Sea toilet sea cock. Open or closed when underway? Daft question time!

[prv]

For those who don't believe me ask what the the rag and stick guys with same setup do when the wind gets strong and the waves grow big.

I make sure that the washbasin seacock is closed, because if we heel right over on port tack the sea starts to spurt up the drain. I don't worry about the toilet at all though - the sea would almost be flooding over the edge of the cockpit before it could get over the loop in the plumbing. Maybe a bit slops over the top in hard conditions, I don't know, but if so the toilet valves are sufficient to hold that back.

Our toilet seacock is never closed, only exercised occasionally to stop it seizing up.

However, as I said in my first post, I don't know much about fast motorboats and I can see that smashing into the sea at 20knots might well force water up the spout. I'd have expected one of those aft-facing scoop fittings in that case, but I don't know what's normal in the mobo world.

Pete

 

[A_8]

PS. shit shouldn't be able to push up through the air drain as A. should be relatively high B. there's a carbon filter somewhere in between which I'm not sure is happy to let fluids through it...

Have fun cleaning that if you accidently overfill the holding tank.

 

[A_8]

I make sure that the washbasin seacock is closed, because if we heel right over on port tack the sea starts to spurt up the drain. I don't worry about the toilet at all though - the sea would almost be flooding over the edge of the cockpit before it could get over the loop in the plumbing. Maybe a bit slops over the top in hard conditions, I don't know, but if so the toilet valves are sufficient to hold that back.

Our toilet seacock is never closed, only exercised occasionally to stop it seizing up.

However, as I said in my first post, I don't know much about fast motorboats and I can see that smashing into the sea at 20knots might well force water up the spout. I'd have expected one of those aft-facing scoop fittings in that case, but I don't know what's normal in the mobo world.

Pete

I was never worried the boat would sink because of it however the backflow water would be not be clean and in a powerboat at speed that water would sort of rumble around in the boal and on occation spill over which would make things not so nice.

 

[Tucepi]

I had a Sealine F36 for over 8 years before moving to sail and they are a great boat. Regards closing sea cock for the head... Well I never did. And if on a 8 hour passage and you want to use them it is far easier and we never had any problems with the bowl filling up with water or anything else. Good practice to close them if leaving the boat.

 

[SnaxMuppet]

I always close sea cocks when not needing to be open. I take the view that there is little benefit to having a hole in my hull open when it could be closed on the basis that a hole could potentially let in water and I don't like the idea of water inside the hull!!

 

[TheOrs]

I have the same set-up as the OP. If I forget to close the sea cocks I get a little water in the bowl, so I close them when underway. I'm not worried about sinking; I just don't relish the idea of any of the 'water' spilling out onto the carpet in rough seas.
I don't mind doing this as it exercises the sea cocks; something which you should do regularly anyway.

 

[snowbird30ds]

I have an old RM69 seabogheads thing and if anything it empties when underway at any speed, I always shut the lid though as you just know where your toothbrush will end up in a lumpy sea.....

 

[chrishelen]

Its HEADS bloody heads, not bloody sea toilet.

I was told off by a yachties last year for saying I 'drive' boats for a living. ..You HELM a boat dear chap he told me. I suppose he's right, but I have never met a professional skipper yet that uses the 'correct' terminology.

Btw it's not a silly question. But for what it's worth I always close ours when under way and only open when in use. Always have done, and always will.

 

[Ian h]

I have no holding tank and in the hand book it says to close the seacocks whilst underway,

They are on the list to be changed this year as they have become too stuff to move and age unknown. They are currently in the open position and I find that underway the water is sucked out of the bowl and left dry

 

[dj43]

Having just replaced all the rubber hoses on our tecma toilets ,and seen that a rubber flap acting as a check valve holds the water back, glad we have never travelled with sea cocks open, always diverted to holding tank, lots of places we have visited Holland etc you are not allowed to discharge into waterways or marinas which I think is a good thing, holding tanks come in all shapes and sizes no excuse for not having one.

 

[Firefly625]

I have no holding tank and in the hand book it says to close the seacocks whilst underway,

They are on the list to be changed this year as they have become too stuff to move and age unknown. They are currently in the open position and I find that underway the water is sucked out of the bowl and left dry

well Ian it maybe depends on the speed of your craft! lol

Ours... cruising speed 11.5knots.

We do have a holding tank, we leave seacocks open under way, there is a long run of pipe from the heads to the seacock which travels up about level with the top of the hull. Never noticed any increase or decrease in water level before or after trip.. never really thought about it, however use under way would be a nuisance if had to access seacocks before and after use. We do always have shower drain pump left on so I guess if it did overflow it would be pumped straight out... and no fluffy carpets in our heads to get wet.

 

[benchmark]

This is how I manage mine .
My habits may be strongly influenced by the fact that my first boat did it have a HEAD.

My current boat is not big by many standards , hardly a self sufficient unit as it is just between 8-9 meters.
Both intake and discharge seacocks remain closed unless the toilet it is to be used irrespective of if we are moored or underway , lucky for me both seacocks are easily accessible to open or close by just lifting a hatch.

For the record, I also have a holding tank but the lever is almost always on bypass mode , set to if you flush it discharges out of the boat. Believe it or not, my holding tanks in the 2 boats I have had which had them have never contained anything more than 'Nr 1' and we have never had to use it for Nr 2.........yet.
My boat is primarily used my 11 year son and me , so when we are at dock we use the dock conviniences if needed. We have kinda gotten used to the boats toilet is only for emergencies or the rare occasions that we have small children on board.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Its HEADS bloody heads, not bloody sea toilet.

No call them toilets it isn't the navy also normal people don't have any idea what a heads is

Also port and starboard what is that all about it is left and right in my world not because I don't know it is her indoors that don't know and I am fed up telling her

 

[[2068]]

Slightly old thread, but an update.
I think leaving the sea cock open is only sensible if you are 100% confident about the condition of the pipework and the kit upstream of that sea cock, although I generally have it closed.
In the case of a boat without a holding tank, that's a hose leading to a loo.
If you have a holding tank, chances are the next thing upstream is the macerator pump.

If that's a Jabsco Macerator Pump built before 2015, then I'd suggest that replacing the standard studs and caps with the new style stainless steel screws is a really good idea.
Mine was leaking: I undid one cap screw, and the whole thing came apart in my hands :ambivalence: :ambivalence:

Now fixed with a service kit and the SS screws.