[It’s a press release, of course, but the concept makes sense to me. Any of our talented Navagear readers have experience with marine toilets that can use either fresh or seawater? —Tim]

While conserving freshwater is important, sea and lake water and the small organisms that come with it can cause heads to stink. SAIL magazine recently honored the Sea/Fresh Marine Elegance from Raritan with its annual Pittman Innovation Award. This revolutionary marine toilet is able to switch effortlessly between the two water sources using a patented water selection system. Owners can flush with seawater to conserve onboard water, as well as rinse the bowl with fresh before leaving the boat for a few days or when traveling in dirty water. It’s also now available in four new bowl styles: tall and standard with either a straight or angled back and color choices of white or bone.

Featuring Vortex-Vac Flush technology, the advanced Marine Elegance provides the quietest, most efficient flushing action of any comparable toilet on the market. Ensuring a sound night sleep for guests aboard, it performs at a noise level of less than 63 decibels.

Offering a sleek, one-piece vitreous china bowl and full-size toilet seat, Marine Elegance delivers a streamlined presentation and is easy to clean. Specially-designed holes under the bowl rim deliver superior rinsing capabilities with less water. An innovative discharge loop helps eliminate odors and permits the bowl to hold water similar to home toilets.

Employing a heavy-duty motor coated with epoxy paint, the powerful head can pump an amazing 10′ vertically and 100′ horizontally. A built-in shredder with stainless steel blades breaks waste up into small particles to reduce clogs. Making installations in tight spaces possible, the incredibly compact head has a simplified mounting system and choice of straight or angled back, ensuring a contoured fit.

An attractive, programmable Raritan Smart Flush Control provides four convenient flush options to conserve water and extend the useful capacity of the holding tank. The wall-mounted control enables the Marine Elegance to be flushed normally, with a low-water option or with an empty-only function. It also allows water to be added to the bowl before use.

Available in 12 and 24V versions, the suggested retail price of the Sea/Fresh Marine Elegance from Raritan starts at $1,360.

Head on over to C2134 (upstairs, in Electronics Alley) to see a demonstration of an electronic fuel spill prevention device called, appropriately, the Fuel Spill Guard.

Ken Wallenberg gave me the run-down, and it’s a convincing display. These units, manufactured locally on Whidbey Island, provide both visual and audible warnings that your tank is full, and they also include overflow tanks for additional spill prevention. Very cool.

Check out the website at http://www.fuelspillprevention.com to see the product line, including options for single and dual tank situations.

In my previous posts on this topic (see especially Refill Disposable Propane Cylinders and How to refill disposable propane cylinders), one obstacle keeps recurring: It might be illegal!

First, let’s be clear: The (typically green) 16.4-oz disposable propane cylinders under discussion are designated “DOT-39 NRC 232/290”, and they come with this warning:

Federal Law forbids transportation if refilled – penalty up to $500,000 fine and five years imprisonment (49 U.S.C. 5124)

I’m no lawyer, but this is a pretty straightforward English sentence: A federal statute says you can’t transport them. You need to look a little deeper, though.

Title 49 of the US Code, entitled “Transportation”, has as it’s stated purpose the following:

The purpose of this chapter is to protect against the risks to life, property, and the environment that are inherent in the transportation of hazardous material in intrastate, interstate, and foreign commerce.

As I read it, it is NOT illegal to refill them, under Title 49 of the US Code. But it is illegal to transport them commercially. Some state or local laws may apply, of course, and again, you should prob’ly check with a real criminal defense attorney! I’d be very interested in hearing about any prosecutions of this law, of either private or commercial entities. Anyone? Anyone?

Civil actions, of course, are a completely separate matter: Anybody can sue anybody for anything, whether a law was broken or not, to seek redress for damages. Navagear reader and über-fan Robert Meyer brought a civil case to my attention in the comments section of one of those earlier Navagear posts. Robert tells us about a civil (CIVIL, not CRIMINAL; some folks are confused about the distinction) case involving a fatality related to propane cylinder refilling. Anybody contemplating refilling these cylinders needs to be aware of this tragic case.

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I don’t know much about this system, but I DO know how difficult it can be to get the last bit of pooled water out of a bilge. I’d be very interested in feedback on this product or its competitors. Please use the comments to share what you know with the rest of the class!

On with the press release:

Boaters would rather spend time enjoying the water than waste it cleaning out their bilge. Allowing moisture to collect down below can result in mildew infestations, unpleasant odors and costly damage. Arid Bilge Systems automatically removes water and keeps the area bone dry, leaving more moments for cruising. Ed Mahon of Sandy Hook Marine Services in New Jersey, recently installed Arid Bilge Systems’ Series 4 in his customer’s Sabre 32 Express, with tremendous results.

"These boats have fairly shallow bilges so water always pools," said Mahon. That can easily lead to problems down the road. "My customers trust me to take care of them and want to be able to just start their engine and go. This system better allows them to do that." Mahon installed the system, turned it on and returned the next day. "Literally, every drop of water was gone. I’m very impressed with the product and so is my client."

Creating a more pleasant onboard environment, Arid Bilge Systems’ Series 4 is a vacuum drying system that utilizes multiple pickups placed in the bilge compartments to remove moisture. It features single-point discharge and pumps a maximum of 10.2 gallons of water per hour.

