Swap Out VacuFlush With Thetford Cassette

I am rehabbing a 1988 Gulfstar 63 MY which has three VacuFlush toilets. Seals are gone and accumulator tanks not working. One toilet plumbed directly to a SeaLand diaphragm pump and works. The other two (in forward cabins), one fills and doesn't flush, the other flushes but doesn't fill. Both pumps are on last legs. Complicating factor, the boat is in Panama and there's no pumpout available in my marina.

Given all of that, I'm thinking about taking out all 3 vacuflush units and replacing them with Thetford 92306 cassette toilets (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKR3VYT?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details).

Anyone have experience doing this? Downsides? I'm aware of keeping on top of the odor issue (so to speak). Removing, emptying and refilling the water and waste tanks regularly won't be a problem for me.

Anticipated upsides: EASY installation. Waaaaay cheaper than rebuilding a 3-station vacuflush with two pumps. Get back a chunk of space in the engine room by removing the accumulator tanks & associated plumbing.

It seems simple enough that I MUST be overlooking something obvious.



Many thanks gang.

Where to start. I can't think of a more important system on the boat, that contributes to comfort, then the toilet. I'm a backpacker and I understand that you can do things in a basic way, but why? For resale purposes alone, I wouldn't do the portable toilet.
You say you don't mind emptying the portable toilet, but I'm sure that would get old quickly. It holds 5 gallons, so that is 40 lbs you'll be lugging around.
I wouldn't trust the ability to hold the toilets in place either. The portable toilets aren't designed for large sea states. I would start with installing one good marine toilet and then work up from there. I had a vacuflush for 15 years on a previous boat. I became an expert (this is not a good thing!). Way to many possibility's for something going wrong-seals going bad, toilet paper preventing a good seal, visitors not understanding how to flush etc. I installed three Raritan Elegance toilets on my new boat. Expensive, but I can say after 3 years of being a livaboard with my wife, they are fantastic! All the moving parts are incorporated in the back of the toilet. I have quick disconnects on the hoses for easily detaching if I have to do repairs. The panel for flushing is easily understood. My experience has been that visitors are the main source of disasters I've had with toilets. Unless they're a boater, they don't understand the limitations of water for flushing and what is not ok to flush. My two cents.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Definitely some good points. Glad you confirm my thoughts about the fragility of the vacuflush. I had a boat with two Raritan Atlantes Freedom macerating toilets. I had a guest try to flush a baby wipe with predictable consequences. The only guy in my area who worked on marine toilets told me (with no irony in his voice at all) that he was "backed up" 6 weeks, but that he would talk me through a rebuild if I got stuck. So I rebuilt it myself, including a new macerator chamber, macerator motor and control board. Never, ever again. The board alone was around $300 IIRC. I will look at the Elegance though, since your experience with them has been so good. Thanks!

" I had a guest try to flush a baby wipe with predictable consequences."

Amazing what people will do! Boating toilets (or anything boat related) is ridiculously priced. I can vouch for the Elegance's ability to not break after someone tried flushing a plastic grocery bag down it. I had coached the parents about the toilets, but forgot to talk directly to the kids. Live and learn.

I've been running 2 vacuflush units for 10 years. I had them both rebuilt 10 years ago and although I have been able to keep them working I really wish I had replaced them instead. I'm at the point where any significant issue and they are gone, but for a while its been just $100 here or $100 there to fix small issues.

If you can get the Elegance readily then go for it. One of the best there is I believe. Having said that, they are not readily available in Australia and the alternative that people say is basically trouble free as well is Tecma. IMO absolutely don't put cassette units or composting types in.

The Marine Elegance is superb. I have put them in the last several boats. We have a Vacuflush in our current boat and wish it was a ME. Next winter it is on my list to swap out.

Nothing is cheaper than a porti-potty. Nothing will be more uncomfortable than a porti-potty and nothing will kill resale value more than a porti-potty.

Sounds like the previous owner stopped doing maintenance and started performing bush fixes rather than spend money.

