Practical experience of heads on a single cabin boat.......?

[The Stoker]

Evening all,

I'm new here, but after a good few years of hiring and going out with friends, I'm after buying my first boat:

• Trailer-able
• Probably on a swinging mooring on the lakes
• Some kind of cabin/ cuddy
• Shallow draft for messsing about on the water
• Family friendly

So I've been looking at the usual suspects - shrimper, gypsy, cape cutter etc. but am fairly set on a Drascombe/ Devon coaster.

what I really want to know about is experience of how you use the heads/ portapotti on these boats - where it is in the main cabin - It sounds like a handy feature, but I'm finding it hard to work out how this could work in practice when boat camping for a weekend etc. Do you clear everyone out when you need to go? How do you empty the cassette if on a swinging mooring on a lake? What about head room? what about the contents when heeling over?

Any advice/ opinions/ experience appreciated..

 

[Tranona]

You have really answered your own question. Loos on that type of boat can never be convenient, so you have to decide for yourself whether the need to use it outweighs the inconvenience. You can minimise the need by using land based facilities wherever possible, but if overnighting then perhaps you have to agree with your crew a routine that works. Don't empty the cassette into the water, but empty on shore in campsite disposal facilities.

 

[Romeo]

Pee in a bucket and chuck it over the side.

If at all possible poop when ashore, rather than on the boat. I have managed many years of cruising in open boats of around the size you are looking at, and only once in emergency have I had to hide underneath the modesty sail to crap in a bucket. I tend to tie up in small harbours or at least to some sort of walk ashore remote place, so make my ablutions in the evening or first thing in the morning before departure.

It helps to be sensible with your diet..... I would not have a blow out indian when contemplating going for a sail the next day. An indelicate subject perhaps, but it is probably something that many people worry about without ever asking!

 

[Capt. Clueless]

I take the cassette from my porta loo and take it in my tender to the campsite that is on the lake shore and use their disposal point, after a couple of days.
Normally have a pony whilst ashore.
A curtain can help to seperate the bog from the main area.