Airhead in CD 31?

[jen1722terry]

Jenn and I are the proud new owners of CD 31 #33. It has the original, or at least an older, marine head. We are intrigued by the composting heads that are available. Our question is: has anyone installed a composting head in a CD 31? We ask for the level deck where the current head is mounted is triangular shaped and rather small. Any advice anyone can offer will be most appreciated.

Jennifer and Terry McAdams
Kearsarge, New Hampshire
Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
"Glissade" - CD 31

[tjr818]

We have installed the AirHead in our CD27. The shelf in a 27 is quite small and the Airhead fit with only a little help required. The wet waste receptacle hung over the self a little too far for our liking,so I had to extend the shelf with a piece of teak about two inches wide. Our only problem is that the AirHead is quite tall, a short crew member would appreciate an extra step.

[Martha Lei]

Hi
considering replacing the old head on a CD 30,how do you like it and besides the height issue any other problem?

[tjr818]

Well . . . no through hull required, no hoses, no smell, no holding tank, no pump outs, you can use all of the TP you want and any brand. If you have several beer drinkers aboard you will have to empty the liquid receptacle more often and some have hooked that up to the old through hull to drain directly overboard. The only downside is the height and taller sailors actually prefer it.

[Martha Lei]

thank you Tim
just checking
I am sold on it
I am still on survey/escrow stage so did not post much,just crossing fingers all is well.
But the surveyor noted the need to repair the Raritan installed and truly last time I did that in my other boat I was not let's say happy doing that.
take care

[jen1722terry]

Hey, what a great boat, the 31. Of course we're biased, as we own one also. Like all the CDs, solid comfortable and easy on the eyes.

Pasted in below is an old post about our Airhead.

"Granted, we are full-time live-aboards for 3 months at a stretch, so the composting feature is meaningless and we've had to vary from the instructions to avoid leaking. The solids tank fills up long before any meaningful composting occurs. We empty the tank every 3-4 weeks.

Ocassional users may have better results with the composting, which can take several months.

What we do like is that we plumbed the liquids tank directly into our holding tank, which gets pumped out, or over board (if legal), every 3 weeks. Much less holding tank odors with liquids only and no need to manually dump a small liquids tank every few days. The liquids hose needs to be cleaned of mineral deposits every year."

We're heading into our fifth summer with the Airhead. Yes, once and awhile you have to get cozy with your pooh, but judicious use of peat moss makes the process bearable. We don't at all miss clearing head-clogs at sea and frequent pump outs.

We did build a star board deck for the Airhead to sit on and to give users a foot rest for the higher-than-normal head. Easy enough to do. We also keep a sprayer of diluted vinegar and spray the bowl after each use, which quells odors really well. Also, the head noise is very low, just the solids crank after a #2. No flushing to wake off-watch crew.

You do want to ensure that the head mounting brackets are stout and secure..

That's about all we can think of.

Jenn and Terry

[Martha Lei]

Jenn and Terry

thank you very much,somehow lost track of your reply,agree CD are a just a beautiful set of sailboats both a joy to look at as well as sail.
Have owned and cruised a Tartan 34 1978 and now back on cruising mode wanted a good looking/safe/seagoing vessel.
Thank you for your pointers, on AirHead.
Have it installed but need to come up with a solution to provide more support on the front of the unit,more likely yours will work.
Question on venting,the only easy way is to use the existing dorade but will void a nice air intake,did you use it or drilled (horror) another hole?
thanks
David

[jen1722terry]

Hi David.

Very, very sorry to be so late in responding to your question about our Airhead installation on our 31.

For us, installing the vent hose was fairly easy. The prior owner had replaced the dorade vent over the head with a mushroom vent. The base of the vent was close to the size of the vent hose fitting that comes with the Airhead. We simply drilled a few more holes to attach the mounting ring and gasket for the vent hose. We ran the wire up for the little fan through a piece or flexible hose, which makes it easier to remove the hose and clean it (a once-a-year thing.

In heavy weather, we try to close the mushroom vent as much as possible to keep water away from the fan. Still, some water invariably gets to the fan. After six seasons of use, the fan still runs. We carry a spare just in case.

For additional head venting, we try to keep the portlight open as much as possible.

We're still happy with the Airhead. As we mentioned before, no composting takes place for us summer live-aboards. We fill the solids tank way too soon for the multi-month composting cycle to run its course.

Again, sorry for the delayed response.

Jenn and Terry