96 Vista head usage

LVChris · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:45 pm

So it finally happened, I was on the lake with no way to "relieve myself" (meaning: to take a pi**) and had to use the head.
That shouldn't be rocket science...

No idea what I was doing, the instructions inside the lid are torn and un-readable, I thought I was supposed to use the shower head and fill the bottom tank, but the hole on the back right side of the tank was so small I was just spilling water everwhere, so I bit the bullet, pee'd in the basin and followed that with water from the shower head. then I pulled the lever on the front and it opened the "drain" and it all went away. To what I hope would be my waste holding tank. It looks like this is a portable toilet, but it has pipes going into the back of it?

Are there directions somewhere? Did I do the right thing? Will my baby stink of urine on Saturday?

Sorry for the "nature" of this question, but I cannot find a real answer anywhere...

pic of my head;

TFD2001 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:42 am

Not 100% positive, as I've never had that setup, but I did have a friend that had a similar setup in his older Sea Ray.. I believe that it sounds like you did ok. I believe the hoses leading away from it will go to a pump out fitting on the side of the boat, and the smaller one is a vent.. My guess is the connection on the back is for a fresh water (albeit small) holding tank located on the toilet for flushing, but running water into the bowl from the sink shower probably accomplishes the same thing.. Pretty sure your "waste holding tank" is located directly on the bottom of the toilet..

TFD2001 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:55 am

http://www.dometic.com/FileOrganizer/1- ... ies_EN.pdf

ric · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:55 am

#1? That's the real reason why swim platforms were invented.

LVChris · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:02 pm

Yes, I searched all day and found the answers. TFD, yes the hoses out the back are a vent and a pump out from the side of her. The filler cap on the back is to put fresh water AND an odor chemical that I now need to purchase. SEALAND MaxControl Advanced Holding Tank Deodorant is what is recommended. The holding tank is the bottom part, and can be manually dumped, or pumped out with this model.

Ric, believe me I also try to use the "swim platform", but my teenage daughter was with me fishing...which she caught two and I got skunked (the student becomes the master, hehe) and that's just not something I would do in front of her.

Thanks everyone, 45 years and I am finally (sani)"pottie" trained!

NiagaraChillin · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:05 pm

I have the same porta-potty in my Sundowner (but without the line hook-ups). The way it works is like this:

The porta-potty is actual 2 pieces, the water tank (on top) and the waste tank (on bottom). There is a sliding lever on the bottom (in the back) that will unlock the 2 halves allowing the waste tank to be removed and dumped.

The cap on the right side rear (as you look at it) is your water tank filler. Thats where you put the water to aid in "flushing". I usually use a 50/50 water bleach mix. The plunger thingy on the left is the flushing mechanism. Your push it down a couple of times and it shoots water into the bowl. The slide out lever in the front you already figured out.

As far as how the pump out stuff works, I don't know, I manually empty mine at the end of the day. Not a pleasant duty (doody hehe), but thats why I put the bleach in, makes it a little better.

If you had no water in your tank and you haven't figured out the drain line/pump out feature, then yes, your baby will smell like asparagus on Saturday.

neutron · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:39 pm

Chris, the base of the Potti is your only holding tank. when pumping out it only empties the base. I Had the same exact setup but since I Trailer it back to my home every trip I removed the hoses and capped off the tank side and also capped the vent on the inside of the hull. This allowed me to reposition the potti in a more useable spot. now the Head smells better

I empty it in my home toilet like I did with my prior cuddys. I fill the upper flush tank with a strong mix of water and pine-sol which works great for rinsing the bowl and making the head smell clean

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:34 pm

FYI, bleach and Pin-Sol in the water will eventually ruin the seals on the valve to the holding tank, which could result in "the smell" not being contained in the holding tank. Granted, the valve and seal replacement is cheap, but can be avoided by useing a holding tank deodorizer that is meant for portable toilets. They are a special blend of biodegradable ingredients that control odors without formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, salts or other harsh chemicals. Breaks down waste and tissue, which bleach or household cleaners will not do. And it will also clean your tank.

