How to Choose the Best Toilet for Your Boat

How to Choose the Best Toilet for Your Boat

According to founding father Benjamin Franklin, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Ben was a wise man, but he missed a third inevitability: Defecation. Who gets through life without answering the call of nature now and then? Nobody—and when nature calls aboard your boat, you want your answer to be efficient and comfortable, which means having just the right marine toilet. Maybe it’s time to think about upgrading your head compartment with a new one, especially if the toilet you’re now using embraces the technology of yesteryear.

Franklin also said, “Time is money.” So, according to Ben, the less time one spends perched on the bowl, the more profitable the day will be. Replacing your present head with a new model will make your visits to the throne more efficient and likely more comfortable. Life’s too short for a substandard toilet—I said that. Maybe the one that came with your boat wasn’t the best available in the first place—just the cheapest one that would do the job. Maybe it was once great, but is now old and worn out; it wobbles on its mounts, its innards are calcified, it looks (pardon the pun) crappy and it gives your head compartment the ambiance of a bus-station men’s room. Spend a few bucks for a shiny new one that works better, uses less water and keeps your holding tank cleaner and less odiferous.

Whatever type of toilet you decide on, take careful measurements beforehand and check the specs of each candidate to make sure it’ll fit in your head compartment without major alterations. Consult an expert if you’re unsure. There are many models of toilet available in a variety of sizes, so no sense making the job unnecessarily complicated. A little planning goes a long way, and the extra effort will be worth it when you’re enjoying your new throne.

Manual or Electric?

Not so long ago (before 1980, to be precise) we boaters lived in a world free of holding tanks, macerators and Y-valves. Our marine toilets were basically glorified funnels that let us sluice waste overboard without the ignominy of dumping a bucket over the side. Most were pumped manually; an electric head was a real luxury. Back then, Wilcox-Crittenden’s Skipper was the choice of many. Its pump handle was like the stick shift in a Mack truck—came up almost to your waist. The company claimed complete flushing with only a few pump strokes, but in use the rule was twenty strokes of the handle once the bowl was clear to ensure the waste was fully discharged overboard.

The Skipper was a toilet for life—it could be rebuilt over and over, and taught many boat owners and paid hands how to unclog and/or replace a joker valve jammed open by something that should never have found its way into the head in the first place. Like many good things, the Skipper is no longer manufactured, although spare parts are still available. But there are plenty of manually-pumped marine toilets for sale today if you want to go that route. A few hundred bucks will get you a decent model from one of several manufacturers—Jabsco, Raritan and Groco are three well-regarded brands. Raritan’s Fresh Head is a manual toilet that flushes with fresh water from the boat’s tanks—most manual heads use seawater. There are many advantages to flushing with fresh water; read on for more on this. The Fresh Head averages about 3/4 gallon for a full flush, according to the manufacturer.

Some folks still like doing it the old-fashioned way, but let’s be honest: Pumping by hand is so 20th century. If you’re upgrading your head, think about investing in an electric model. Electric heads cost more than manuals, but are also easier for guests to operate—just push the button—so there’s less chance of embarrassing clogs, overflows and other disasters. Electric heads don’t use much juice, so they won’t strain your house batteries unless there’s an outbreak of Montezuma’s Revenge aboard. Electrical connections are straightforward but involve fishing some wires, including to the remote-mounted control; Raritan and Thetford make wireless Bluetooth controls for some of their heads—worth the extra cost, I think. (Thetford’s Tecma E-Breeze not only offers a wireless control, but also incorporates a bidet. It’s designed for yachts over 100 feet, and is priced accordingly.) Most electric heads incorporate a macerator pump that shreds solid waste so the bacteria in the holding tank have an easier time emulsifying it.

There are vacuum-flushed electric heads (think the model on your last Delta flight) that work great and use very little fresh water per flush; Dometic’s VacuFlush is the best-known. However, they need a vacuum generator in addition to the toilet itself, which means they require more space and are more complex to install than a simple macerator-pump electric head. Generally, it’s best to have them installed by an expert. If you can fit a vacuum-flushed head on board, and you don’t mind spending the extra cash, go for it; they’re great. Otherwise, I’d opt for an electric model with a macerator.

How High?