When I acquire a new to me boat, I immediately go through the sanitation system. Vacuflush is one of my favorites. Easy to over haul and easy to maintain unless some one buried the vacuum pumps in an unreachable location. A typical overhaul would be to buy all new toilet bases. You can find them on the internet for $150. With the vacuum generator I replace the bellows and the duck bill valves. The motors are usually built proof, I wouldn’t replace them but maybe buy a spare. I have never need to replace a motor. The only other item with moving parts is the vacuum switch. They either work or they don’t. They are unfortunately one of the more expensive parts to purchase. In most cases the switch is not the problem, it’s the wiring. Once you have done this it will be years before you will need to do any maintenance.

If you hate vacuflush then by 3 marine elegance toilets. You will need to run electrical but you will be much happier that using a porti-potty.

Insequent said:

I've been running 2 vacuflush units for 10 years. I had them both rebuilt 10 years ago and although I have been able to keep them working I really wish I had replaced them instead. I'm at the point where any significant issue and they are gone, but for a while its been just $100 here or $100 there to fix small issues.

If you can get the Elegance readily then go for it. One of the best there is I believe. Having said that, they are not readily available in Australia and the alternative that people say is basically trouble free as well is Tecma. IMO absolutely don't put cassette units or composting types in.

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Tecma (which I believe is now a Thetford Company) is an excellent head too and uses similar technology to Marine Elegance. If I remember correctly, Tecma actually pioneered the technology 25 years ago and Raritan followed suit.

Peter

Phil Bolger designed a boat that used a cassette toilet and he had a rack that'd hold a bunch of extra cassettes. So you'd collect the full ones until you found a place to dump them. Just doing what a holding tank does, though the cassette toilet experience is never a nice one.

I have a porta poddy as a backup. I had a friend with a Vacuflush borrow it when a pump broke. It’s the most reliable marine sanitation system I am aware of. Few moving parts, no electricity, takes anything that will fit through the whole, and easy to dump.

Tom

Dometic makes an "MSD" portapotty...MSD in the model name or # means it has fittings for a pumpout line and vent line and has sturdier brackets than the portable version. The 5 gallon version holds 50-60 flushes. A y-valve and macerator in the pumpout line allows it to be dumped at sea. Dometic SaniPottie 975MSD Toilet with MSD Fittings - Gray | Defender Marine

Dometic also makes a much classier version of the MSD portapotty--the 711 M28 Marine Traveler, which is designed to use onboard pressurized flush water, same as the VacuFlush does, china bowl sits atop a 9 gal tank. Only possible downside is the size of the tank footprint--about 20" x 20". If you have room for it in the head, you'll love it.
Dometic 711-M28 Traveler at Defender

--Peggie

Great Feedback

Great feedback gang. Appreciate it. I already bought one Thetford to see how much of a pain in the ass (pun intended) it is. I might put it in one of the two forward heads as a temp until I can get MEs installed. Yes, the former owner did little to nothing on the boat for the previous 5 years, so the toilets were just one of many things that are being replaced. The budget for all of this is just into 6 figures, so I'm pacing the rehab to make sure the most critical stuff gets taken care of first. The Thetford could buy me some time to get floors/ceilings/windows and a new kitchen in. Fortunately the 8V92s are in good condition, tho they need some attention (turbo rebuild, hoses, risers). As they said when the monkey peed in the cash register, it all runs into money.

If one wants simplicity, I suggest Blake's Lavac.


https://blakesandtaylors.co.uk/lavac-marine-toilets-41-c.asp


https://www.fisheriessupply.com/lavac-toilet-popular-model-manual-toilet



Every boat I have ever owned since 1982 has had one aboard. My current boat has one, they just plain work.

I would strongly urge you against this course of action.

I'd personally be inclined to install decent macerating electric heads and ditch the Vacuflush. They're incredibly simple mechanically and work very well, so they're nice to live with and easy to keep working. Feed them all to a holding tank (or 2, depending on boat layout) and make sure the tank is equipped for both pumpout and overboard discharge.



That should give a much nicer, more convenient experience than any of the port-a-potty types.

Insequent said:

I've been running 2 vacuflush units for 10 years. I had them both rebuilt 10 years ago and although I have been able to keep them working I really wish I had replaced them instead. I'm at the point where any significant issue and they are gone, but for a while its been just $100 here or $100 there to fix small issues.

If you can get the Elegance readily then go for it. One of the best there is I believe. Having said that, they are not readily available in Australia and the alternative that people say is basically trouble free as well is Tecma. IMO absolutely don't put cassette units or composting types in.

