Y-Valve Replacement: When “Easy” Projects are Difficult

By Arnie Hammerman

For the most part I enjoy working on projects aboard my boat. That said, some projects are less fun than others. When it comes to marine sanitation repairs, I think we all are less enthusiastic. Some repairs seem easy, and they are…until they are not.

The Problem and Getting Started

My 1990 Sabreline 36 has two hand pump Raritan marine heads. There is a central holding tank which we always use, but since our vessel is older there are also overboard seacocks below the sinks that normally remain closed. A Y-valve in each head directs discharge to the holding tank but can also be set for overboard discharge. Since we don’t use the overboard the handle rarely gets turned. 

To keep the Y-valves functioning I turn the handles and open the accompanying seacock pumping seawater through them occasionally. When I turned the Y valve handle recently in the aft head it made a cracking sound and began to slightly drip. Luckily the holding tank had been pumped recently and some sanitizer put in the tank since it was winter, so the system was clean and empty but I clearly broke it.

At this point I could have, should have, would have, contacted a marine sanitation company, but as an ex-charter captain that has had to deal with snitty situations before this repair seemed pretty easy and the tank was clean! Plus, with prices going up I’m trying to keep boat expenses down right now. So, I pumped the head completely dry into the holding tank, made sure both the seacocks were shut, and started making calls to find a replacement valve. The local chandlery had a similar Bosworth Y-valve, but it wasn’t the flush mount kind so to get an exact replacement I had to drive 30 miles into Seattle. Marine Sanitation and Supply is a local company that specializes in these things and is run by some very helpful ladies who had the exact part that I needed in stock.

Back on the boat, I unscrewed the cabinet face where the old valve was flush mounted. The Phillips head bolts that attach the faceplate went through a piece of the cabinet and then into the valve body where nuts held it all together. Getting a needle nose on the nuts to unscrew these was tricky enough while unscrewing them but would be near impossible to reattach. There was enough room to accommodate wing nuts which I would purchase for easier reassembly.

I now had the valve and the three hoses all exposed. Knowing the hoses could be stinky I laid down plastic bags on the cabinet ledge and the floor, put my tools in the adjacent shower compartment, and got a bunch of rubber gloves and paper towels ready. I backed off the double hose clamps and tried to pull one of the hoses off the old valve. Even with a hose pulling tool it wasn’t budging. I got a heat gun out and warmed the hose, still nothing. After much prying, pulling, and cussing I came up with a new plan. I had enough hose, so I cut each hose off with a hack saw. This worked just fine and I had the defective valve off! There wasn’t even much liquid in the hoses, so I temporarily plugged them with paper towels.

I know, I bet you were expecting a poop explosion story but no.

The hose that led to the holding tank seemed fine and so was the one headed to the seacock overboard but the hose between the head and the valve wasn’t great. It is not that it was super stinky, it just had a crust of calcification on it constricting the hose. Probably best to replace that hose since it only went a few feet to the head itself.

Removing the Head

The head was clean, but I sprayed Lysol all over it and the platform it sat on anyway. I then disconnected the intake water hose which was already shut off at the seacock and unscrewed the bolts to remove the head. Lying on the floor of the compartment hugging a toilet isn’t that much fun, but so far, so good.

I also unbolted the discharge elbow at the back and left it attached to the hose, hoping with the head out of the way I could get that hose off without having to use the hacksaw again. I hefted the head out carefully past the bed in the aft cabin and onto a contractor bag in the salon at the top of the steps with a grunt. My dog Callie gave me a look from her perch on the couch that clearly stated she thought I was insane. She is pretty used to boat projects but even she knew moving the toilet seemed extreme. While working on these projects I try not to get too worked up or cuss too much around her because when I do, she doesn’t like it and tries to comfort me by licking my face. This usually occurs when I am in the engine room with the salon floor hatches open. I’ll be checking something below and bump my head, start cussing and stand up in the open hatch when I get the kiss attack.

Back to the hoses! I managed to get the discharge elbow out of the crusty hose by twisting it back and forth which was a lot easier than pulling on it from behind the head. The elbow had some calcification on it too, so I sprayed it with the obligatory Lysol and placed it in a zip lock bag to clean on the dock with a hose later. The Lysol helps with the residual smell but in the tight quarters the fumes seemed to be getting me a little high. Note to self: I probably should be wearing a mask.

I now maneuvered the calcified hose out back into the cabinet with some prodding and pulling. After measuring its length, I cut a piece of new hose to replace it. I earlier bought four feet of duplicate white marine sanitation hose figuring I might need it. This project was going great so far. I can’t say that getting the hose through the tiny little hole under the toilet platform and placed back to the valve was easy, but I managed it without too much drama, although I did cut my finger on the end of a hose clamp sticking out. I took off my gloves, washed the cut on the back of one of my knuckles thoroughly with soap and water, then wrapped it with a clean piece of paper towel and put a new rubber glove over it to hold it in place. I would have to deal with a better treatment later.

Now I got the new Bosworth Y-Valve out and started putting the hoses back on, careful to make sure they went on in same spots. I had used a sharpy to mark the hoses earlier, but it was pretty obvious. The hoses with their freshly cut ends went on pretty easily which seemed odd given that the old hoses had so tightly adhered to the Y-valve that I couldn’t get them off without cutting them. I slid the double hose clamps back down and cranked them as tight as I could. Now everything was rigged back the same way with a new hose replacing the crusty one between the valve and the head.

