toilet tactics - be honest

Ok I'll admit it I don't have a holding tank and occasionally I have been know to pump the bog in harbour or close to shore. But I use the shoreside facilities wherever possible. Places like Ryde Harbour always used to wind me up; not been there for years but there used to be promininent signs everywhere saying "Don't use sea toilets in the harbour" and there was a grand total of two WCs for the whole marina.
In my defence I have a lot of competition (mainly from Southern Water) in my attempts to pollute the Solent. See here and here and here and here. So if it's raining hard and you go ashore to use the facilities don't feel too virtuous as your jobbies might still end up in the sea!
 
BE AWARE

Ken_Irby said:
i don't know how many people who pump out everywhere are going to reply to this! all you will get is the "holier than thou" brigade. last place we saw a significant number of people swimming was in lakka on paxos last week. i wonder how many know that the town's sewer runs straight in to the bay near the ferry berth - which is why those in the nkow never swim not berth on the quay in that place. people may not like the thought but **** is a natural substance and if you've ever visited port leone on kalamos, you will see many goats defurcating on the rocks and the droppings falling into the water. should we advocate nappies for goats? socially undesireable yes and to be discouraged whenever possible but grey waste from shampoo and sun-tan creams is FAR more damaging to the environment and the fauna.
Chas on Kentrina's login therefore not necessarily her views
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was in paxsos three weeks ago, on the main quay in gaos . a beutifull example of european turfs floating. 200 m away is a perfectly adequate on shore toilet by the port police office. agreed the over fill from the cess pit probably drains into the harbour. 90%of the boats were italian. young children were swimming inthe harbour on the opposite side .
I have a holding tank . when its only men crew , offshore direct dump. in bays or harbours its plastic bag and trash bin ashore or store it in the dinghy. with ladies and kids ,you have to be a bit more recoursceful. the holding tank is underused.
 
Mine goes into the holding tank, only number ones allowed in the boat, we then pump out using the free pump out facilities in Chi Marina.

Though if we don't pump out for a day or two the boats leans over quite a bit. :D
 
When I was in the Royal Navy the heads discharged straight into the sea or whichever harbour the ship happened to be in.

I was once in HMS Victorious in Pompey and she had a crew of more than 2,000. Assuming each produced 2 crottes per day.......... well I'll let someone else do the maths. Add to that the discharges from numerous other large and small ships plus the IOW ferries plus yachts, that's a lot of jobbies being put in the sea. I don't recall any outbreaks of disease resulting from this. The tide runs very strongly in Portsmouth harbour and anything is soon dispersed. Kids used to swim in the harbour and more died from drowning than typhus

I'm not saying it isn't very disagreeable to encounter a brown job at close quarters when swimming but dangerous?

As for urine, miners used to piss on their hands to disinfect cuts so that can't be very harmful.

I wonder if we are not becoming a bit too fussy about these things nowadays. Maybe we're becoming obsessed with cleanliness [good business for manufacturers of soap and cleaning products, though;)]
 
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parsifal said:
I'm not saying it isn't very disagreeable to encounter a brown job at close quarters when swimming but dangerous?

As for urine, miners used to piss on their hands to disinfect cuts so that can't be very harmful.

I wonder if we are not becoming a bit too fussy about these things nowadays.
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Well said.

Fred Drift; urinate on a rag/handkerchief and hold it over your mouth & nose -> very crude gas mask.
 
snooks said:
Well I'm worried that Guapa and I are agreeing for once...

Urine really can be that bad after all here's a youtube clip of Bear Grylls drinking his own urine and I think he's still alive, though whether his wife still kisses him good night I don't know:eek:
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Mahatma Gandhi also used to drink a glass of his own urine every morning, and he lived to a good age (79) so it can't be all that bad !

Mal
 
I make a point of mooring within a straight legged walk of shoreside facilities 'coz I know I'm going to need my morning constitutional shortly after getting up. There is always the portapotty though. The one who drops the kids at the pool empties it.

Fluids go over the side directly, or via a bucket, the portapotty is really for night time.

Theoretically all the craft on Windermere have either chemical toilet or holding tank, a Warden once commented how few use the only pump out.
 
Sultans_Kapitein said:
Mahatma Gandhi also used to drink a glass of his own urine every morning, and he lived to a good age (79) so it can't be all that bad !

Mal
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I don't think I could ever do that.

Mind you, can it be that much different from drinking that revolting, vile-tasting, yellow liquid called lager?

:rolleyes:
 
parsifal said:
When I was in the Royal Navy the heads discharged straight into the sea or whichever harbour the ship happened to be in.

]
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nice. i don't think the issue is with public sanitation but the impact large amounts of waste have on the habitat - for example run off from cattle into waterways is known to create big problems. it's algae overgrowth caused by excess "fertile" waste that chokes marine life and damages the ecosystem. to say that kids didn't die from typhoid is to misunderstand the problem. there's no point having a navy to defend us and ours if all we are left with is a toxic mess, is there?

http://tinyurl.com/laz95k

when we stay on our boat on her mooring we certainly get the "rotten egg" whiff the environment agency warns is toxic. i don't think it's any coincidence that the areas most affected are those with heavy boat use. we need to take responsibility for what is going into the sea from our boats - even if it seems like a drop in the ocean. if the tides and currents are really that stong, why are we seeing such big problems?
 
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snooks said:
Are you sure that's not just your heads smelling? ;D
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absolutely sure. we don't have a traditional "heads" - we use wag bags http://www.thepett.co.uk/wag.html for harbours and inshore waters. the smell is noticeable at low water and less so when the tide is in. it is definitely toxic bloom related. it's interesting that the treatment of landbased sewage has improved and yet this problem is getting worse (in areas such as portsmouth, iow, langstone etc) wherever there are lots of boats.
 
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