FITTING A JABSCO TOILET TO A HURLEY 20

The Jabsco Compact toilet can be fitted to a Hurley 20. With a bit of care and cutting once combined with measuring twice the Jabsco unit can be engineered into the H20 forward locker without having to chop the pump handle about. In fact it will go in with no modification whatsoever if you utilise a chamfered marine-ply plate cut to follow the shape of the hull. However, if you sand a chamfer onto the base of the Jabsco unit you can wiggle it across to starboard by about ½” or so and get it more central in the locker.

In order to make the whole assembly both rigid but also easy to remove for servicing, the plate will have a hardwood strip attached to the underside of the sternmost face, screws through the ply bulkhead accessed under the floor of the saloon will hold the assembly in a fixed position. At the bow end of the locker a hardwood strip will be attached directly to the forward bulkhead such that to forward end of the new ply plate will slide underneath and therefore unable to move vertically.

Two screws are all that will hold the Jabsco unit in place, but it will be held securely and be easy to remove in a few minutes for servicing. The original locker cover will fit and does not foul the toilet or the lid. I might hinge the bow end of the locker lid so it acts as a fold-up cover rather than a lift out cover. I will have to fettle/lower the plywood bulkhead leading into the saloon to prevent chaffing on the underside of the users legs. Adding material onto the hinged lid to retain the forward saloon cushions when sea toilet not in use.

With the Jabsco unit bolted to the west epoxied Marine Ply plate there is now no flex and itis a rock solid platform. The plate and the Jabsco form a complete standalone assembly that can be removed from the boat by disconnecting the hoses and unscrewing two screws under the saloon floor that are the only fixings holding the marine ply plate into the locker. The thinking behind engineering what was a time-consuming attachment method was to make toilet removal both quick and easy, under 2 minutes for servicing. A quicker method would be to Silkaflex the Marine ply plate directly to the hull/locker. The problem with this approach is the bolts holding the toilet down are inaccessible once the unit is inside the locker. Removal for maintenance would be difficult if this route taken. An extra hour or two spent on the bench in the workshop rather than in the depths of the bilges covered in who knows what...............I know which route I wanted!

Roger

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