Nearly two years ago I found I needed a replacement loo seat for the RM69 toilet fitted to Whimbrel. I was offered a wood seat which I purchased. This was fitted in the spring of 2017.
The RM range of marine toilets were originally manufactured by a Dutch company, however, this folded a little while ago and E. C. Smith took over the range. Good news for boaters, one would think…
This year I also needed some other spares, so since I had been dealing directly with E. C. Smith for a great number of years, with various receipts going back twenty years or so for the toilet alone, I duly emailed the company. I did not get a response from repeated emails (on record) or even a telephone call…
Eventually, after contacting a marine outlet store I found that E. C. Smith no longer dealt with the general public. And boy, doesn’t that make life difficult: marine shops rarely have what you need in way of spares … however, the one contacted advised me that they could order the parts (at an inflated price) of course.
I had a spare seal and part that I actually needed, so that job was done. I was planning to do more – but have deferred this until I actually get the seal needed. On a whim I’ve decided to reseal the base – not leaking, but know it has been in use for years, decades even, so feel inclined to stymie this.
Whilst getting down close to the loo lids some while back I noticed two things:
- the hinges were shedding shards of ‘chromium’ and crud.
- the seat had begun to split … it isn’t made of wood, it is manufactured from compressed paper – probably ‘MDF’. I felt incensed, however it has gone out of any guarantee now.
The hinges…
Close up of one…
The hinges appear to be manufactured from some grunge alloy designed to shed its ultra-thin layer of chromium in such a way as to create a hazard to the cleaner … often me and, yes, I have been ‘cut’.
My faith in E. C. Smith is destroyed.
Will I use them again? Not bloody likely.
The hinges have been replaced with a pair of solid brass units purchased from, Black Country Metal Works Ltd. They can be found online.
New solid brass hinges.
The seat, I have begun sealing the edges and will coat with some epoxy, rub smooth and repaint.
Seat edge – sorry about ‘poor’ focus!
How long the seat and lid units last is a matter of conjecture: not long I believe!
The future – probably a new loo, which I am quite sure will be generally unfit for the marine environment. We’ll cross that bridge when needed…