DownWest
Well-Known Member
Maybe in your gaff..
Compost toilets
- Thread starter coopec
- Start date
Hallberg-Rassy
Well-Known Member
With all due respect, I'll confess my ordure of the day is a lot more problematic that some baby's best efforts, but where I live they usually just end up spread all over the pavement.
An estimated three billion nappies are thrown away every year in the UK, the vast majority being not recyclable, approximately 400,000 tonnes of waste each year.
Considering most seamen are old enough to be regularly backed up inside their salopettes, how much of a problem are we really talking about?
I guess that comes down to whether you produce bobbers, or sinkers.
What happens to "feminine products", can they be composted or just chucked to give some passing shark indigestion? Can't remember any boat designer ever accommodating that problem.
And I still can't work out how the ladies can be directional enough to use one of these things.
Whitlock
Well-Known Member
One of what things?
Beneteau381
Well-Known Member
PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
DownWest
Well-Known Member
West Marine ( let's keep this boaty..) sell one of those, bit cheaper too.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Also used by ladies in Antarctica, where facilities are often male oriented - e.g. pee tubes in aircraft.
eonolan
New Member
I agree with you. We built a really crude unit, using a a separator, for a 3000nm trip earlier this year. It worked really well. But it was crude! How elegant is your construction? I’m looking for ideas.
coopec
N/A
I agree with you. We built a really crude unit, using a a separator, for a 3000nm trip earlier this year. It worked really well. But it was crude! How elegant is your construction? I’m looking for ideas.
I made up this cover for a normal marine toilet
It wouldn't be at all difficult to make up a compost toilet similar to a Sun Mar compost toilet if you know how to use fiberglass
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
I'm not in favour of putting excrement in plastic bags for disposal, it's increasing the amount of plastic waste which is not desirable. Most of this type of waste is ultimately disposed of to the sea after suitable treatment so why not dispose of yatch waste similarly? Subject to some controls - bathing beaches, water depth etc.
coopec
N/A
I haven't looked at this clip but there are quite a few video clips on YouTube explaining how to build compost toilets.
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
If I understand this right, you build a toilet where excrement is stored in one container and urine in another. In use you have to make sure that excrement and urine get diverted to each container. The urine container gets full of urine and the excrement container has to have peat or coconut husks manually applied. Once full, one has to carry a bottle of piss and box if shit through their boat, to the shore and disposed of to the satisfaction of public health regulations.
Compared to current holding tank systems this is a backward step for convenience, hygiene and public health. I am not convinced that composting toilets are good idea on a boat.
Compared to current holding tank systems this is a backward step for convenience, hygiene and public health. I am not convinced that composting toilets are good idea on a boat.
coopec
N/A
I'm sure I will be able to drain the piss overboard with my toilet therefor I won't need a bottle. From what I can make out in the US anyway it is not illegal to pee over the side of the yacht while penned (maybe the marina has its' own regulations?)
Apparently the solids lose a lot of their mass over time. "The solids bin goes for a month or more (60 to 80 uses) "
Human Waste Disposal : BoatUS Foundation
lusitano
Well-Known Member
I had a boat a few years back that came fitted with a Natures Head composting toilet. Good installation job with vent and fan etc but there was still an "odour" about the boat.
Replaced it with a Jabsco and issue resolved.
Replaced it with a Jabsco and issue resolved.
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Dumping solid waste virtually anywhere in the US coastal waters is illegal and the fines huge. So, it is a holding tank and pumping out, or some type of composting CW
The usual thing with the urine, is to put a bit of sugar in it, then overboard. This needs to be done often, whilst the solids only every few weeks.
westernman
Well-Known Member
I find that whenever I pump my holding tank out into the sea (obviously well away from the coast, beaches, nature reserves, etc), there is nothing solid left in it. I has all decomposed.
