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georgezink · 04-29-2008, 07:43 PM

Finally got around to setting the new Sealand Traveler lite in our 6 metre today. It looks great, but the missus is not happy with the "flex" in the faux sittin' of the new throne...

We never sat on the old Thetford - just simply started the process of restoration by removing most everything - checking, cleaning, detailing, repairing, replacing, etc. The bathroom was disassembled to the point that the only thing left in place was the shower pan, black tank, abs cover for the black tank and the closet. The gray water tank had been removed by the PO. Did a water test on the black tank by filling it to the top of the flange and let it sit for several days - no leaks whatsoever. Could see the plywood support piece between the cover and black tank (from inside the closet with a flashlight) - and it was solid and unstained. I felt real comfortable not going any further with the disassembly of the bathroom...until today...

So just how much flex is permissible so as not to cause problems down the road? I'm assuming an rv toilet won't be as rock solid as one in a home - especially given the nature of the materials involved - flexible abs tank cover and flexible polyethelene tank sandwiching 1/2 inch plywood...

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated...

George

overlander63 · 04-29-2008, 08:29 PM

Our new toilet moves around some. I never figured degrees of deflection, or how much more or less it moved when lighter or heavier people used the throne. I would say some movement, but not a wallow.

georgezink · 04-29-2008, 09:26 PM

Your thetford is sitting on the floor - right? Thanks for the response - makes me feel better that a floor mount has some flex - I know it is hard to quantify. I need some chimers for platform mounts to feel really comfortable...

George

**Janet H** · 04-30-2008, 10:19 AM

We put the same throne in our minuet. There is plywood under that plastic platform and yes - it does flex a bit. Do you any reason tto suspect that there may be water damage?

Some of the flex may have to do with the cheesy plastic seat on the pot. We replaced ours with an $8 household seat from walmart. Same color - perfect fit. We had to look around a bit to find a good match - walmart had one where home improvement places didn't. It feels somewhat more substantial.

byamcaravanner · 04-30-2008, 10:39 AM

The floor in the bath of my '67 Ambassador deflected more than I would like, so in the process of replacing it I've added 12ga steel plate under the floor over my black and gray tanks to alleviate the flex in the floor.

georgezink · 04-30-2008, 11:08 AM

Thanks for the replies.

I can tell that there is a piece of plywood on top of the tank and under the abs cover. The toilet flange is attached to the tank thru the cover and plywood. Not exactly sure, but the plywood seems to be about 1/2 inch thick and loosly laid on top of the tank. There is no water damage.

It looks like the tank has been installed flat on the floor (original), but I suspect that the end oposite the toilet flange was designed to slope toward the drain. Instead, the bottom is flat on the floor and the top is sloping away. There is a 1 inch or so gap between the top of the tank and the underside of the cover at that far end. Seems like it should be level across the top.

I'd thought of a plywood or steel box over the tank and under the cover, but with the aluminum floor, there's not much solid to mount it to or room to work for that matter.

Janet, have you had your black tank out? Perhaps I'm too concerned about the flexing and should just live with it.