Marine Head on the LF38
At purchase, the head of the Johanna Rose was stripped bare. The original head plumbing and holding tank were removed by the previous owner and a new holding tank was installed. There was a Jabsco marine head but it was not bolted down and was without any plumbing connections. In fact, for many months, the Jabsco unit sat safely out of the way in a home garage.
In addition, the previous owner had started to plumb the new holding tank, or least several lengths of new Trident 101 sanitation hose and a new Jabsco Y-valve were found lying around. The photo to the right showed what the head area looked like on purchase. In addition to the plumbing work (described here), the head was also missing the shower grate, a sink trap and drain, drain hoses, cabinet doors, all water lines, and working lights.
Sanitation System Plan
The plan is to have a system designed with the choice of both a dockside pump–out and the ability to empty the tank oneself when legal to do so offshore (i.e. more than three miles from the coast). The system is of a standard design that of a holding tank with multiple discharges to the output of the holding tank. The key here is All of the waste is pumped into a holding tank. When there's no Y–valve between the toilet and tank there is no legal requirement lock a valve or seacock. On the other hand, installing a Y-valve between the head and the holding tank makes one legally required to lock/restrain the Y-valve closed when inside the three-mile limit. Not having a Y-valve before the holding tank gives authorities no reason to get upset. Having a Y-valve before the holding tank poses a risk of an of accidental discharge, and is why authorities do get upset.
That said, a Y–valve downstream of the tank allows you to choose between dockside pump-out and the option of pumping it overboard when legal. Inshore and inland, the tank can be emptied via the deck pipe. Offshore, the tank can be emptied using an electric macerator pump.
SUMMARY: Waste goes to holding tank. Holding tank is emptied via a Y-valve either at the deck outlet or via a macerator discharged overboard below the waterline.
Head Installation
Eventually I got around to installing the Jabsco marine head. I tested it using fresh water and found that the pump worked rather poorly. I then took apart the hand pump and lubed the parts with SuperLube synthetic grease, but this did not help much. It was clear that the pump components were old and dried out, and that the pump needed to be rebuilt or replaced.
From the photos above and to the right, the Jabsco pump with a grey handle is of the 1998 year Jabsco model 29090-2000. A service kit for this model (Jabsco 29045-2000) goes for about $50 whereas a new replacement pump (Jabsco 29040-3000), which is the 2007 era pump, can be purchased for $68 at CEShowRoom.com.
Not surprisingly, I bought the new pump. Installing the new pump is a simple process and takes about 2 minutes. Even though, Jabsco still provides a nice how video online(see Jabsco support). The marine head now has a nice working manual pump with a fancy twist-n-lock handle.
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| The state of the head at purchase. |
In addition, the previous owner had started to plumb the new holding tank, or least several lengths of new Trident 101 sanitation hose and a new Jabsco Y-valve were found lying around. The photo to the right showed what the head area looked like on purchase. In addition to the plumbing work (described here), the head was also missing the shower grate, a sink trap and drain, drain hoses, cabinet doors, all water lines, and working lights.
Sanitation System Plan
The plan is to have a system designed with the choice of both a dockside pump–out and the ability to empty the tank oneself when legal to do so offshore (i.e. more than three miles from the coast). The system is of a standard design that of a holding tank with multiple discharges to the output of the holding tank. The key here is All of the waste is pumped into a holding tank. When there's no Y–valve between the toilet and tank there is no legal requirement lock a valve or seacock. On the other hand, installing a Y-valve between the head and the holding tank makes one legally required to lock/restrain the Y-valve closed when inside the three-mile limit. Not having a Y-valve before the holding tank gives authorities no reason to get upset. Having a Y-valve before the holding tank poses a risk of an of accidental discharge, and is why authorities do get upset.
That said, a Y–valve downstream of the tank allows you to choose between dockside pump-out and the option of pumping it overboard when legal. Inshore and inland, the tank can be emptied via the deck pipe. Offshore, the tank can be emptied using an electric macerator pump.
SUMMARY: Waste goes to holding tank. Holding tank is emptied via a Y-valve either at the deck outlet or via a macerator discharged overboard below the waterline.
Head Installation
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| Jabsco manual pump identification guide |
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| New Jabsco manual pump |
Not surprisingly, I bought the new pump. Installing the new pump is a simple process and takes about 2 minutes. Even though, Jabsco still provides a nice how video online(see Jabsco support). The marine head now has a nice working manual pump with a fancy twist-n-lock handle.
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| Compartment containing the new Ronco B172 23 gal. holding tank. |
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| Jabsco head with new manual pump installed |
Sanitation Hose Installation
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| The Y-valve and holding tank discharge lines. The hose going up on the left is for the deck outlet, the hose coming in from the bottom is the holding tank bottom discharge, the hose going off horizontally to the right is for the macerator input, and lastly, the holding tank input from the head is seen in the lower right corner of the photo. |
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| Seacocks in the head: 3/4" sink drain, 3/4" head feed, 1-1/2" discharge (shown capped off). In order to facilitate opening and closing of the 1-1/2" seacock, its handle end was later bent 90 degrees midway along the handle so that the handle could pass by the discharge hose freely. |
Macerator Pump Installation
A Jabsco 18590-2092 macerator pump was purchased from CEShowRoom for $115. To simplify hose layout for the macerator discharge, the macerator pump outlet was disassembled and rotated 180 degrees following the instructions from the Jabsco How-to videos. With the macerator pump outlet rotated, the pump was mounted just horizontal of the Y-valve. To complete the install, a 1" discharge hose connected the macerator output to a 1-1/2" seacock and thru-hull using a 1" bronze barb and a 1-1/2" to 1" Marelon adapter. One may prefer to have a bronze adapter, but it is not a concern since this seacock will only be open for offshore holding tank discharges and be closed all other times.
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| New Jabsco Macerator pump 18590-2092. |
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| Macerator pump with 1" outlet rotated 180 deg. |
The electrical connection to the macerator pump was run to the electrical panel using Ancor marine 14-2 gauge duplex wire and connected to a dedicated Blue Sea 20A circuit breaker. At the pump, a Blue Sea 4150 WeatherDeck Toggle Switches was installed in the positive line and mounted just a few inches to the right of the pump. This allows power to be turned on at the electrical panel without turning on the pump. The turning on and off of the pump should be done solely at the toggle switch by someone in attendance for the duration of the operation.
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| Mounting the macerator pump. The macerator 1" discharged is shown still capped off with red cover. |
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| Macerator pump as view aligned with the Y-valve |
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| Electrical connection to the macerator pump |
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| Toggle switch used for operating macerator pump |
Operation of the macerator discharge system requires several steps:
Macerator Turn on Procedures
- open discharge thru-hull seacock
- turn Y-valve open for macerator discharge
- energize power line by turning on the macerator 20A breaker at the breaker panel
- turn on macerator via toggle switch located next to the macerator
Macerator Shutdown Procedures
- turn off toggle switch
- close discharge thru-hull seacock
- turn Y-valve for deck discharge (not legally required, but good practice)
- turn off macerator power at breaker panel