Impossible to actually sea anything in a typical sea (i.e. not mirror flat calm when well away from the coast), and no smell.
westernman
Well-Known Member
Or anywhere.
thinwater
Well-Known Member
There are a lot of people commenting on a topic they have no experience with. Interesting. If you want to learn about it, read US forums. I have had and operated both types of systems. Which is best depends on the location, the size of the boat, and the use pattern.
a. The US has a lot of large lakes, estuaries, and other inland waters where discharge is illegal. Discharge is illegal within 3 miles of shore. Pump out facilities are often limited and sometimes (lakes, remote areas) nonexistent. Smaller boats may not want to lug holding tanks around. Pumping out is a nuisance for day sailors. And yes, pumping out is not non-contact. The head must be winterized in most of the US. Finally, head maintenance requires changing joker valves annually and hoses at some frequency. In other words, there are many reason why a composting or desiccating head is a better answer on some boats. Not all boats.
b. You do not add anything to the urine before discharge. In fact, discharge would be illegal once it has been in container. You do add either vinegar or citric acid to the urine if it will be in the jug for more than 24 hours; this prevents odor creation. It really works.
c. Pissing in a marina is probably a case of public indecency. Find a tree, or better yet, don't be too lazy to walk to a facility. How adolescent.
d. Compared to a portable toilet that you have to lug and dump, a desiccating toilet is better in every possible way. Lighter, far less odor, holds many times more (several weeks vs. several days) and less interaction with the waste.
On a larger boat that sails offshore, I'd take a holding tank system every day. On a lake or estuary, for day sailing and a few short trips, a desiccating toilet is the winner. Portable toilets are always losers. Claiming that pumping out in coastal waters is more sanitary and hygenic is ... embarasing. It might be OK and certainly more convinient, but claiming it's better is quite odd. For starters, people eat oysters from those waters.
This is a DIY version based on Separett parts. The lower portion is fiberglass and is a custom fit for the available bay. Very convenient, super light for a sport multihull, and zero contact. Note that I have a holding tank system on my cruising cat.
Blog Post
a. The US has a lot of large lakes, estuaries, and other inland waters where discharge is illegal. Discharge is illegal within 3 miles of shore. Pump out facilities are often limited and sometimes (lakes, remote areas) nonexistent. Smaller boats may not want to lug holding tanks around. Pumping out is a nuisance for day sailors. And yes, pumping out is not non-contact. The head must be winterized in most of the US. Finally, head maintenance requires changing joker valves annually and hoses at some frequency. In other words, there are many reason why a composting or desiccating head is a better answer on some boats. Not all boats.
b. You do not add anything to the urine before discharge. In fact, discharge would be illegal once it has been in container. You do add either vinegar or citric acid to the urine if it will be in the jug for more than 24 hours; this prevents odor creation. It really works.
c. Pissing in a marina is probably a case of public indecency. Find a tree, or better yet, don't be too lazy to walk to a facility. How adolescent.
d. Compared to a portable toilet that you have to lug and dump, a desiccating toilet is better in every possible way. Lighter, far less odor, holds many times more (several weeks vs. several days) and less interaction with the waste.
On a larger boat that sails offshore, I'd take a holding tank system every day. On a lake or estuary, for day sailing and a few short trips, a desiccating toilet is the winner. Portable toilets are always losers. Claiming that pumping out in coastal waters is more sanitary and hygenic is ... embarasing. It might be OK and certainly more convinient, but claiming it's better is quite odd. For starters, people eat oysters from those waters.
This is a DIY version based on Separett parts. The lower portion is fiberglass and is a custom fit for the available bay. Very convenient, super light for a sport multihull, and zero contact. Note that I have a holding tank system on my cruising cat.
Blog Post
pvb
Well-Known Member
Just out of interest, where does the output from a waterside "facility" get discharged?
thinwater
Well-Known Member
Is that a serious question? I would assume in the UK and the US there is a 99% chance it is treated in one of several ways. If not, then as a good citizen, point it out and take action. But this is not 75 years ago, when there might have been a hole in the planks. Even then, where I keep my boat, the privies were more than 200 feet from the water and well away from waterwells. It was just considered good practice. This isn't 1884 and Broad Street.
