toilet winterizing

[wmfels]

ok heres one. was winterizing my 38 my today didnt get to the toilets yet, but there is a 3/4 to 1" hose supply line is that fed from the fresh water tank? or holding tank? the toilets have an electric motor on the bottom , not sure what kind to call them, thanks

[jmencel]

The supply line will likely be attached to a thru-hull fitting rather than your water tank. The other hose will go to the holding tank. Make sure you put pink stuff into your head and pump it so it will flow into your holding tank which should have been pumped out for storage.

About the engines ... if the water intake lines are too difficult to pull off the strainers to get your engines done you can always use the strainers themselves. If you go this route, open the top and suck out the water (shop vac) sitting in them. Close the thru hull. Then fill them with the pink stuff. Next get a tupperware plastic top and cut it in a circle so it just sits over the strainer opening. Then cut a hole in the middle you can just put a piece of garden hose through, and duct tape the hose around the hole so its sealed. Then duct tape the circle with the hose going through it to the top of the strainer. So now you have one end of the hose in the strainer ... put the other end in a big jug of the pink stuff and start your engine. Not pretty ... but it works. Once you are done, use your shop vac to suck out the pink stuff still in your strainer...

[wmfels]

i dont have strainers on engine intake, i dont think anyway, unless youre talking about the screens on the outside under hull, my hoses connect right to the shutoff valves...are the strainers those big metal contraptions connected to the shutoff valves? i noticed them on some other thruhull fittings like my onan and i think the watermaker

[jmencel]

the strainers look like large cast bronze cans beside the thru-hulls. They will have 2 wing nuts on top to open and pull out the screen inside. Each engine should have its own strainer. The onan should have one as well ... although it might be this strainer is like smaller and could be on its side rather than than opening on top.

[wmfels]

the engines definately dont have them then , the hose connects right to the shut off valve, but the onan has one, and some other thru hulls have them as well

[REBrueckner]

wmfels..is yourr boat in the water or hauled???

If in the water, to be safe, you need to get antifreeze in the smaller supply line to the toilet (likely 3/4" hose), the toilet mechanism itself, as well as the likely larger discharge hose....And if in the water, you'll need to shut off intake and outlet seacocks to trap the antifreeze in the supply and discharge lines....

[wmfels]

no its hauled, just came to minnesota from the keys. the toilets are locked up so i took em out blew the supply lines out which go to thru hull fittings, the discharge hoses have valves to allow for overboard discharge or holding tank discharge, so il have the marina check the holding tank, or i guess i could turn on the macerator when someone is walking by...lol anything that is in there is atleast 7 yrs old since boat hasnt been lic. since 03

[Trojan]

no its hauled, just came to Minnesota from the keys. the toilets are locked up so i took em out blew the supply lines out which go to thru hull fittings, the discharge hoses have valves to allow for overboard discharge or holding tank discharge, so il have the marina check the holding tank, or i guess i could turn on the macerator when someone is walking by...lol anything that is in there is at least 7 yrs old since boat hasn't been lic. since 03

OUCH !

You need to get the tanks pumped out and the overboard discharged disconnected. That's a ticket in most areas.
I disconnect the fresh water hose to the head, add a short length of hose to a jug of cherry juice and use the head pump to suck the cherry juice through the head. I use about a gallon in each head. The excess helps the ice in the holding tank.

BILL

[wmfels]

"i did not know dat" but thats the least of my worries, the cops up here on the st.croix river are so busy with the rich drunken yuppie idiots with too much money , which means waayyy too much boat for them, theyre the ones that cause all of the accidents. but i can just close the seacocks and flip the levers to let it go into the tank.

[ppat324]

Ideally, the Y valve is supposed to be locked and the seacock closed with the handle removed. The basic pretest here is to dump uranine (dye) into the head and flush. If any green dye appears outside in the water yer pinched. That will cause the poilet cops to dive under the floorboards for a look-see. Every boat is different and the chances of some punk figuring the system out is pretty low... ws

http://www.abbeycolor.com/uranine.php