Sailing Maintenance: Upgrading to an Electric Toilet on our Sailboat - Ep. 238

Sailing Maintenance: Upgrading to an Electric Toilet on our Sailboat – Ep. 238

This week, our journey finds us in the tranquil waters of Marsh Harbor and there’s a practical reason for our choice; we’ve got a list of small boat projects lined up for Zephyr, and what better place to tackle them than right here with the convenience of a hardware store just a leisurely walk away? Nat’s got a few things she wants to do inside the boat, and the big one, the huge one that’s going to change our lives here on Zephyr is we are going to put an electric toilet head in. So, we’re not replacing the whole toilet; we’re just putting a conversion kit in.

I’m Natalie, and this is James, and this is our home, Zepha. We have been sailing around the world for the past 4 years, and now we have got a couple of stowaways on board – meet Flint and Kira, two puggy W Mariners that are joining the adventure. Subscribe and Welcome to our Channel, Sailing Zea.

Hello, everybody! We are in this beautiful setting here which is gorgeous. I bring the pups over here at low tide so they can have a run. Um, and I wanted to introduce this week’s video because it’s a little bit different to what we normally do – we are going to be doing some maintenance at anchor on the boat boat. We normally wait till we get to um the Boatyard either in the US or wherever we’re going to be and then we do all the boat work, but there’s some stuff that we are going to be doing, things we have been neglecting poor old Zepha for a while now.

Episode Overview

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1. Removing and replacing carpet tiles on Companion Way stairs
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2. Cleaning the bottom of Zephyr at anchor in clearer waters
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3. Installing a Jabsco electric toilet conversion kit in the main salon bathroom

Main Steps

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1. Toilet Removal: Disconnecting all hoses, unbolting, and separating the toilet into different parts.
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2. Pump Installation: Mounting the strainer, sump pump for showers, and connecting it to the saltwater inlet. Installing the electric motorized toilet pump with vibration dampeners in place.
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3. Electrical Work: Wiring for the pump, connecting switches, and configuration of the switch panel. Testing that the pump is working, the motorator fired up and connected properly.
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4. Toilet Assembly: Trimming hoses, installing the adapter from large to smaller pipe size, drilling holes in the base for mounting, connecting two hoses, bolting toilet to the top, adding the cover, and giving it a test run.

Conclusion

The end result of all this hard work is an efficiently operating electric toilet. James reflects on how it feels like such a luxury after having worked hard for so long to get rid of waste on their sailboat, and the relief of finally getting everything completed is palpable in their excitement.

The transformation of the boat and their sailing lifestyle shows just how much impact simple upgrades can have. They take time to appreciate this victory and look forward to future projects together. If you would like to support us or be a part of the journey, become a patron by going to the link below, or hit that subscribe button for more amazing updates.