Aft cabin toilet

[coopec]

I am currently fitting out the aft cabin. I've decided I want a compost toilet but the designer has come up with two options (see below)

In the top drawing I think the area in between the hand basin and the bed is a "wardrobe" and that is directly over the quadrant. (That would be fine as I could fit my emergency steering easily)

At this stage I have the double berth installed (with provision for two lee cloths) Watermaker and autohelm will be installed below?

Where should I put the toilet? I really don't think the position beside the door is practical but I am downloading the measurements. Of course I will have to consider the width of a person's backside too, I am looking at a "Nature's Head" toilet at this stage but is there a better unit? Maybe I should make my own?

Has anyone installed a compost toilet who can share their experience?

 

[cmedsailor]

Not really an answer but something to consider. Is there enough height for either of the two drawings? At least on the first drawing the heads will be below the cockpit.

 

[coopec]

Not really an answer but something to consider. Is there enough height for either of the two drawings? At least on the first drawing the heads will be below the cockpit.

So sorry! This should help.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Have you considered having the double bunk running across the stern of the aft cabin.

Access to the emergency through a hatch under the bunk base removing a section of the mattress.

This would allow the head to be on the port side wardrobe on the starboard side and the sink midships behind the engine.

My aft cabin is below my aft cockpit so has limited headroom but has room for a full queen size bed and space forward of the bed under a raised bridge deck so I positioned the head, sink and wardrobe under that raised bridge deck.

 

[vas]

I'm either getting too old, or these pics are way too small to make much sense and suggest design options...

 

[prv]

Have you considered having the double bunk running across the stern of the aft cabin.

You wouldn't be able to use it if tacking during an off-watch, though without any experience I assume for ocean work the question is more "shall we tack today or tomorrow?" How comfortable is sleeping with your feet substantially below your head? In a conventional lengthways berth with a leecloth or a solid side, you tend to snuggle into the angle and it doesn't feel like your bed is tilted at all.

Personally I'm sceptical of a composting toilet on a seagoing vessel - fine for canal boats and such, but does it work well when heeled and being shaken up? And carrying a large unsealed tank of shit around just seems like a liability - if nothing else it's surely a good way to make the aftermath of a knockdown *really* unpleasant. Better to get that stuff overboard and out of your life ASAP.

Pete

 

[coopec]

Have you considered having the double bunk running across the stern of the aft cabin.

Access to the emergency through a hatch under the bunk base removing a section of the mattress.

This would allow the head to be on the port side wardrobe on the starboard side and the sink midships behind the engine.

My aft cabin is below my aft cockpit so has limited headroom but has room for a full queen size bed and space forward of the bed under a raised bridge deck so I positioned the head, sink and wardrobe under that raised bridge deck.

Roger too late! I just want the yacht finished.

Today I was making the raised floor (over the top of the steering cable) Maybe I should have taken both cables down the Port side (under the bed) then I wouldn't have had to raise the floor.

The steering is undoubtedly the most difficult construction problem of the yacht so far. (Even the so-called experts were little help)

 

[Whitlock]

Apart from siting the toilet, where are you planning to compost the waste? It takes about a year to breakdown fully.

 

[rogerthebodger]

You wouldn't be able to use it if tacking during an off-watch, though without any experience I assume for ocean work the question is more "shall we tack today or tomorrow?" How comfortable is sleeping with your feet substantially below your head? In a conventional lengthways berth with a leecloth or a solid side, you tend to snuggle into the angle and it doesn't feel like your bed is tilted at all.

Personally I'm sceptical of a composting toilet on a seagoing vessel - fine for canal boats and such, but does it work well when heeled and being shaken up? And carrying a large unsealed tank of shit around just seems like a liability - if nothing else it's surely a good way to make the aftermath of a knockdown *really* unpleasant. Better to get that stuff overboard and out of your life ASAP.

Pete

I take your point pete.

I had that arrangement on my previous boat and only used the aft cabin at anchor or at mooring.

On passage we used a single berth in the saloon with lee cloths which we would hot bunk.

 

[coopec]

Apart from siting the toilet, where are you planning to compost the waste? It takes about a year to breakdown fully.

I think you are quite right because it takes time for the bacteria to break it down completely (Some yachties refuse too call them "compost" toilets)

"around 3-4 weeks

This process is clean, it does NOT smell and takes me about 5 minutes. For the two of us using the toilet full-time, it takes around 3-4 weeks for the compost bin to “fill up"."

Some marinas in the USA won't allow compost toilets as they don't have a suitable method of disposing of the "waste". Of course if you are at sea there is no problem of disposal as there is nothing toxic at all to pollute the ocean.

 

[coopec]

You wouldn't be able to use it if tacking during an off-watch, though without any experience I assume for ocean work the question is more "shall we tack today or tomorrow?" How comfortable is sleeping with your feet substantially below your head? In a conventional lengthways berth with a leecloth or a solid side, you tend to snuggle into the angle and it doesn't feel like your bed is tilted at all.

Personally I'm sceptical of a composting toilet on a seagoing vessel - fine for canal boats and such, but does it work well when heeled and being shaken up? And carrying a large unsealed tank of shit around just seems like a liability - if nothing else it's surely a good way to make the aftermath of a knockdown *really* unpleasant. Better to get that stuff overboard and out of your life ASAP.

