PEGASUS's HEAD No topic is more perplexing for me than marine toilets

For those not familiar with Triton's, the head consists of a hanging locker (starboard) and a toilet with the traditional plumbing (port). Federal and State EPA requirements were not even thought of when Pegasus was built so plumbing consisted of 2 through hull fittings with valves and no holding tank. Because Pegasus was used primarily for racing, the head was more of a stowage area for foulies, oil, buckets and any thing else you didn't want flying around the cabin while sailing on San Francisco Bay. At some point in her past, a holding tank had been added however, only holes to support the plumbing remained. The marine toilet had been replaced by a small Port-A-Poti secured by screwing a number of 1"x1" wood blocks around the bottom (I have been told that this mod was made by a person who once owned the boat and used it exclusive for fishing on San Pablo Bay.)

Two valves (1 gate and 1 damaged sea cock) remained along with their respective through hulls. I had difficulty deciding if the through hulls which seemed in good condition, should remain. At issue was the limited number of pump out facilities available in California's Delta and the limited space inside a Triton for a tank large enough to last 2 people 4 or 5 days without dumping. In the end, I removed both thru-hulls; They're easy enough to reinstall if needed in the future.

For the immediate future, we decided to use a Sanipotti model "Portable/Permanent Head" (another name for porta-a-poti) which generally lasts 4-6 days depending on the amount of beer, tea or coffee consumed and overboard dumping should not be a major factor in our immediate future.

The second task at hand was to do something with the badly scarred liner above the head. The original liner on Pegasus was trimmed at the bulkhead with common 2.5" vinyl which was epoxied on. When the vinyl was removed, it left a 1.5" gap between the liner and the bulkhead. In addition, a previous owner had drilled numerous holes in the liner for attaching bolts to the deck. I would have preferred the liner as it would certainly be less maintenance but, the appearance was horrible. So, I paneled over the liner with beaded birch then painted the paneling bright white to match the white formica used throughout the cabin area. The modification turned out ok but, there was still a Porta-A-Poti hiding under the seat :-( I had decided that in the winter of 2004/2005, I would install a marine head. The following photo's are the results of the 2003 winter project.

Before

After

Another feature we did not retain was the hanging locker. We are sweats, shorts or levi type people and rarely (if ever) bring hanging clothes when cruising. Jo and I elected instead to add a small (10" dia), SS sink and a faucet connected to a water pressure pump. Now we do not have to brush our teeth in the galley while fixing breakfast and, it provides an ideal area for a sponge bath while on the hook.

To take advantage of all available stowage space, I cut an access hatch in the lower rear bulkhead of the hanging locker. This area was not made accessible during production. The fore and aft bulkheads were painted with a mildew proof paint (color: Navajo White), while the sink cabinet and lockers behind the toilet were covered with the same satin white formica used in other area of the boat.

2004/2005 Winter Project Installing a Marine Toilet and Holding Tank

I went over every inch of Pegasus attempting to find the ideal location for a holding tank. My criteria was simple: 1) It had to hold at least 10 gallons of waste, and; 2) It had to be as close to the toilet as possible so I didn't have to fill the tank with flush water just to move the waist. By rough calculations I decided the space behind the toilet would provide about 10-12 gallons with minimal plumbing required.

I cut out the plywood cabinet front and made a male plug from 1/8 plywood, fitted it into the selected area with the toilet in it's approximate place. The space provided adequate room for both units to coexist. Because of it's unique size and shape, I felt the tank could be easily built using fiberglass. When completed, the tank came pretty close to the size I needed (actual capacity ended up being 14 gallons.) Photo's briefly show the project in progress.

Location Selected

Finished Tank

Tank Installed and framed in

Manual waist pump location

Pump installed - Cabinetry to follow

Face has 2" fiddle for potential spills

I continued the same color pattern used throughout the boat; Navajo white paint and satin white Foremica. The cabinet above the tank contains a waist pump that, with the addition of a simple ABS street elbow screwed to the waste outlet fitting and a short hose attached, will allow manual dumping overboard if necessary. All plastic fittings are 1 1/2" ABS pipe fittings (painted with white plastic paint.) A tee was used at the tank inlet to allow for removal of the cap and applying high pressure fresh water for clean outs. (Let the sea trials begin :-)