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Pegasus LOG

Head
     -No topic is more perplexing for me tthan marine toilets-

For those not familiar with Triton's, the head consists of a hanging locker (starboard) and a marine toilet with the traditional plumbing to port. Federal and State MSD requirements did not exist when Pegasus was built so plumbing consisted of 2 through hull fittings, valves and no holding tank. The head was more of a stowage area for foulies, oil, buckets and any thing else you didn't want flying around the cabin.  At some point in the past a holding tank had been added then removed along with the toilet. A Port-A-Poti was left in their place.

The valves (1 gate and 1 damaged sea cock) had to go however, I had difficulty deciding if the through hulls which seemed to be in good condition, should remain.  At issue was the limited number of pump out facilities available in the California 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" which generally lasts us 4-6 days depending on the amount of beer, tea or coffee consumed.  The necessity for overboard dumping should not be a major factor for our type of cruising.

After a long period of procrastination I decided that the I wanted to enclose the head similar to that of a Bristol Channel Cutter I once saw many years ago.  I think it looks nice and it does have a few pluses;  One, you can not see the head itself;  two, it provides a setting area for wash ups or sponge baths and;  three, it acts like a water tight bulkhead (not that one is needed for a port-a-poti.  However, I do hope to soon install a marine head.) I also paneled over the damaged liner with beaded birch then painted the paneling bright white to match the white formica used throughout the cabin area.

The results in sequence are as follows:

Another feature we did not retain was the hanging locker.  We prefer sweats, shorts or levi's and rarely bring hanging clothes with us when cruising. We elected instead to add a small (10" dia), SS sink and a faucet connected to a water pressure pump and a large water filter.  Now we do not have to brush our teeth in the galley while fixing breakfast.  It also provides an ideal area for a sponge bath while on the hook.