Pot of Gold
Ok, I know it’s just a toilet, but come on. A $1200 bronze throne should work. What a travesty. I tried. I wanted it to work, I wanted it to be as good as every dollar hinted it could be, and we tried. Weeks and weeks on anchor. In the end, I had to pay the marina a $5 fee to dispose of the thing. In hind sight I knew the designer was a mad man, or possibly a devious devil. Let’s review.
At first glance it looks like a regular toilet. But don’t be deceived. Using it requires flushing it. Stay with me here. You have to take a handle from some mounting place, on the wall nearby, and insert it into a jack point. If you have ever used a jack to lift a car up and change a tire you know exactly what I’m talking about. But this is just the start.
It would be acceptable if, handle inserted, you could just pump it up and down and that would be the end of it. Never mind why the handle isn’t just attached to the toilet, or why it’s necessary to insert and then remove the thing. A toilet needs water to flush. I didn’t make up this rule and I’m not sure any man did. But without water, well, it just wont work. And on this amazingly expensive work of art, what do you think you need to do to get that water delivered to the right place at just the right time?
Understand that I’m not making this up. You can check online yourself.
As your right hand is holding the jack handle and pumping up and down, you need to lift your left foot up and push down on a lever at the base of the thing. Now, understand, this is designed for a boat. You know, a moving, floating, rocking thing? So, right hand pumping, left foot off the ground to open a valve, this is how you must operate the damn thing.
I’m a gadget kind of guy and for the life of me the only reason I can think of that someone would design such a travesty is for the joy of the frustration it would cause the rest of us.
If you have never had the pleasure of using a K toilet I’m not sure you can understand. My advice? Don’t. Please, just don’t.
Find another toilet (Jabsco), that has a built in handle (Jabsco), and a small lever to add flush water (Jabsco). At a fourth of the price why would you mess with anything else? Did I mention that to service the other thing you have to remove the entire bowl and disassemble the pump? Stupid.
I can buy an entire Jabsco pump assembly for about a $100 and change it in 10 minutes.
Whew, glad to have that out of my system.
Let’s talk about water.
It’s been a dry year so far for the Gulf Islands. Really dry. When we came into Ganges Harbor they warned us the water to the dock could be shut off at any time, and it was. You could still shower and do laundry, but you couldn’t fill your boat tanks up at the dock. Luckily, we did find a way to fill our tanks, and then we headed to Montague Harbor. It turns out that they not only had a dock water restriction, but showers and laundry were shut down as well. I wonder how much business they have lost because of the water shortage?
We are fortunate to carry several weeks of water and can pick and choose where we will be when we need to fill up.
Sumer Heat
On the Oregon coast many people who learned of our sailing plans asked if we were heading south to warmer climates.
No one here in Canada asks that. Why? Because it’s warm here, too warm at times. The sun is hot and drives you to find shade wherever you can. Throw in the reflected light from the water and you could crisp up a turkey by setting it on the deck. Thank goodness it wont stay this way!
Ok, I know it’s just a toilet, but come on. A $1200 bronze throne should work. What a travesty. I tried. I wanted it to work, I wanted it to be as good as every dollar hinted it could be, and we tried. Weeks and weeks on anchor. In the end, I had to pay the marina a $5 fee to dispose of the thing. In hind sight I knew the designer was a mad man, or possibly a devious devil. Let’s review.
At first glance it looks like a regular toilet. But don’t be deceived. Using it requires flushing it. Stay with me here. You have to take a handle from some mounting place, on the wall nearby, and insert it into a jack point. If you have ever used a jack to lift a car up and change a tire you know exactly what I’m talking about. But this is just the start.
It would be acceptable if, handle inserted, you could just pump it up and down and that would be the end of it. Never mind why the handle isn’t just attached to the toilet, or why it’s necessary to insert and then remove the thing. A toilet needs water to flush. I didn’t make up this rule and I’m not sure any man did. But without water, well, it just wont work. And on this amazingly expensive work of art, what do you think you need to do to get that water delivered to the right place at just the right time?
Understand that I’m not making this up. You can check online yourself.
As your right hand is holding the jack handle and pumping up and down, you need to lift your left foot up and push down on a lever at the base of the thing. Now, understand, this is designed for a boat. You know, a moving, floating, rocking thing? So, right hand pumping, left foot off the ground to open a valve, this is how you must operate the damn thing.
I’m a gadget kind of guy and for the life of me the only reason I can think of that someone would design such a travesty is for the joy of the frustration it would cause the rest of us.
If you have never had the pleasure of using a K toilet I’m not sure you can understand. My advice? Don’t. Please, just don’t.
Find another toilet (Jabsco), that has a built in handle (Jabsco), and a small lever to add flush water (Jabsco). At a fourth of the price why would you mess with anything else? Did I mention that to service the other thing you have to remove the entire bowl and disassemble the pump? Stupid.
I can buy an entire Jabsco pump assembly for about a $100 and change it in 10 minutes.
Whew, glad to have that out of my system.
Let’s talk about water.
It’s been a dry year so far for the Gulf Islands. Really dry. When we came into Ganges Harbor they warned us the water to the dock could be shut off at any time, and it was. You could still shower and do laundry, but you couldn’t fill your boat tanks up at the dock. Luckily, we did find a way to fill our tanks, and then we headed to Montague Harbor. It turns out that they not only had a dock water restriction, but showers and laundry were shut down as well. I wonder how much business they have lost because of the water shortage?
We are fortunate to carry several weeks of water and can pick and choose where we will be when we need to fill up.
Sumer Heat
On the Oregon coast many people who learned of our sailing plans asked if we were heading south to warmer climates.
No one here in Canada asks that. Why? Because it’s warm here, too warm at times. The sun is hot and drives you to find shade wherever you can. Throw in the reflected light from the water and you could crisp up a turkey by setting it on the deck. Thank goodness it wont stay this way!
RSS Feed
