Thoughts along the way...

[M. R. Bober]

I--like probably most Cape Dory owners--have long since mastered the repair of the GROCO marine head. If there is one piece of equipment that has been reliably unreliable it is the HC. I have owned and maintained Cape Dorys (CD27, CD330, and CD36) for almost forty years. Each vessel had a GROCO head and each required a surprising amount of attention, in addition to performing poorly, they are a pain.

No scatological humor. It was well over 90F on Sunday when I was rebuilding the damn thing. To worsen matters every fastener is a different size. I used too many sockets, screwdrivers, and wrenches.

FWIW: I have found the easiest way to work on the pump is to remove the whole pump from the bowl and then disassemble the unit.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (Home of at least one master marine plumber.) VA

[tjr818]

Airhead. In six years of use our composting toilet has never failed, backed-up, leaked, or smelled. Pumpouts are a bit different, especially since the club does not do pumpout service,but I would not go back to a holding tank.

[rorik]

Lavac Popular

[North Branch]

Time to go sailing Mitchell! When can we expect you in Onancock?

[gates_cliff]

Glad this thread was started. I was repairing/rebuilding the pump on mine and low and behold there was a crack in the connection for the water intake hose to the pump. I had just rebuilt the thing a couple of years ago and it worked fine, for awhile!

The times I had worked on mine I had taken the pump assembly off as well.

Is there an alternative besides a composting head?

[Frenchy]

I wish there were another alternative too. I don't like pumping waste into the bilge, which is really what the "holding tank"
is in the CD 33 - just a walled off part of the sternmost bilge area. I also don't want to deal with the issues of a composting
toilet either.
If there was a real, separate plastic holding tank I'd feel a bit better. Finding room though isn't easy. For now, I'm resigned to
the original setup. For the head, I switched to a Raritan PH II. It's always gotten good reviews from Practical Sailor and
has been reliable. The new ones come with a telescoping handle which helps a lot entering and exiting the head. - Jean

[Tim Mertinooke]

I ripped out the tank, hoses, and toilet in our CD26 and put in a composting C-Head. After a couple months of use, I have zero regrets. In fact, I wish that I went this route on my previous boats.