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Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 7:30 am
by fighterpilot
On the 10 meter express is it possible to replace it with a standard marine toilet system? Has anyone done that. If so would appreciate information. Thanks

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:39 am
by prowlersfish
Is your head built in ? If not it would be easy , if it is it would take some work to say the least .

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 5:23 pm
by fighterpilot
I think this would be considered built in. Right?
5669224_20160316080728218_1_LARGE.jpg
5669224_20160316080728218_1_LARGE.jpg (26.8 KiB) Viewed 9582 times

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 6:48 pm
by prowlersfish
Yes

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:44 pm
by fighterpilot
With the vacu flush was some water pumped into the toilet basin, as the vacu flush was turned on. If so maybe vacu-flush could be bypassed and the drain hose go directly into the holding tank. Toilet is higher than holding tank. Assume pump out hose comes out of the holding tank so could still have it pumped out. Does the macerator pump pull directly from the holding tank? If so could still pump overboard when permitted, assuming that combination would work. It is my understanding the macerator and the vacu-system are on separate lines. Thanks

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 10:25 pm
by RWS
the vacu flush is a GREAT system - ask anyone who owns and PROPERLY MAI TAINS one

simply tune it up and flush your worries away

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 10:52 pm
by fighterpilot
If it isn't working, and I don't have any manuals, where do I start? In the 5 previous boats never had the vacu flush so I didn't even recognize what the "muffler looking thing" was. Try to find someone in town that knows the system I guess. Since we won't be camping in the boat could get along with a lessor system.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:00 am
by P-Dogg
RWS wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 10:25 pm the vacu flush is a GREAT system - ask anyone who owns and PROPERLY MAI TAINS one

simply tune it up and flush your worries away
^^^^This.

As for ditching the vacuflush and going with gravity......note that the exit of my vacuflush toilet has an orifice that is maybe an inch in diameter. If yours is the same, consider what things gravity will get down through that opening.

The heads were the worst thing about my boat when i purchased it. Sealand with integrated holding tank, which meant when solids went down, they displaced vapors upwards. Head use is odor free now. Well, mostly....

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:43 pm
by RWS
fighterpilot wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 10:52 pm If it isn't working, and I don't have any manuals, where do I start? In the 5 previous boats never had the vacu flush so I didn't even recognize what the "muffler looking thing" was. Try to find someone in town that knows the system I guess. Since we won't be camping in the boat could get along with a lessor system.
so easy, even a caveman can do it...

https://www.google.com/search?q=vacuflu ... ng&ie=&oe=


RWS

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:01 pm
by fighterpilot
RWS, your posting is just in time. Thanks. I was down in the bilge this afternoon figuring our the hoses and decided to see if I could trouble shoot the vacu-flush system starting with the motor/pump system. Your link you posted will be a big help. Probably keep me out of trouble and prevent me from doing something stupid. Thanks again. That is a project for this week, along with trouble shooting the battery charger system. One battery isn't getting charge and don't know if it is the battery or the charger. Will try to sort that out as well.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:03 pm
by fighterpilot
Oh, yes RWS, "so easy a caveman could do it", bodes well for me. I'm not a caveman but I am 85.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 8:45 am
by El L Sea
Vacu-flush is the only way to go. Even if mine broke, I'd replace it with the same.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 5:04 pm
by fighterpilot
After reading all the posts that came up in RWS's link I will see if I can find a workaround to the vacu-system. Toilet will get used very little. That system with duck bills, and $$ for parts etc, and the maintenance requirements, like flush some water, do this and do that, convince me we could get along very well with a porta-potty. So Will see if system can be changed to gravity type, even if I have to cut out the existing toilet. My son-in-law is pretty good with fiberglass work. Shower grate takes up a lot of space so could use that as well. Don't need the shower.
Will have to do some more "digging" to see if a gravity feed would function or not. If not porta potty it is. It is a fishing boat, not a live aboard or long cruises boat.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:48 pm
by P-Dogg
Resale value?

There are often very good reasons why manufacturers did things they way that they did. Fix the vacuflush and have a state of the art head, or carry poop off the boat. I know what i would choose.

Re: Vacu-flush system replacement??

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:00 pm
by fighterpilot
I don't mind carrying poop, if necessary. There are systems that work other than the vacu-flush. I will explore them and get something simpler, rather than spend hundreds to fix a system that may not last a year. The existing system is old, neglected and may be a constant money pit for me. Considering how little it will be used, even carrying poop won't be that bad if I can't work a replacement. It is 24 miles to get pumped out. On my last boat I put a y valve in and was able to use the wet/dry vac to pump out and take up to my septic tank at the house.

As to resale value-it is an old fishing boat. Not a cruiser or high dollar whatever. It was bought knowing the system didn't work. So if I get some sort of workable toilet I am ahead of the game. Anyway, The twin diesel Cummins do make it resaleable, regardless of the toilet.

P-Dogg, I like your location description.