"This was my first install, but the directions were clear and I received an accurate estimate of how long it would take from Arid Bilge Systems," continued Mahon. "I’ve worked with my customers for years and they trust me to take care of their boat like it was my own, which is why I recommend Arid Bilge Systems to them."

Eliminating wet vacs and bilge diapers, an Arid Bilge System measures 15" H x 6" W x 7.5" D and weighs only 16 lbs. Alkon push-lock fittings and Mazzer polyethylene tubing are used to attach the central unit to the remote pickups.

Captain Richard Rodriguez of the BitterEnd blog responded to a Mayday call up in the San Juan Islands earlier this week, and while the original event itself was compelling, the comments really bring it all to life.

Click over and read the story…AND the comments.

And the next time you’re poking around on your boat, check those hose clamps, eh?

I’ve written before about refilling disposable one-pound propane cylinders that so many portable appliances use. That article is the most-viewed post on Navagear.com. It’s popular because the subject is relevant to a wide variety of outdoor recreational enthusiasts: backpackers, kayakers, hunters, boaters, you name it.

I’ve been refilling these handy green propane bottles without mishap for a couple years now. Recently I’ve assembled a much-improved refill adapter. I’m going to describe the refilling process in detail.

First, though, it’s necessary to protect myself with disclaimers and caveats refillors. Let’s keep it simple, shall we?

Under no circumstances should anyone ever refill disposable propane cylinders using the following method.

Find a well-ventilated area, outdoors, away from all sources of heat, flame, and sparks. Ditch the cell phone.

Assemble your tools: a propane refill adapter, a pair of needle-nosed pliers, safety goggles to protect your eyes, and a pair of medium-thick work gloves.

Take a standard 20-pound propane cylinder—the kind you see attached beneath barbecues—and turn it upside down on a table or platform of some kind.

Put on your safety goggles. Screw your refill adapter to the OPD valve of your propane cylinder. This is a left-hand threading, so you need to twist the adapter counter-clockwise to tighten it. Ignore the naysayers who warn that modern cylinders with OPD valves won’t permit liquid propane to be extracted using this method; it works just fine.

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Take a close look at this picture and tell me what kind of project I’m working on.

Hint: it’s related to the most-viewed page on Navagear.com, after the front page.

Two Lucky Fish has a Wallas stove/heater, which is a pretty handy gadget. It burns diesel or kerosene, and all exhaust is vented overboard. In fact, I used it today both to heat the boat and cook lunch. Cozy!

Anyway, this spring I discovered a problem with my stove installation. Not with the stove itself; it’s working fine. Perhaps you remember this photo from my recent haulout:

The Wallas exhaust vent is on the right. Rust stains were only part of the problem. Even worse was that water would enter the cabin through the through-hull. Not all the time; the ingress occurred only in choppy weather when waves would strike from the starboard side, where the through-hull is. Water would be forced into the exhaust hose, where it should drain right back out the way it came in. But it wasn’t all escaping; some was leaking into the cabin. And rust-staining the hull, inside and out, in the process!

Here’s what I encountered when I started in on this project. There was a lot of rust, but the flexible exhaust hose looked fine, and the through-hull didn’t appear to be the source of the problem either.

A bit more disassembly revealed more rust.

Near as I can figure, all the rust-staining in the two photos above is the result of this hose clamp, which wouldn’t even disengage in the conventional way. It just broke when I tried to unscrew it.

Doug McElroy of Scan Marine confirmed my diagnosis and helped me identify the solution. I took it all apart, cleaned up the parts, and put it back together again with fancy Permatex Ultra Copper high-temperature RTV silicone from the auto parts store. You don’t have to use this copper-colored variety; any of the high-temp RTV silicones will work, and it’s available in black and white.

In the process, I replaced the sock and the hose clamps with new ones provided by Scan Marine. The new hose clamps look much more robust, and are obviously made of high-quality stainless steel.

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Sorry for the down-time recently. This kitchen remodel is really taking its toll, I tell ya! We’re doing most of the work ourselves, so everything else has taken a back seat, for the time being.

There’s a boat-gadget angle in all this, though: With the kitchen in pieces, I’ve been cooking my precious "bagel eggel" breakfasts in the carport, on the Magma Kettle 2 gas grill. True Navagear fans will recognize my clever-but-abandoned downrigger mount, repurposed here for temporary backyard grilling. Well, I’m not actually "grilling". I’m "frying", with my trusty All-Clad skillet.

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Even on sailboats, sometimes you need to move fuel from one container to another. Unfortunately, manipulating jerry cans or any kind of portable fuel container can result in spillage ranging from “kinda stinky” to “an annoying mess” to “new Superfund site”!

I’ve often found myself wishing I had some sort of compact, manually operated pump/siphon arrangement aboard. Enter the Hopkins Shaker Siphon. This could be useful aboard a cruising boat of any size. Heck, it could be useful at home, too. As with my favorite binoculars and my favorite flashlight, I may need to buy extras.

I don’t own one of these shaker siphons yet, but reports indicate that it works well: you insert the end with the copper fitting into the full container and shake it up and down, which primes the line and starts the fuel flowing. According to one cruiser, “You can do it without spilling a drop and not have to taste or smell the gas.” That sounds a LOT more pleasant than the sort of experience I’m familiar with!