Tips for Choosing the Best Marine Toilet for Your Boat
Space, water and energy are all at a premium on a boat, so if you don't choose the best marine toilet for your boat, you could be throwing away your hard-earned money with the wrong solution.
If your marine toilet is now a bucket that is emptied overboard, be careful – you may find yourself breaking the law. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's discharge standards require it to be at least 12 nautical miles from the nearest land before untreated waste is collected at sea.
Your options are
1) always wait and rush to the toilet block when the boat hits the ramp
2) keep the waste on the boat and empty it into the sewer when you return to land
3) install a toilet and carry the tank on your boat and pump it to the land-based facilities.
Types of Marine Toilets
There are three main types of toilets which can be used as a marine toilet. The simplest are portable toilets or toilets in which waste is transferred from the boat.
If the idea of taking your waste to a dumpster (and emptying it with the utmost care) doesn't sound like the way you want to end your weekend, then you're looking for a pump-action toilet. A flush toilet can be manual or electric and requires either 12 volt or 24 volt power on your boat.
The third option is to use a portable camp toilet on your boat. The Portaloo, or cassette, toilet is compact and can easily be moved around the boat and packed away. These are perfect for small trailered boats that don't have space for a fixed toilet or only need a toilet for a few trips.
Manual Pumping of Marine Toilets
This type of toilet is manual because the user needs to flush the unit.
Advantages
- It is cheaper than an electric toilet
- There is no need to manually empty the toilet like a portable toilet
- Does not require a power supply like electric toilets
Disadvantages
- More expensive than portable toilet
- Requires a stable position on the boat
- Includes mounting and possibly a privacy screen
- The toilet must be cleaned manually
- Adds approximately 10 kg of weight to the boat
- The cost of pumping the reservoir in the marina
Electric Pumps for Marine Toilets
The electric marine toilet mounted on the floor of a boat is the closest solution to a domestic toilet. There is no flushing like a manual toilet, so all the user has to do is press a button to flush the bowl.
Pros
- Availability of the amenities of a home bathroom on your boat
- Easy operation with the push of a button, so cleaning is quick and easy
- No need to empty manually
Cons
- Requires stable position on boat
- It involves installation
- Adds about 20kg to the boat's weight
- Cleaning noise can be noisy
- The cost of pumping the reservoir in the marina
- High Price
If you're thinking about installing an electric toilet for boat, we recommend the Jabsco Standard Electric Toilet. There are two sizes to choose from. The large version has a seat that is the same size as the house seat while the compact version has a smaller seat. Both sizes have 12-volt or 24-volt power options.
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