Experts say the best position for easy defecation is squatting, like we used to do when we lived in the jungle. Although squatting makes the job easier, many folks, especially seniors, prefer toilets that are higher, let them sit up straighter and mount and descend the throne more easily. Shoreside, this means choosing a “comfort height” toilet, typically measuring between 17 and 19 inches from floor to seat—that’s 2.5 to 3 inches taller than standard toilets, about the same height as a typical chair. Marine heads are frequently mounted on risers, so take the riser into consideration when deciding on the height of your new bowl. A low-profile bowl on a riser can be as high off the deck as a comfort height terrestrial toilet. If you want a little extra height to your toilet seat, add a couple of inches to the height of the head you now have, and shop accordingly. Every reputable manufacturer of heads makes all the specs available online.

Or you can buy a taller head designed for marine use. For example, Raritan’s Comfort Height Marine Elegance toilet (starting at $1,490) is 17 inches off the sole, about the same as the American Standard throne in my bathroom ashore. Raritan’s Vortex-Vac system creates a vacuum to clear the bowl with minimal water use; a vacuum generator is not required. The user can adjust water volume with a wall-mounted, programmable Smart Control, or with a wireless Bluetooth control that works from up to 50 feet away—convenient if a guest on the head is having problems and needs help through a closed door. (Basic flushing is with a simple side lever.)

But what I like best about the Marine Elegance toilet is its three plumbing options. It can use seawater supplied by a remote pump or be connected to the boat’s pressure-water system and flush with fresh water, using about 1.5 quarts per flush. Those who can’t decide on either of those methods can choose the Sea Fresh option which includes both water sources: flip a switch to use either sea- or freshwater flushing. This is a handy option for folks who want the benefits of freshwater flushing, but who sometimes need to conserve fresh water—when cruising, for example.

Freshwater Flush

Many modern heads can flush with either sea- or fresh water. But what’s the advantage to freshwater flushing, which consumes water from the boat’s tanks? Flushing with seawater worked fine before holding tanks. Who cared how much water it took to flush the head? It came from the sea, went back to the sea. Traditional seawater-flush heads, especially manual-flush models, still use a lot of water (newer electric heads use much less). But using gallons of water per flush will fill a holding tank pretty darn fast. And if that water is seawater, along with waste it also contains algae, bacteria, tiny critters, etc., that will create a powerful odor when allowed to marinate in human waste. If your boat has a holding tank, you already know this. (The environment in the tank breeds bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide, the smell of rotten eggs.)

Freshwater-flushing not only uses much less water per flush, but is free of contaminants and keeps the holding tank less smelly. It also prevents calcium deposits from accumulating in the plumbing, a maintenance issue with saltwater-flush toilets. Combine freshwater flushing with enzyme treatments that introduce aerobic bacteria, which break down waste without creating nasty aromas. Keep the vent line clean so the good bacteria can thrive, flush the holding tank with fresh water often and pump it into the tank through the toilets so the whole system gets rinsed out. There’s no guarantee that flushing with fresh will prevent odors, but they should be much less offensive.

Choose a toilet designed for freshwater flushing, or risk water from the toilet leaking back into the boat’s freshwater tanks. There are ways to plumb a seawater head to prevent this, but why? Just buy a freshwater head. (Some heads, e.g., Dometic MasterFlush, can be used for either.) A freshwater head has check valves and other means to prevent contaminating the freshwater supply. Most freshwater heads use the boat’s pressure-water system, rather than a pump, to supply flush water. No intake through-hull is needed, so you can glass up the one you already have. A solenoid in the freshwater plumbing, usually under the sink, is piped to the head; it’s also wired to the control for the toilet. Flushing opens the solenoid, which directs water into the bowl, which washes waste into a macerator, which grinds up the waste and pushes it towards the holding tank.

Every manufacturer of electric heads, both sea- and freshwater, touts their minimal water usage, typically a quart, maybe a quart and a half, per flush. Don’t believe it: How is that small volume of water going to flush solid waste from the bowl through the discharge plumbing and into the holding tank, unless the tank is located right next to the toilet? You don’t want waste living in the plumbing. I figure on close to a gallon of water per use, often from multiple flushes and I base my water-usage prediction and pump-out frequency using that figure. Manufacturers of low-water-use toilets are welcome to write scathing letters to the Editor, who will forward them to me.

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/maintenance/how-to-choose-the-best-toilet-for-your-boat