PDQ OWNERS FORUM

We have a questions for everyone with a PDQ: what kind of marine toilets did the PDQ 34s come with?

Our PDQ (#40) has a manual pump head, we believe it’s because the boat was originally put into charter and the first owner needed a simple head that was easy to replace. We’re having problems with the head and so are exploring what the other PDQs had installed at the factory or are using now... Manual heads? Electric heads? By Jabsco, Raritan, other?

The other thing we notice is that there is not a vented loop on our boat between the toilet and the holding tank. All the owner manuals for marine toilets that we find online show vented loops between the toilet and the holding tank - do the other PDQ 34s have this vented loop?

Any information anyone can shed on this top would be appreciated! Thanks!

Paige & Mike Caldwell
Golden, MV#40/2004

The head on Vita Bella MV34 (114) is a Jabsco Electric. Yes ours has a loop and vent,
Located in the forward star board (deck hatch) storage area.

Ours is also a Jabsco electric. Not sure about the vented loop but I am noticing slight odor when the tank is over half full, so plumbing is on my to do list.
A vented loop may be added if it's not there now.

During our boat shopping we looked at at least 8 different MV34's that Rhumbline & Stuart Yacht Sales had and it seems most if not all had the Jabsco electric.

It's good to see you guys back out on the water. Your blog was a great resource for us during the boat buying process. Thanks for all the work you put into it.

Cat Daddy wrote:It's good to see you guys back out on the water. Your blog was a great resource for us during the boat buying process. Thanks for all the work you put into it.

Thank you, Rafe! Nice to know people are reading it and finding it helpful. We, too, are really happy to be back on the boat after a year chasing medical problems. Glad that's behind us - and even happier that we've got cruising plans in our future!

Paige & Mike
Golden, 2004 #40
www.GoldenTrawler.com

Many PDQ do NOT have vented loops on the intake. They are not needed if the lip of the bowl is above the water line (can't siphon). Heads on monohull sailboats are nearly always below the water line.

The simplest cure for a balky Jabsco manual head is the replace the whole pump assembly ($80 Defender). Much easier and more satisfactory than trying to rebuild (a few bolts and swap the whole unit), and the head will be like new for another 5 years.

Regarding odor, try these posts:

Replacing hoses on a PDQ 32
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2011/ ... utton.html

Holding tank vent filters. My filter is going into its 4th year.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2011/ ... ilter.html

If you don't like the DIY filter, I'm currently reviewing the Big Orange OEM filter and it is very nice.

Has anyone changed the Jabsco toilet assembly for the Raratan. Friend on motor yacht did it, and he said quieter, less water..
Roger on Teamwork # 62

Easy Riders (Hull #29) has what may be the original Jabsco head, but I can't see any nameplate info. Saltwater flush. A prior owner converted the manual pump to the Jabsco 29200-0120 electric toilet conversion pump in the photo.

This is a little graphic, so don't read further if you're eating ...

When flushing the head, clean seawater comes out of the rim of the bowl, and as the "material" gets sucked out of the base of the head, brown water comes out of the rim of the bowl, then changes back to clean water as the flushing finishes.

I though this may have been a problem with the pump - it was really noisy. I put in a new pump, which is noisier, and did not affect the issue.

I looked at the pump diagram, and I don't see how any cross-over of intake and discharge water can be happening inside the pump. (I may be looking at it wrong.)

The rim has become clogged, and very little seawater is coming thru (probably has salt build up also).

I'm going to disconnect the seawater output line from the pump, and start feeding thru vinegar and fresh water to see if I can get the rim unclogged.

Does anyone have advice or insights on the "material" cross-over?

hi mike,

i took a look at the doc on the jabsco kit. it is essentially the same parts as we have on the jabsco on our mainship. if that's the case, i've rebuilt the pump before. it has 2 impellers on either side of a ss plate. one impeller sucks the saltwater in and the other pushs the bowl contents out. the fit of the 2 impellers against the plate is what prevents the crap from bleeding back into the incoming saltwater. if it's the same as ours, the output impeller has a set screw to adjust/secure it. jabsco support told me to err on the tight side to prevent the problem.

hope this helps, good luck.

Thanks John ! I'll report back on the results.

John, you are hot on the trail again ! It was impeller related.

My pump set up is a little different than yours. As it turns out, there is a "bleed hose" that connects the waste body to the seawater body, which explains the waste cross-over to the seawater. If I had looked at the exploded view of the parts diagram, I would have seen this,

The problem turned out to be that the flush water impeller had worn a hole in the cork gasket seal, because the pump was missing the metal wear plate over the impeller. This allowed the pump to suck air, I emailed Xylem customer support to see if they can send me a new gasket and the missing wear plate.

glad you figured it out