water savings and holding tank capacity. Also the ME can come with a smart flush which allows you to select the type of flush and select the duration of the flush if you want to program it. Mine has a Bluetooth panel so I didn’t have to run a control cable to the flush panel from the control board.

 

[Turtle Blues]

Carried quite a few manuals to the dumpster replaced by electrics. A few Jabscos replaced by MEs. Never the other way around.
Had a hard enough time getting people to hold the button long enough for a complete flush, forget about explaining the intricacies of a manual pump.
And yes rerouting the secondary water tank to the Admiral's head was a game changer. No more swamp water staining the bowl.

 

[Comodave]

That is one of the things nice about the Smart Flush with the ME, you can change the settings so it will pump shorter or longer based on your installation. We have 36’ of 1” discharge hose so we pump longer than normal if it has poop in it. We have a 50 gallon holding tank so it is ok if we use a bit more water but with the 1” hose it still isn’t too bad.

 

[catalinajack]

That is one of the things nice about the Smart Flush with the ME, you can change the settings so it will pump shorter or longer based on your installation. We have 36’ of 1” discharge hose so we pump longer than normal if it has poop in it. We have a 50 gallon holding tank so it is ok if we use a bit more water but with the 1” hose it still isn’t too bad.

Dave, I vqry the flush time simply by pressing the momentery switch shorter or longer, depending on what is being flushed and how long a run to the holding. It is as easy as counting and no control board that may "crap out" at some point.

 

[Comodave]

Dave, I vqry the flush time simply by pressing the momentery switch shorter or longer, depending on what is being flushed and how long a run to the holding. It is as easy as counting and no control board that may "crap out" at some point.

That works too, but if you have an uneducated user they may not flush long enough. Either way works.

 

[ranger58sb]

dislike a couple of things: 1) noise 2) takes a lot of water/spinning to truly clean the bowl. i have rebuilt twice over 13 years which hasn't seemed to make much of a difference. we have a manual on our other boat and it does a way better job.

Our Jabsco was the "Quiet Flush" freshwater model, and it was nicely quieter than a Vacu-Flush system. Partly I guess because it only needs the flush function, no need to bring in seawater at the same time.

As the motor/pump wears, ours gradually got a bit noisier... but after 10 years or so, a 30-minute motor/pump exchange brought it back to quiet again.

As you've seen in other posts, many say Raritan's Marine Elegance is even better.

-Chris

 

[SIBERNUT]

FREE Jabsco manual Middle River MD

 

[HeadMistress]

dislike a couple of things: 1) noise 2) takes a lot of water/spinning to truly clean the bowl..

No matter what make/model// type of toilet, adding water to the bowl ahead of solids eliminates "skid marks" greatly reducing the amount of flush water needed for a clean bowl. If your toilet isn't designed to bring in water and hold it, use a couple of beer cups full of water from the sink...in which case it's essential that the joker valve still be in good enough working condition to keep the water in the bowl long enough to matter.


--peggie

 

[CarlF]

A remarkable thing about the ME is that it needs virtually no maintenence. Mine is 10 years old and hasn't required ANY. Not even a joker valve replacement - which brings up another ME unique advatage - it has TWO joker valves in line with each other. Both have to go bad before you need to tackle the smelly task of a replacement.

 

[Comodave]

A remarkable thing about the ME is that it needs virtually no maintenence. Mine is 10 years old and hasn't required ANY. Not even a joker valve replacement - which brings up another ME unique advatage - it has TWO joker valves in line with each other. Both have to go bad before you need to tackle the smelly task of a replacement.

Yup, love ours.

 

[timb7734]

We had an 01 34 Pilot with the same head, I lived with it but hated it. Flushed OK but the boat always stunk from the sea water flush unless I drained the hoses. Seems to me the ME have several sizes but I’m not sure about their compatibility with seawater. I also don’t think the freshwater capacity of the Pilot would facilitate a conversion. Be sure to get all new impermeable hoses!!!

 

[Comodave]

You can get a lot of different variations of the ME head. Yes, you can use seawater flush too.

 

[Capt Ray]

Our story

We have owned this MS 390 for 3 seasons now. Did our Great Loop, and on the Erie Canal we had problems. I talked to a fellow out of Buffalo who specialized in marine heads; he carried all the parts for one of the brands, (I don't recall which one.) He kinda admitted, he was making a decent living servicing this one brand. He also spoke highly of the Jabsco Electric, "So long as you don't put stuff in it that doesn't belong, it should last you a long time." He was all booked up for a couple weeks. So, he told me, to dive in and get to know this system. "It ain't rocket science."

So, I ordered a rebuild kit from Defender and had it shipped into me. Six months later, when we had another failure. I decided to simply buy a NEW Jabsco Electric instead of the rebuild kit. It was also an opportunity to get a larger, full sized bowl (US Standard size). (Unfortunately, they don't make an elongated bowl model, which adds another 2".)

Getting all NEW was a great improvement, and it has worked flawlessly since.

Curve ball: FYI, we simply close the sea water valve, and use a 16oz "Red Solo Cup" to pre-fill and flush with water from our fresh water tank. Eliminating sea water is better for managing odors in many places where the seawater is not crystal clear.

Obviously, we have learned to live with the noisy flush. But otherwise we are happy customers with a NEW Jabsco Electric instead of a rebuild.

Good Luck. Let us know what you end up with, and how it works out!

 

[IWAB]

I had discussions with the Head Mistress about my Vaccuflush toilet. After sending her photos of my layout she suggested to get rid of my old system and buy a Marine Elegance. What a great improvement. I gained about 5 square feet of space in my ER, and the toilet works great! I used the 1-1/2” RARITAN hose, but now kind of wish I had used the 1” outlet. But it works great. Thank you Peggy!

 

[Delta Riverat]

They do work great. Chew up a big load of poo and off to the tank it goes. I do use lots of water, always wash my butt with the bidet before "grinding" -

 

[HeadMistress]

...Curve ball: FYI, we simply close the sea water valve, and use a 16oz "Red Solo Cup" to pre-fill and flush with water from our fresh water tank. Eliminating sea water is better for managing odors in many places where the seawater is not crystal clear. /QUOTE]


Unless you've replaced your single flush button with a 3 option flush panel that offers a "dry" flush (without pulling in any flush water) option, you're "frying" the toilet intake impeller by flushing without pulling any water through it. Jabsco offers one...part # 37047-2000 Switch Panel. marinepartssource.com has it on sale right now for $112.


--Peggie

 

[Comodave]

I had discussions with the Head Mistress about my Vaccuflush toilet. After sending her photos of my layout she suggested to get rid of my old system and buy a Marine Elegance. What a great improvement. I gained about 5 square feet of space in my ER, and the toilet works great! I used the 1-1/2” RARITAN hose, but now kind of wish I had used the 1” outlet. But it works great. Thank you Peggy!

Yes, I use the 1” discharge hose because it takes a lot less water to flush the hose in order to keep it clean. On our current boat the 1” hose holds 1.5 gallons and a 1.5” hose holds 3.3 gallons. So it takes less water to flush the hose and therefore I am more willing to flush it clean. Since it is a macerating head there aren’t chunks to clog the hose.

 

[WTbrown]

Head Replacement

Install a Laveo Dry-Flush!