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We installed the “Natures Head” composting toilet this past weekend. It fits perfectly side to side (read “it is a tight fit”) to get it in the head compartment you take the top section off the bottom section. This is just a matter of unclipping two clips, one on either side of the unit and then sliding the top section left 3 inches or so as you lift it up to disengage the rear hinge. At that point both pieces will easily fit through either of the head doors.
Here is a few picture of the two stainless angle pieces that hold the unit to the floor. The first shows how we marked where to set the mounts. We put the head in place and them made sure that we had room on either side for the crank to turn on the right without hitting the wall and the latch on the left side of the unit to open as well as being able to slide the top to the left when pulling it off the hinge when removing it. Once it was spaced right we took a pencil and just drew a line around the backside of the angle pieces to mark where they went.
We are heading to Valkyr this evening to spend the night.. We are going to try some special laminate paint on one of the laminated counter tops to see what we think of a color change from the original brown laminate to an ivory color. We were looking at replacing the laminate with a lighter laminate but this paint looks pretty good on the demo we saw at home depot and only cost $20 for enough that we should be able to do all the laminate surfaces in the boat with it. We figure that since we planned on replacing the laminate anyway that there is no downside to spending $20 dollars to test out just painting it with this new product. We will let everyone know how it turns out. Scott Ok we got the salon table painted the other day when we stayed on the boat. I’m not sure I would want to do this again while staying on the boat. This is some nasty stuff and you should probably/definitely use a respirator when painting it. However it looks really good. I haven’t been back to the boat yet to see it after it is fully dry but Zsanic says it is doing awesome. She spent the night on the boat last night and got to use it. Sailor the cat ignoring us  Standard wood pattern factory laminate.. ho hum…
Here is a post about boat and head odor that I put up on the downeasteryachts.com website forums in a conversation of how to get rid of lingering odors on boats.
We got into this on valkyr this past week… it was so much worse than just old plumbing. We found a leak in the system that raw sewage had been leaking out of for many many moons.. It was a hazmat style operation to scoop the shit out of the little compartment under the aft end of the vberth where that built in seat is. We found that a decent painting respirator from lowes works wonders for getting up close and personal with shit. After scooping it out and then cleaning the respirator does wonders when you paint the bilge areas 🙂 After cleaning out the leakage we came back the next day and cut out and removed the head, all hoses, fittings and the holding tank. We then did a single rough clean and rinse of the compartment the leakage was in and the big v-berth compartment that the holding tank had been in.
Last week we got a lot done on the boat but also ran into some issues with the plumbing which led to engine issues that led to anchoring issues. See <a http://www.scottcarle.com/wordpress/?p=848 for all the details.
Today I worked up my courage and headed back to the boat to deal once and for all with the malodorous mess that Valkyr’s head system had become. The first thing on was the respirator (this respirator worked great. No odor got through it and when I got to the clorox phase it totally filtered the chlorine out also). After the respirator came the industrial rubber chemical gloves and a dozen 3 mil contractor garbage bags. The next three tools that I used removing everything were one largish flat bladed screwdriver, one set of vise grips and a pair of straight edged shears. The screw driver for hose clamps and prying, the vise grips for holding the nuts on the screws that the pump was mounted with while I unscrewed them, and the shears for cutting through hoses if needed.
This is a preview of Stories of s/v Valkier, DE38: All the shit that accumulates #2 by Scott Carle . Read the full post (1609 words, 0 images, estimated 6:26 mins reading time)
This is a blurb I wrote a few months ago and had saved as a draft. I forgot that I hadn’t published it. So a bit late but here it is.
The reason we went up to the boat for the last few days was to clean her up a bit and get the bilge pump working again. A few months ago the bilge pump had come on continuously and for some reason couldn’t be turned off. I’m not sure that Angela even knew it was the bilge pump as it is a really nice diaphragm unit that sits up in the back of the engine compartment and doesn’t really look like a what you would think a standard bilge pump would. It ran for a day or two before she found out where the noise was coming from. It’s pretty quiet when running dry. Finally she just cut the power line to it to get it to turn off. I think what happened is that the automatic switch went bad or the control panel for it went bad and left it running.
Another project that needed immediate attention was the port hawse pipe on Valkyr. I was walking up to her on the dock and just happened to notice that the hawse pipe was about to fall off. So I pulled it all the way off. I thought some of the rest of you would be interested in how the sides of the boat here are designed. It is hollow up in there.
This was another project from a few months ago.. actually last October.. since then both cowls have been replaced with Nicro Solar vents.
The plastic cowls on Valkyr’s dorade vents had become very discolored and brittle with large chunks broken out.
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