Jabsco Manual Loo hose replacement becoming a saga

[stranded]

Spent best part of yesterday wrestling to replace the 38mm waste hose on our Jabsco loo. Wasn’t looking forward to it because I thought it might be a mucky job, but had no idea how bloody difficult to manipulate the cheap white sanitation hose is - arms are literally bruised from hand to shoulder - seems like I should have read here first and gone for the nice squidgy butyl type.

Anyway, after a futile couple of hours trying to get the last joint over the seacock tail without being able to address it directly because the hose was slightly offset by the toilet bowl, I removed the bowl. Those in the know will doubtless be chuckling as they will know that when I had undone the last nut and dislodged the bowl the bolts fell tink, tink, tink, tink into the jabsco base unit. Flip! So now I have lovely new shiny hose but a toilet bowl I can’t refit. I really don’t want to remove the base unit as I fear the same will happen with those bolts and I can find no way to access the underside to refit them, which to me looks like it means ripping the whole heads apart. But before I depress myself contemplating that prospect, is there a trick worth trying to retrieve the bolts from within the base unit - I can see them all sitting there- perfectly aligned, winking at me. I have thought maybe a piece of rod with superglue on the end to pull them through and slip the nut down?

Help - please!

 

[pcatterall]

If its just getting them out then even a dab of grease on a stick will lift them or, of course, the indispensible magnetic extending rod which will be in your tool kit ( or are they stainless?).

 

[bobgoode]

Too late now but for future reference ASAP Supplies do an extra flexible, sanitation grade hose that makes the job a doddle. Expensive but worth it

 

[nickf]

My base unit (on a beneteau) is held down by self tapping stainless bolts into a wood base which is under the fibreglass floor so I had no problem in taking the base unit off.

 

[capnsensible]

Have had the misfortune to repair stuff on marine heads loadsa times. Now I always use a cheapo Lidl hot air gun to warm the hose before popping it on- or getting the old one off. Just takes a little bit of care to not overdo it.

 

[stranded]

Thanks for the replies all. Yes, stainless. And there are heads down within the base, with the threads sticking up and very little exposed to screw the nut onto, so I really need something to pull uo the thread end and get a nut on tight enough so the head will hold by friction while I tighten them, unless there is a nice bolt shaped recess in there, then just enough to get the nut on the thread. Grease not strong enough I fear. Any glue might do it?

 

[peteK]

A blob of butyl tape on the end of a stick its very sticky.

 

[Daverw]

I have in the past super glued the lost end of the bolt onto a piece of bar that allows the bolt to be pulled up and the nut slip down the bar to then be tightened onto the bolt, only works of course if the bolt has not fallen over

 

[simonfraser]

'seems like I should have read here first and gone for the nice squidgy butyl type'

ask the 'dumb' Q on here first

 

[FlyingGoose]

Have had the misfortune to repair stuff on marine heads loadsa times. Now I always use a cheapo Lidl hot air gun to warm the hose before popping it on- or getting the old one off. Just takes a little bit of care to not overdo it.

Always do this with my hoses
re hosed the whole boat with the 38mm ribbed pipes 2 heads and 3 entry in holding tank, plus diverter valves and Y tubes
it is a pain to move around but it does go and a good heat will allow it to stretch over the conections
Butyl hose much easier but runs in much more money if doing a big job

 

[stranded]

Think if I can retrieve the head and not turn it into a sail locker I am going to rip out the white stuff and replace with the butyl - life is too short to have a hate relationship with your bog when often it is the only place to find peace for a few minutes each day.

 

[Plum]

Spent best part of yesterday wrestling to replace the 38mm waste hose on our Jabsco loo. Wasn’t looking forward to it because I thought it might be a mucky job, but had no idea how bloody difficult to manipulate the cheap white sanitation hose is - arms are literally bruised from hand to shoulder - seems like I should have read here first and gone for the nice squidgy butyl type.

Anyway, after a futile couple of hours trying to get the last joint over the seacock tail without being able to address it directly because the hose was slightly offset by the toilet bowl, I removed the bowl. Those in the know will doubtless be chuckling as they will know that when I had undone the last nut and dislodged the bowl the bolts fell tink, tink, tink, tink into the jabsco base unit. Flip! So now I have lovely new shiny hose but a toilet bowl I can’t refit. I really don’t want to remove the base unit as I fear the same will happen with those bolts and I can find no way to access the underside to refit them, which to me looks like it means ripping the whole heads apart. But before I depress myself contemplating that prospect, is there a trick worth trying to retrieve the bolts from within the base unit - I can see them all sitting there- perfectly aligned, winking at me. I have thought maybe a piece of rod with superglue on the end to pull them through and slip the nut down?

Help - please!

What material is that base unit? Just drill four new pilot holes 20mm to one side of the existing ones and either screw the heads(loo) down using stainless coach screws ( big self tapers) as in post 4 or tap a thread into that base unit and screw in. Leave the old bolts where they are

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[LadyInBed]

How I would lift a nut
Source a long bolt and nut with the correct thread
Lightly oil the long bolt
Run the new nut up the long bolt
Apply some wood glue or Gorilla glue to the end few threads of the long bolt
Carefully insert the long bolt down into the hole till it meets the lost nut
Apply some down pressure on the long bolt and slowly screw till you feel the two mate
Lift the long bolt till the lost nut meets the under side of the hole
Screw down the new nut till it is tight on the top side of the hole
Leave till glue has set
Unscrew the new nut
Gently unscrew and extract the long bolt
Clean the long bolt
One down three to go :nonchalance:

 

[stranded]

Beautiful. But it’s the bolts I need to retrieve.

Btw. In case this one runs, what is the other end to the head of a bolt called?

 

[VicS]

Beautiful. But it’s the bolts I need to retrieve.

Btw. In case this one runs, what is the other end to the head of a bolt called?

Dont know. , Give up. What's it called ?

Are you sure you cannot remove the screws holding the base down to the plinth, or whatever it sits on. If there is no access ( a removable panel perhaps) there are not likely to be hidden nuts

 

[LadyInBed]

Beautiful. But it’s the bolts I need to retrieve.

Btw. In case this one runs, what is the other end to the head of a bolt called?

Shit!
Just looked at IPB, can't you put your fingers / long nose pliers into the hole in the middle and pull them out / feed them back up?
If you can, put some thin wire or tape round them above the hole to stop them dropping. You can pull out the wire or tape when you have a nut on.

 

[VicS]

Shit!
Just looked at IPB, can't you put your fingers / long nose pliers into the hole in the middle and pull them out / feed them back up?
If you can, put some thin wire or tape round them above the hole to stop them dropping. You can pull out the wire or tape when you have a nut on.

The hole in the middle is where the waste goes. The bolts are not in there they have fallen into the space under the base. When assembling the toilet they are accessed by turning the whole thing upside down. The only way of now getting at them is to remove the base from the plinth, or whatever it is mounted on, and then refitting the bowl onto the base

See this Jabsco Tech video at 2.01

 

[stranded]

Dont know. , Give up. What's it called ?

Apparently, it is the chamfer.

 

[RichardS]

Are you sure you cannot remove the screws holding the base down to the plinth, or whatever it sits on. If there is no access ( a removable panel perhaps) there are not likely to be hidden nuts

That sounds most likely to me Vic. If there is no access panel then the nuts will surely be glassed in or will be screwed into a helicoil/tappex type of fitting in the grp/ply, if not even just self-tapped.

Richard