Gould 0738 wrote:
"Best manual head under $500"?

Might well be........but just as I won't bother rebuilding a toilet
where the price of a new toilet is very close to the extortionary
price of the handful of rubber parts and pieces sold for several
dozen dollars, I'd personally look very closely at a VacuFlush before
spending 5 boat bucks on a hand pumper.

You'd spend upwards of $2k before you'd spend $250?


Can't you get into a VacuFlush, (with a brother in law deal)
somewhere close to a geezal?

I have no idea how much a "geezal" is, but installed price (they have to
install it or your warranty is void) of a VacuFlush is upwards of $2000.
Just the toilet--IF you can find anyone who'll sell it out the door,
'cuz they're only sold by "authorized VacuFlush Service Centers," and
SeaLand will cut 'em loose if they catch 'em doing that--is about $1100.

No stinky sal****er in the lines, much longer service on a holding
tank of given capacity,

Almost every toilet mfr--including Jabsco--now makes at least one model
that offer the same benefits and more for 1/3-1/2 the price of a
VacuFlush. You can buy a Raritan Atlantes or the top of the line Jabsco
"quiet flush"--both of which offer even MORE features than the VacuFlush
(muliple flush options including dry flush, full household size one
piece china bowl and pedestal, no components scattered all over the boat
in inaccessible places) for around $800 from any of the discounters and
install it yourself. If you only want a basic macerating toilet that
uses pressurized flush water--about half what a raw water toilet
needs--the Raritan SeaEra, Wilcox Newport, and the Jabsco 37010 series
are readily available for well under $500.

something like one moving part in the toilet
itself,

None actually...at least none that wear...

no water slopping out of the bowl if somebody forgets to "dry
bowl" after using.....

Easily prevented in any toilet--manual or electric--by simply installing
a vented loop in the head intake (it goes between the pump and the bowl,
btw...not between the thru-hull and the pump).

there's a lot to recommend stepping up to a
toilet of that caliber *if* that's where your priorities are. We're
seeing the VacuFlush as a fairly standard item on new boats in the
moderate and higher price categories these days.

The power of advertising and high pressure marketing by SeaLand--and
practically giving 'em away to boatbuilders now because they're feeling
the pressure from other toilets that offer the same benefits for a
fraction of the price, that are readily available at discount from all
the major retailers, and can even be owner installed without voiding the
warranty.

I'm not knocking VacuFlush...it's a fine toilet...I had one on my last
two boats At the time I installed the last one, VacuFlush was the only
game in town if you wanted pressurized fresh water flush and low flush
water volume, but that's no longer true...it's now just the most
expensive by FAR. If I were to buy a boat on which it had already been
installed, I'd be delighted...but no way would I ever spend that much of
my own money on a boat toilet again.

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://www.seaworthy.com/html/get_ri...oat_odors.html