Calling all Lavac owners

Bilge Rat

Bilge Rat

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Hi everyone......... We have just returned from our summer cruise and being in Scilly used the holding tank all of the time, that was the start of our problem.

We have a Lavac sea toilet which is original to our boat and therefore dates back to 1979. We encountered a problem with one of our Lavac toilets.... a blockage "yuck!" which was bad enough but after disassembling and dealing with the issue we managed to damage an obviously brittle run of outlet pipe. Once we removed the outlet pipe that connects the Lavac to the pump we came across something interesting. The outlet pipe was connected to the toilet itself via a strange (hand made in appearance) fitting in plastic which was partially tapered for the Lavac end and parallel at the point the hose connected. This has been fixed in place with a gallon on sealant which had obviously "gone off"

We have been on the Lavac site and our model must be so old it is not listed.
as our toilet is a single piece with no base and the design of the outlet appears to required a male fitting of some description.

What was on looks like a "bodge"

Does anyone have a Lavac of similar vintage and can advice on what the correct fitting looks like? And if we get that far where we may be able to get hold of a replacement.


Thanks........ The blockage occurred on my watch and so this nightmare will not be over until I have fully resolved.
 
Bilge Rat said:
Hi everyone......... We have just returned from our summer cruise and being in Scilly used the holding tank all of the time, that was the start of our problem.

We have a Lavac sea toilet which is original to our boat and therefore dates back to 1979. We encountered a problem with one of our Lavac toilets.... a blockage "yuck!" which was bad enough but after disassembling and dealing with the issue we managed to damage an obviously brittle run of outlet pipe. Once we removed the outlet pipe that connects the Lavac to the pump we came across something interesting. The outlet pipe was connected to the toilet itself via a strange (hand made in appearance) fitting in plastic which was partially tapered for the Lavac end and parallel at the point the hose connected. This has been fixed in place with a gallon on sealant which had obviously "gone off"

We have been on the Lavac site and our model must be so old it is not listed.
as our toilet is a single piece with no base and the design of the outlet appears to required a male fitting of some description.

What was on looks like a "bodge"

Does anyone have a Lavac of similar vintage and can advice on what the correct fitting looks like? And if we get that far where we may be able to get hold of a replacement.


Thanks........ The blockage occurred on my watch and so this nightmare will not be over until I have fully resolved.
Click to expand...

is the device a diverter valve
 
Strange fitting is just a hose tail and tapered fitting for the toilet itself..... It looks like maybe what what there originally was recreated by a previous owners from a plastic plumbing fitting.
 
Yep, a piccy is required. We have a 1978 boat with (I assume) the original Lavac so I can compare if you like.

Are we cousins - which bilge are you from?
 
Lavacs of about that vintage were made of powder coated aluminium. They discontinued them because of problems with the coating blistering.
Perhaps the original fitter had a problem getting the correct size pipe to fit the spigot and bodged it with a reducer / adapter fitting.
I suggest go back to basics and get a length of correct size pipe and start from scratch. It's not a pleasant job, you'll need lots of hot water, extra expletives and counselling afterwards. However having the correct pipe makes it easier than cobbling.
 
DanTribe said:
Lavacs of about that vintage were made of powder coated aluminium. They discontinued them because of problems with the coating blistering.
Perhaps the original fitter had a problem getting the correct size pipe to fit the spigot and bodged it with a reducer / adapter fitting.
I suggest go back to basics and get a length of correct size pipe and start from scratch. It's not a pleasant job, you'll need lots of hot water, extra expletives and counselling afterwards. However having the correct pipe makes it easier than cobbling.
Click to expand...

Lavacs in the late 70s/early80 had powder coated aluminium bowls?? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? I'v had several boats of that era with Lavacs and they have all been what appears ceramic . Always willing to be educated tho'
worthy.gif
 
clyst said:
Lavacs in the late 70s/early80 had aluminium bowls?? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? I'v had several boats of that era with Lavacs and they have all been what appears ceramic . Always willing to be educated tho'
worthy.gif
Click to expand...

The seventies ones at least did.I used to race a "75 Contention33 that had one.My "80 boat has a ceramic bowl.
 
clyst said:
Lavacs in the late 70s/early80 had powder coated aluminium bowls?? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? I'v had several boats of that era with Lavacs and they have all been what appears ceramic . Always willing to be educated tho'
worthy.gif
Click to expand...

Well I fitted one in my Stella in 1978 /79. It was definitely powder coated aluminium. It blistered on the outlet within a few months and they sent a new bowl. The new one blistered on the rim, stopping it sealing. Another new bowl followed [in fact they sent two], which was fine until we sold the boat 20 years later.
Lavac never argued about replacement and I understood that it was a known problem and they stopped making aluminium bowls soon after that.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for comments which I have only just read as I was the one who forget to take either of the power leads for the netbook with us to the boat this weekend. D'oh!