Pete

OMG! NO! NO! there is no " unsealed tank of shit"

Here is an excellent video clip.

 

[RupertW]

I think you are quite right because it takes time for the bacteria to break it down completely (Some yachties refuse too call them "compost" toilets)

"around 3-4 weeks

This process is clean, it does NOT smell and takes me about 5 minutes. For the two of us using the toilet full-time, it takes around 3-4 weeks for the compost bin to “fill up"."

Some marinas in the USA won't allow compost toilets as they don't have a suitable method of disposing of the "waste". Of course if you are at sea there is no problem of disposal as there is nothing toxic at all to pollute the ocean.

In which case why not cut out the middle man and send it straight to sea with no mess and no prolonged smells (as I don’t believe the “No smell” at all)?

 

[rogerthebodger]

In which case why not cut out the middle man and send it straight to sea with no mess and no prolonged smells (as I don’t believe the “No smell” at all)?

As all that goes out is all biodegradable and feeds the fishes. (see when dolphins poop in the sea)

When we dive for crayfish we dive at the city sewer outlet to find the biggest.

 

[prv]

OMG! NO! NO! there is no " unsealed tank of shit"

Here is an excellent video clip.

So there's a couple of small over-centre latches holding the top on, and a plastic flap closing the hole. I still wouldn't want to trust either of those to hold 30kg of crap with the thing on its side, without leaking, and then you've got that piss-bottle sitting loosely in the front - we didn't get to see how the top of that closes, if at all. And when it's all done you get to carry your big heavy awkward-shaped open-top buckets of "compost" right past everybody's beds, through your kitchen, up the ladder, through the social and operational centre of the boat, wafting it around but hopefully not actually spilling any, and then tip it over the side while hoping the wind doesn't blow too much of it onto you or the boat. Not in the nice stable upright boat you've spent the last few years working on, remember, but in one that's pitching and rolling and heaving at sea.

Remind me what problem it's supposed to be solving in exchange for all this?

--

I can totally see the point of a composting toilet for remote houses and holiday cabins without drainage and perhaps without a reliable water supply. And for canal boats that don't move and can't or shouldn't pump out into the water surrounding them. But for a seagoing yacht they just seem like a sub-optimal solution in search of a problem.

Pete

 

[Beneteau381]

In which case why not cut out the middle man and send it straight to sea with no mess and no prolonged smells (as I don’t believe the “No smell” at all)?

Indeed, why compost it then deep six it? Just deep six it direct seems more sensible. On our Bene 381 I have left the ensuite forward heads alone, the aft heads, I took out the Jabsco and fitted a Port Potti. I used to look at them with contempt BUT they work perfectly. So, on the hard at the mo in Bruces in Faro, shower on board and the outlet goes through a pipe stuffed in the outlet to a 20 ltr bidon, easy to empty in the grey water drain. The Porta Potti lasts me and her two days then I take to the shower block and empty. Works perfectly there and in a marina. Suitably masked and gowned for emptying, keeps us safe from communal showering and shitting!

 

[coopec]

In which case why not cut out the middle man and send it straight to sea with no mess and no prolonged smells (as I don’t believe the “No smell” at all)?

So long as you are a km(?) from shore it is OK to discharge direct into ocean.

 

[coopec]

Indeed, why compost it then deep six it? Just deep six it direct seems more sensible. On our Bene 381 I have left the ensuite forward heads alone, the aft heads, I took out the Jabsco and fitted a Port Potti. I used to look at them with contempt BUT they work perfectly. So, on the hard at the mo in Bruces in Faro, shower on board and the outlet goes through a pipe stuffed in the outlet to a 20 ltr bidon, easy to empty in the grey water drain. The Porta Potti lasts me and her two days then I take to the shower block and empty. Works perfectly there and in a marina. Suitably masked and gowned for emptying, keeps us safe from communal showering and shitting!

So let me get this right. You empty your Port Potti down the communal shower drain? Is that what you do??

 

[NormanS]

Our aft cabin has a similar layout, to the OP's with double bunk to port, "armchair" aft, and heads compartment on stbd. We almost always sail as a couple, and in practice use the fwd toilet, using the aft one for stowage and oilskin locker. The fwd toilet has a seldom used black tank. Access to ship the emergency steering, is by lifting a section of the bunk cushion and a hatch under.

 

[coopec]

Our aft cabin has a similar layout, to the OP's with double bunk to port, "armchair" aft, and heads compartment on stbd. We almost always sail as a couple, and in practice use the fwd toilet, using the aft one for stowage and oilskin locker. The fwd toilet has a seldom used black tank. Access to ship the emergency steering, is by lifting a section of the bunk cushion and a hatch under.

Thanks for that.

When I posed the question on this forum some time ago ther was a general consensus that a second toilet was worthwhile.

I think I'll make provision for a compost toilet but whether I install it straight away I'm not too sure.

 

[RupertW]

So long as you are a km(?) from shore it is OK to discharge direct into ocean.

Agreed which is what holding tanks are so good for in idyllic anchorage - the distance varies depending on different countries rules but practically that is fine and all disappears quickly as long as you follow the Greek model and bin the paper for later disposal.

We find that provided minimum water is used to completely flush then a holding tank will last one person about 10 days although we are never anchored in the same place so long. We have two heads and two holding tanks.