Type of Loo on your boat

Bear in mind if you have a holding tank you need to be certain you can find pumpout stations, so obviously most boats have a switch to change from throughull to tank. We had a Jabsco but I'm not sure I would recommend them, cheaply made.
 
Gravity holding tank and your choice of loo. If manual the two main choices are Jabsco or Lavac. The first is very basic, but is easy and cheap to fit and maintain. The latter is more expensive and some people find the simple suction method difficult to live with. For information on holding tank systems see the Tek Tanks website.

As already noted holding tanks are not required in the French canals. Indeed there are very few places where holding tanks are compulsory. Where there are restrictions it is usually related to discharge in specific areas. Pump out stations are still rare and most people discharge at sea having used the holding tank while at anchor or in a port. Get used to using land based facilities when available.
 
From experience of skippering a charter yacht for six seasons with a Lavac I now always fit a Lavac when a toilet fails or needs frequent replacements (as others brands seem to do fairly frequently). Have only known a Lavac to block once (at the pump exit valve) and that was when only two or three strokes were used for each flush instead of the recommended 8 to 10. I buy spare seat seals and pump spares with the toilet.

Agree with comments above re holding tanks - we fitted one for Scandinavian waters as they do have rules.
 
We havered between a Jabsco and a Lavac and worked out we could replace a Jabsco every year for something like a decade before the costs were comparable - and of course we haven't replaced the Jabsco since we fitted it soon after buying the boat. Plus the parts are very easily available in the areas we've sailed so far, though we've not needed them much.

I would always advise a holding tank, with a y-fitting so you can empty it with gravity when at sea, or bypass it altogether. I can't speak for the canals as we went the other way, but in small anchorages in teh tideless Med it is (at the best) poor manners to flush directly into the water.

We use an environmental friendly enzyme based agent to break down the contents. There are many on the market, though lots are US based. We've had good results with Bio-Pak. This enables more space in the tank, reduces odours and makes it less damaging when you pump out.

We looked at composting toilets in 2003 and decided we did not want the electricity demand, nor the space take. Both composting and generation tech has moved on, and you might well find it worth another look.
 
Tranona said:
Gravity holding tank and your choice of loo. If manual the two main choices are Jabsco or Lavac. The first is very basic, but is easy and cheap to fit and maintain. The latter is more expensive and some people find the simple suction method difficult to live with. For information on holding tank systems see the Tek Tanks website.

As already noted holding tanks are not required in the French canals. Indeed there are very few places where holding tanks are compulsory. Where there are restrictions it is usually related to discharge in specific areas. Pump out stations are still rare and most people discharge at sea having used the holding tank while at anchor or in a port. Get used to using land based facilities when available.
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I agree with Tranona here - but would suggest fitting a saddle tank, rather than a full holding tank, more for cosmetic than practical reasons as an increasing number of European countries are following the crazy path of the Turks.
Even in Turkey - there is a dearth of pumping-out stations and poo-disposal costs look to be becoming a major cost-item. The only places I know of networks of pump-out stations are UK Waterways and the US Intracoastal.
Saddle tanks are neither as capacious or as efficient as plumbed-in holding tanks but are far less trouble to fit or rectify and infinitely cheaper in cost.
 
No boat these days should be without a holding tank. (My opinion) Its a bit like terraced houses having outside loos they went out in the 50's and 60's. If you spend any time in anchorages with other water users fit one. We have just upgraded one of our Jabsco loos with an electric Lavac should have done it years ago very quiet and so far reliable. However Jabsco are cheap and reliable and you can buy spares almost anywhere.
 
Grehan is right, don't bother with the extra expense until you have to.
There are thousands of boats on the canals and river in France, including many hire boats, and most do not have waste tanks, all waste straight into canal.
 
as an increasing number of European countries are following the crazy path of the Turks.
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The blue card system is experimental and applicable to the coastline bordering Mugla Province. Whilst the operation of the scheme is more "miss than hit" the objective is sound particularly when you see what has happened around the Gocek area.
 
Holding tanks in the French waterways are a waste of time. You would need one almost the size of the boat to manage between pump out stations.
When you can find a pump out, it's usually inaccessible or not working.
In Chalons en Champagne this year we saw someone using the station. Took some time as no one knew where the key was. Then they had to decipher the instructions and move their boat as the hose was very short. Turned out that in the 2 years that the station had been operative, they were only the second boat to use it.
Sad fact is, everything goes into the waterways. Just don't go for a swim!
 
BlueLancer said:
Which type of Loo do you use. Thinking of a long term trip down the French Canals to the med. Would I be better fitting a cassette toilet or a normal flush loo with holding tank. Currently have a sea toilet emptying with a through hull fitting.I have room for a holding tank.
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Haning recently spent some time in the French canals, keep your sea toilet. After weeks of being what I thought was sensible, a night on a pontoon with livaboards on barges was a revelation. Their atttitude was when in france do as the french do. New boats have holding tanks, but none of the dutch barge conversions do, and to my knowledge, or that of the livaboards I met, ever got fined for flushing!
 
I replaced the sea toilet with a Porta Potti & am happier with that, can use in marina if necessary, now have a holding tank (small boat). Simple & nothing can go wrong. Don't like sea toilets (blockages) or the idea of an installed holding tank full of **** that you can't pump out anywhere...
 
Stuck in France said:
Haning recently spent some time in the French canals, keep your sea toilet. After weeks of being what I thought was sensible, a night on a pontoon with livaboards on barges was a revelation. Their atttitude was when in france do as the french do. New boats have holding tanks, but none of the dutch barge conversions do, and to my knowledge, or that of the livaboards I met, ever got fined for flushing!
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The hire fleets of floating white bricks don't have tanks either, and they're surely more numerous than dutch barges, at least on the stretch we travelled on last year.

Pete
 
loo/canal

considering the lack of standard regulations (sanitation/pumpout/discharge) how bad is the "eau de waste" (smell) in the French canals ?
 
Never noticed any smell in France or Belgium. I believe the wastes quickly break down so not a problem.
The water is the usual dirty brown, same as the UK that has a strict policy on waste discharge.
 
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