Our Lavac is definitely a one piece ceramic design. We've just found out that the model is a "super Lavac" if that means anything to anyone. It is definitely discontinued and Blakes (Sea-sure) no longer have spares for it.
The connection for the inlet pipe is a spigot...... nice and simple but unfortunately the fitting for the outlet hose is not a spigot and I'm at a loss to know how to accurately describe it. There is a partially protruding stub ( formed in the ceramic) but this is the wrong size for the 38mm hose and the wrong shape to work as a male fitting for any hose as the stub tapers to nothing at the base. As a temporary job I fitting new hose onto the reworked adaptor and applied a general helping of silicone sealant............... That allowed me to finally clear the bowl etc and seal the system. I will leave the seacocks off and prepare for round 2 next weekend

I will take piccies of the Lavac and weird hand made adaptor to take the hose and post again as soon as I can.

Thanks everyone!
 
Last edited:
Bilge Rat said:
Hi everyone, thanks for comments which I have only just read as I was the one who forget to take either of the power leads for the netbook with us to the boat this weekend. D'oh!

Our Lavac is definitely a one piece ceramic design. We've just found out that the model is a "super Lavac" if that means anything to anyone. It is definitely discontinued and Blakes (Sea-sure) no longer have spares for it.
The connection for the inlet pipe is a spigot...... nice and simple but unfortunately the fitting for the outlet hose is not a spigot and I'm at a loss to know how to accurately describe it. There is a partially protruding stub ( formed in the ceramic) but this is the wrong size for the 38mm hose and the wrong shape to work as a male fitting for any hose as the stub tapers to nothing at the base. As a temporary job I fitting new hose onto the reworked adaptor and applied a general helping of silicone sealant............... That allowed me to finally clear the bowl etc and seal the system. I will leave the seacocks off and prepare for round 2 next weekend

I will take piccies of the Lavac and weird hand made adaptor to take the hose and post again as soon as I can.

Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

Would it not be less hassle for you to upgrade the bowl to the more modern one which has a plastic base with outlet spiggot (sized for 1 1/2" hose) all in one peice?
There are 2 models of the newer type, cant remember their names but I did see them on the web.
Otherwise you could use a diamond burr in a drill, remove the glaze on the outer surface of the spigot and use epoxy to afix or shape a more suitable spigot, silicone will eventually give way to the vacuam created by the pump and result in leaks.
C_W
 
Clyde_Wanderer said:
Would it not be less hassle for you to upgrade the bowl to the more modern one which has a plastic base with outlet spiggot (sized for 1 1/2" hose) all in one peice?
There are 2 models of the newer type, cant remember their names but I did see them on the web.
Otherwise you could use a diamond burr in a drill, remove the glaze on the outer surface of the spigot and use epoxy to afix or shape a more suitable spigot, silicone will eventually give way to the vacuam created by the pump and result in leaks.
C_W
Click to expand...

Only (an improved version of) the Popular now available. The Zenith has been discontinued although spares for it are still availble.

There is no guarantee that the lid and seat assembly from an old one will fit a new bowl. I think it would be wiser and probably cheaper to buy a complete new toilet, excluding the pump, rather than all the bits an pieces separately.
 
I fear VicS has it right again. I had a coated alloy bowl on my 1973 Pentland when I bought it & the outlet was blocked for solids by puckered up coating. I bought a replacement Zenith bowl at the then eyewateringly high price of 50 squid. Fortunately my lid & seals transferred. The new "Popular" (a misnomer if I ever heard one) has different fittings to the "Original" or "Zenith" models & will require new lids & seals. Bought individually this lot will cost about 3x the cost of a replacement loo.

Lavacs are marvellous toilets & extrememly reliable, but the parts cost is downright wicked. I suppose you could always buy a bronze Baby Blake for £3k.
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
Is the Lavac the best type to have when fitting a holding tank or are other loos more suitable for some reason?
Click to expand...

I don't think they're either particularly good or particularly unsuitable. I have heard it said that they use less water (so don't fill the tank so quick) but I'm not sure I believe it.

I am a fan of Lavacs, so in your position I would certainly keep it.

Pete
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
Is the Lavac the best type to have when fitting a holding tank or are other loos more suitable for some reason?

I don't think the type of head has much to do with the holding tank. But the Lavac (I own one) is considered the most reliable manual head. Rather than a piston pump with flapper valves it uses a bulkhead mounted diaphram pump that will not clog as easily and needs a lot less maintenance. I gave up on Jabsco type heads, giving away for next to nothing the 2 I owned. The Lavac has been faultless.
Click to expand...
 
The flushing instructions for the lavac recomment up to 16 strokes . I'd thought that is a fair amount of water thro' a large Henderson pump .
 
clyst said:
The flushing instructions for the lavac recomment up to 16 strokes . I'd thought that is a fair amount of water thro' a large Henderson pump .
Click to expand...

A significant proportion of those 13-16 strokes is just pumping air out to create the vacuum that pulls in the flushing water.

See page 18 et seq at http://www.blakes-lavac-taylors.co.uk/pdf/lavac.pdf for details of using a Lavac with a holding tank
 
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