NiagaraChillin · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:44 pm

Cap'n Morgan wrote:

FYI, bleach and Pin-Sol in the water will eventually ruin the seals on the valve to the holding tank

Good tip, something I didn't think about....

neutron · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:24 pm

used pine-sol for 4 years with last boat never had any issues. not really worried, its only a five gallon base to the porta-potti and after I dump it I fill, shake, and rinse it a few times and it looks spotless inside. I dont need to worry about breaking down the tissue and waste for space cause we rarely stay out more than a few nights at a time before she is back in the drivway.

Paul I. · **Posted:** Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:25 am

I had the same setup in a older boat that I had. I had the Harbor Master pump us out after 3 or 4 uses. It never did smell, but I never used bleach or pinesol. One time I had to empty it out at home. To cap those 2 hoses, well I vowed never to do it again. I would have to pumped out, keep the hoses on. OR keep them off and empty it myself. The blue stuff will stain & the other stuff, well you know. So be carful!

bndfishing · **Posted:** Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:13 am

I'm sorry but if you're going to have a boat like this KNOW HOW THE DAMN THING WORKS! It's your job as the owner/captain of the boat to know how every single system on the boat functions and how to give instruction to everyone else on how to properly use it. If this is a new to you boat, you get 1 weekend to learn the essential systems (water and head) then you better learn the electrical system. Go to the Four Winns site and look up the older user manuals, start tracing pipes, look for caps marked "waste" and "water" it looks like you have a waste tank, find it. You must have a pump out port, find it. Go to the pump out, add water to the port and pump it, then fill with water and pump it again, then again until you are confident you know how large it is and how to pump it. Get to know your boat, every bolt, seam, creak, sound, RPM, if you don't want to then sell then sell it and stay home. Sorry to sound hard, but I am sick and tired of the people who don't learn their systems, this stuff isn't that hard, the head is the easy stuff. If you pissed in it and it didn't come out of the boat or dump on the floor it went in a tank, start taking up panels until you find it then figure out how big it is. You can't have a boat and just expect to go out and have everything work, you will need to know how it works and how to fix it because it is going to break.

NiagaraChillin · **Posted:** Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:32 am

The great thing about this forum is that people can come here and ask questions to learn things they aren't too sure about. Here is an example from a couple of years ago:

bndfishing wrote:

I was replacing my batteries today because 1 went bad. I am still trying to figure out how the batteries are isolated so I had the battery switch set to OFF disconnected 1 battery flipped the breaker and the internal systems came on. I reconnected the battery and disconnected the other flipped the systems breaker and all the systems came on. So now it looks like the 12v systems draw off of both batteries. Now I am confused and wondering if my starting battery is really isolated from the house battery. Anyone have any thoughts?

Guess that guy (ahem, that would be you) didn't KNOW HOW THE DAMN THING WORKS! Instead of apologizing for "sounding hard", you should just let Chris learn from the answers to his question, and perhaps pass the knowledge gained to another with the same problem. Geez.

neutron · **Posted:** Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:39 am

bndfishing wrote:

" it looks like you have a waste tank, find it. .

Like I said he does, it is the 5 gallon base to his "porta-potti" those two hoses go from the base tank directly to the through-hull fittings. Most 238s came with either a removable potti or a pump out version of a porta-potti

joet · **Posted:** Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:51 am

bndfishing wrote:

I'm sorry but if you're going to have a boat like this KNOW HOW THE DAMN THING WORKS! It's your job as the owner/captain of the boat to know how every single system on the boat functions and how to give instruction to everyone else on how to properly use it. If this is a new to you boat, you get 1 weekend to learn the essential systems (water and head) then you better learn the electrical system. Go to the Four Winns site and look up the older user manuals, start tracing pipes, look for caps marked "waste" and "water" it looks like you have a waste tank, find it. You must have a pump out port, find it. Go to the pump out, add water to the port and pump it, then fill with water and pump it again, then again until you are confident you know how large it is and how to pump it. Get to know your boat, every bolt, seam, creak, sound, RPM, if you don't want to then sell then sell it and stay home. Sorry to sound hard, but I am sick and tired of the people who don't learn their systems, this stuff isn't that hard, the head is the easy stuff. If you pissed in it and it didn't come out of the boat or dump on the floor it went in a tank, start taking up panels until you find it then figure out how big it is. You can't have a boat and just expect to go out and have everything work, you will need to know how it works and how to fix it because it is going to break.

What an A**!!!

www.iFourWinns.com

96 Vista head usage

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