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After reading Peggie’s comments/advice, we to wanted the Raritan, but as you say hard to get in this country and of course so would spare parts be.
We already had a Tecma aboard as another head, and after researching this as being the go-to brand in Europe, bought one. So far, so good.

Mac2, what kind of “quick disconnect” did you use on your Marine Elegance toilet hoses?

Thanks, IWAB

IWAB said:

Mac2, what kind of “quick disconnect” did you use on your Marine Elegance toilet hoses?

Thanks, IWAB

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I used about a foot of the flexible sanitation hose (1 inch) from the toilet to the 1 inch pvc pipe. I used a 1 inch union to connect the two. The union is the type I had left over from my reef tank. Bulletproof for 20 years of operation in my condo. The union has a rubber O ring that is compressed when you screw the union together. I used the flexible hose to give me a little play/flex for removing the toilet, or acting like a shock absorber for the hard pvc line (which I prefer for smell permutation). For the water supply, I used a union I got at Home Depot. I needed a 1/2 union, which I didn't have. It was a different style then the one inch union and didn't work as well. It leaked and I had to use wrenches to tighten it down. I'm on year three as a livaboard, and havn't had to fix anything.

Mac2, how does the union work with the 1” hose? Or did you connect the hose to a short piece of pvc, and then to the union?

It's a slip fitting union, so I glued the union between the flex hose and the pvc pipe. Each piece has half the union glued to it. Hope this helps.

Something like this.

I didn’t realize the flex hose, like Raritan’s “Saniflex” hose could be glued. A good idea, but unfortunately my hose needed an elbow and the discharge is to the side, so I can’t do that. Not enough room. But thanks for the info.

IWAB said:

I didn’t realize the flex hose, like Raritan’s “Saniflex” hose could be glued. A good idea, but unfortunately my hose needed an elbow and the discharge is to the side, so I can’t do that. Not enough room. But thanks for the info.

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The flex hose like Saniflex is better to use for glue then the pvc-it almost melts together. You can't break it free.
I have glued elbows to these unions. Its just a matter of cutting about 1 1/2 inches of the flex hose and gluing it between the elbow and the union. Use the purple primer before the glue and it will never come apart.

Interesting, and a good thing to know. I appreciate your comments. I also had a “Vacuflush” head and thanks to Peggy the “Headmistress” I swapped it for a RARITAN Marine Elegance. Much happier with the RARITAN product. Unfortunately it’s location was difficult, and I ended up cutting part of the china base in order to get it to fit, so it was not a simple installation. All in all, I still glad I made the change.

Alex

IWAB said:

Interesting, and a good thing to know. I appreciate your comments. I also had a “Vacuflush” head and thanks to Peggy the “Headmistress” I swapped it for a RARITAN Marine Elegance. Much happier with the RARITAN product. Unfortunately it’s location was difficult, and I ended up cutting part of the china base in order to get it to fit, so it was not a simple installation. All in all, I still glad I made the change.

Alex

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Gutsy move. I love the Elegance. To be honest, if I never had guests aboard, I would have no problem with the vacuflush. I ended up installing a red light to the vacuflush motor wire, so people knew when it was okay to flush again i.e. don't flush till the red light goes out. I also installed a timer on the motor that would turn off after 5 minutes (in line with a push pull on/off switch in the head). I did this after a 10 hour run to the San Juans. A guest didn't flush properly and the pump ran the whole time-eventually burning out. Four guys-one toilet. A real nightmare!

Just had 2 Marine Elegance installed with bidets. All the comforts of home -

Work great, love the smart controller with 4 choices and don't stink.

Delta Riverat said:

Just had 2 Marine Elegance installed with bidets. All the comforts of home -

Work great, love the smart controller with 4 choices and don't stink.

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Okay. You got me! I feel like a mouse reaching for the cheese in the trap, but I gotta ask. Tell me about the bidets! I've been wanting them, but assumed they wouldn't work with the elegance. Make/model etc. Thanks.

My pleasure!

A couple of Bio Bidet attachments from Amazon. Plumbed into the fresh water feed to the heads. Not quite all the comforts of home, cold tank water only -

But at least they are cheap!