The Head

In the salon I carefully inspected the Raritan PH2 head under the watchful eye of Callie who still wasn’t sure she approved of this project. These manual marine toilets have been around a long time and have proven to be reliable. They have a handle and pump assembly to the right of the bowl with a valve at the front that you set to let the water in and out. Open the valve, prime some water in, do your business and then, after pumping the bowl and the lines clear to get everything back to the holding tank, you then turn the valve to dry and pump the remaining water out. 

Simple and effective, this head seemed to work fine but I had noticed a little water backing into the bowl lately. I have been debating about replacing one or both of these heads with an electric macerator version which I had on my Cutwater but decided to keep this head for now as electric conversion would be a more intensive project and the goal here was to fix the Y-Valve. Looking at the flapper valve at the base of the pump I saw some of the familiar calcification, so I knew the prudent thing was to rebuild at least part of this head.

Digging through my spares I finally found the rebuild kit which I knew I had. I like to carry these on board just in case things go awry. Under Callie’s watchful eye I got another contractor bag out to cover the teak and holly sole in the salon where I was working. With rags and tools laid out I began dismantling the pump section of the head. The flapper valve at the bottom of the pump is designed to pull waste from the bowl on the upstroke and then seal off on the downstroke where it is then expelled through the joker valve into the waste hose. 

I replaced both of these valves as they seemed to need it but held off on rebuilding the entire head. That may have been a mistake, but the rest of the components seemed to be in good shape and the head previously worked. I now hefted the partially rebuilt head back into place earning Callie’s approval for getting it out of her salon.

I now wrangled the head into place and got a few bolts down to hold it from moving. I had cleaned the discharge elbow dockside and secured it to the hose and proceeded to bolt it and the protruding hose back onto the head. Not the easiest job but after a few tries it was secure. The intake water line is on the front attached to the head’s control valve so that was easy to reattach.

Boat Repairs Rewarded with Dog Kisses

Walla! Everything back in place the system should now work. After opening the intake Seacock and checking that the Y-valve was set to the holding tank, I started pumping the head. Immediately seawater started leaking where the joker valve and discharge elbow were attached so I crawled back onto the floor and tightened the bolts further. 

This is difficult because it is on the backside of the head and there is barely room to get the wrenches in place. While still lying on the floor, I started pumping again. The seal at the head was holding but at the Y-valve all three hoses were clearly leaking, I must have started swearing because Callie was down the stairs from the salon standing on top of me and licking my face.

“OK, OK I know, I am fine,” I reassured her while pushing her 75lb weight (she is a shepherd mix) off me and urged her back into the cabin.

Now with Callie watching from outside the head to make sure I was OK, I backed off the clamps from around the Y-valve and tried to remove the hoses, but they were stuck. I dared not swear but I wanted to. There really wasn’t enough hose to cut them off again so I got out the heat gun and heated the hoses until I could pull them off, banging my raw knuckled hand in the process.

“Ouch!” Followed by another Callie kiss attack.

Now I heated the ends as thoroughly as I could with the heat gun, put them back on, and cranked the hose clamps down using a socket wrench. They slipped. So Callie and I went off to West Marine down the street and bought some very expensive PYI solid hose clamps.

“That should do the trick,” I reasoned to myself as we got back on board.

After more knuckle bashing, I finally got all the old hose clamps off, heated the hoses again, and cranked down the new solid hose clamps. It still leaked! Callie tackled me again turning my litany of curses into laughter as she attacked my face with dog kisses.

So I called my friend Ronnie, an experienced customer service expert at Bellingham Yacht Sales the local Cutwater and Sabre/Back Cove dealer. He had a great tip. The heat gun was the right idea but it is hard to get the hoses pliable. Dipping the hose ends in boiling water softens them up more uniformly. I drank a quick beer for composure, cut the top off the can, and filled it with boiling water and within reach of the Y-valve.

Back in the head I pulled the hoses off again with the aid of the heat gun, which was getting more difficult—a good sign, no doubt. After contorting the hoses around to warm their tips in the boiling water I snugged them onto the Y-valve and cranked down my expensive solid hose clamps.

I wish I could say Ronnie’s trick worked perfectly but there was more cussing and Callie kisses to be had. Two of the three connections to the Y-valve were now secured and not leaking but the third still dripped no matter how tight I clamped it.

This went on for a while. I can’t really tell you how many times I tried and failed. I would go down to the boat, boil some water. Fight with the one hose to get it off the Y-valve, clean everything up, warm the end, and tighten it down but it kept leaking slightly. I tried thread seal tape to build up the attachment point in varying thicknesses. 

Nope. I thought about calk but finally, decided to use Rescue tape, not to cover over the leak although this rubbery self-amalgamating tape would likely have worked. I built up the barbed section of the Y-valve with it to the point that the hose wouldn’t even go on so I cut it off and applied less of it. It was still tight so after heating the hose in boiling water I lubed it up with Vaseline and worked it slowly on. After cranking the hose clamps down to where they compressed the softened hose I gave it one more try. It worked! Callie and I danced around the cabin.

Sometimes easy boat projects aren’t so easy, but Callie and I were able to spend a lot of time together hanging out on the boat, so I can’t complain. I like to think of my boating journeys as cruising to exotic places but that is not always what it is about. Occasionally lying on the floor of the head compartment swearing and laughing while your dog licks your face can be just as rewarding, especially when you finally get the darn thing fixed.