Author Topic: Bavaria 40: I fitted an electric Jabsco Comfort toilet  (Read 1438 times)

Krumelur

  • Old Salt
  • *****
  • Posts: 285
  • Karma: +1/-3
  • Boat Model: Bavaria 40
  • Boat Year: 2010
I feel like contributing back to this great forum.  :)

Over the last few days I (successfully) installed a Jabsco Quiet Flush Comfort electric toilet into the aft head of my 2010 Bavaria 40.
Maybe my experience can help others in making the same upgrade in less time and with fewer cuts on fingers and hands.

Things I did and learned:

The toilet is specified at 12 volts, 20 amps. I used 6 square mm marine grade wiring connected to the "F5" auxiliary button on the control panel. This is fused with 20 amps.

The wiring runs from the control panel down to the nav corner seating area, into the starboard aft cabin, along the storage cabinet, under the bed, through the engine compartment, under the port aft cabin's bed, through the port cabin's storage compartment, and exits under the sink in the aft head. I used a total of about 4.5 meters and it can be ran along the existing cables and the heating tube.
Getting the wiring in took me about an hour.

The old toilet was bolted down using 6mm wood screws. There's a wood panel laminated into the base where the toilet is attached to. The old bowl was a regular sized (it's small!) Jabsco. The hose clamps came off easily, no rust. I put nitrile gloves around all hoses and fixed them with tape so no "stuff" would come out.

The new toilet sits centered and all the way back on the pedestal. To fit the new (big) bowl (it's really the size of what we have at home!) I had to invert the lid of the cabinet under the sink. You can flip it upside down but the cutout for locking mechanism has to be move from the right hand side to the left. And of course the stickers need to be flipped :-)
Without the adjustment of the cabinet door the toilet would need to be either moved to the right or installed with a slight rotation. In both cases, it won't be convenient to use because the distances to the left/right will be cramped a bit.

Although Jabsco claims that the mountings will fit the existing mounting holes, that's not exactly true. Because the comfort model is bigger, it cannot be pushed back far enough. This means the mounting facing front cannot be used. Also, I had to rotate the base of the toilet 90 degrees so that the incinerator would face aft.

Instead of using the original wood screws I drilled 6.5mm holes all the way through and installed M6 bolts from below. You can reach that area from the space under the lid of the shower seating bench. Using the right and the back mounting provides enough stability.

The ParMax water pump found its installation location in the area under the shower seating bench. I placed it on the vertical section facing aft. Again, drilling right through (4mm) and using bolts to keep it in place. I did not use all four mounting holes but just two.

Left of the incinerator I drilled an 8mm hole into the cabinet under the sink for the wiring.

The switches are installed right below the sink and are easy to reach.

The hose leading from the incinerator to the waste tank is smaller than the ones used with the manual versions. It's 25mm compared to 34mm. Jabsco includes an adapter.
I had to remove the wood panel covering the waste tanke. This meant disconnecting the water pipes leading to the shower. Also, I had to cut the Sikaflex at the top and bottom of the cover. Then there are 12 tiny screws inside (mostly rusty) keeping the panel in place.
To remove the existing 34mm hose I had to first disconnect the other 34mm hose in front of it, leading from the bottom of the tank to the waste-pump-off opening on the deck.
Using 8cm of 34mm hose from the waste tank I fitted the adaptor and continued with about 2.7m of 25mm hose. It's important to use the smaller hose for optimal pressure.

Operating it makes quite some noise. The water pump is silent but the incinerator transfers vibrations to the hull. I don't think there's any way to avoid this.

The power of the toilet is incredible. I tested using 10 pieces of toilet paper and a plate full of spaghetti. It's all getting sucked out almost like in an airplane's vacuum toilet. I wouldn't want to drop a hamster in there. :-)

Short video of the toilet in action: https://youtube.com/shorts/qkR6GnflO70