Ericson 26 Head Problems

Hello all. Two months ago my wife and I became the proud owners of a 1985 Ericson 26. The bones of the boat are good, but I am finding that the PO didn’t do routine maintenance. This site has been great for the research before we bought the boat, and for the maintenance that I’ve done since.

After fixing numerous diesel leaks, the next challenge is the head (yes, the diesel smell beat out the head smell). I think I have vent issues because the head won’t flush without water in the sink, and then a few minutes after flushing and pumping to the holding tank, the system “burps” and the bowl fills with grey water. Suffice to say, the odor isn’t pleasant.

I have two questions: 1) am I on the right track with the venting? And 2) where did Ericson place the through-hull for the toilet intake (fill)? Or is there not one, and it uses the fresh water?
Thanks to all for any help.

John
Niantic, CT

Hi John,

Your head sink drain and water supply for the head might be the same troughhull. The documentation for Ericson 26 plumbing under "Resources" is a little hard to see and I don't think there is anything indicating the head water supply. Does the head sink drain? Do you have any photos of the plumbing?

Mark,
Thanks for the quick response. I did find the raw water intake through-hull locate up by the instrumentation through-hulls.

The head sink does drain. When I flush the the head, there is a vacuum through the sink drain (I sealed the opening with my hand). With that closed, the restriction, water flows into the bowl.

I found what I believe to be the holding tank vent. It is a 1/2" dia. clear flexible hose that connects to a through-hull opening just below the deck in the head. In looking elsewhere on the web, I see comments that the vent line should be 1-1/2" dia. Is this flexible hose common?

I will try and get photos this week.

Thanks again,
John

John

I have a 1983 25+, the hull of our boats are about the same, however the decks are quite different as is the rub rail (deck/hull joint). It sounds like the PO has made some plumbing changes. I will describe the layout of the E25+ head. A 16 gal head holding tank under V berth, 1-1/2" hose from head to top of tank. A 3/4" thru hull next to the tank supply sea water to the head pump. A 1/2" clear vent tube from the tank to a thru hull vent fitting, just below the rub rail stbd. side fwd. The sink gets its water from the water holding tank, 1/2" clear tubing. the sink drains thru its own thru hull. There is no conection between the head/sink on my boat. Good luck.

Rich
s/v Breeze

The raw water intake for the toilet and the drain for the head sink share the same thru-hull. The thru-hull seacock is located at the base of the v-birth and is accessed through a covered porthole. I think that the exterior vent for the holding tank is located on the starboard side of the hull near the top in the painted area of the hull.

You might want to check to make sure that the vent is not obstructed.

The only problem we've had with the head is that the sink sometimes won't drain. The usual cause is that we forgot to open the seacock, but sometimes it won't drain or drains very slowly with the seacock open. There must be a vapor lock or something in the line because we've found that using a very small toilet plunger in the sink gets it draining immediately and the problem doesn't show up again for quite awhile.

Captain Don
E26 - Gitana