Where do you pee/poo at night?

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Gypsyjoss

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Hi Guys
Just spent nearly 15 years in the Med on boats with a holding tank. So, round the clock peeing/pooing facility!

I have just bought a bilge keel yacht with no holding tank (quite common in the UK) in Barmouth (which dries).

The public loos in Barmouth close at night (I'm reliably informed) and I like an 8 am dump! I'm further baffled because you can't flush the heads at low tide (no sea water) even for a pee!

My Mediteranean friends are rightly horrified. The only time they use a bucket on board is in the yard (for a pee at night) and the yard loos are open 7/24.

So what do you do?

What laws are there concerning peeing and pooing in estuaries and harbours in the uk?

I await your replies with interest!

Cheers!
Pete
 
Gypsyjoss said:
Hi Guys
Just spent nearly 15 years in the Med on boats with a holding tank. So, round the clock peeing/pooing facility!

I have just bought a bilge keel yacht with no holding tank (quite common in the UK) in Barmouth (which dries).

The public loos in Barmouth close at night (I'm reliably informed) and I like an 8 am dump! I'm further baffled because you can't flush the heads at low tide (no sea water) even for a pee!

My Mediteranean friends are rightly horrified. The only time they use a bucket on board is in the yard (for a pee at night) and the yard loos are open 7/24.

So what do you do?

What laws are there concerning peeing and pooing in estuaries and harbours in the uk?

I await your replies with interest!

Cheers!
Pete
Click to expand...

Pete
We used to have a Lift Keel boat and were presented with a similar problem in your cruising area. I can only offer the suggestion that you either flush your toilet with captured seawater in a bucket kept in the cockpit over night or use a bowl of washing up water or your freshwater supply for an 8 am low tide flush. The tidal flow at Barmouth will soon whisk away the evidence of your Vindaloo from The Saffron. If not tread very carefully! Did you know flushing with freshwater helps keep the salty pong away!
 
Porta potti if caught short somewhere busy where people swim or dried out on the bilge keels. If afloat and a nice tidal situation not worried. The Lavac macerates and UV and nature soon resolve the problem. Wee not an issue......
If heading out to open sea don't flush until you're out there, unless conditions are "lumpy".......
 
Gypsyjoss said:
Hi Guys
Just spent nearly 15 years in the Med on boats with a holding tank. So, round the clock peeing/pooing facility!

I have just bought a bilge keel yacht with no holding tank (quite common in the UK) in Barmouth (which dries).

The public loos in Barmouth close at night (I'm reliably informed) and I like an 8 am dump! I'm further baffled because you can't flush the heads at low tide (no sea water) even for a pee!

My Mediteranean friends are rightly horrified. The only time they use a bucket on board is in the yard (for a pee at night) and the yard loos are open 7/24.

So what do you do?

What laws are there concerning peeing and pooing in estuaries and harbours in the uk?

I await your replies with interest!

Cheers!
Pete
Click to expand...
With the tide speed in Barmouth I wouldnt hesitate to do the biz, tide in or out, as Steve says, flush with fresh water if necessary. If particularly fastideous, invest in a porta potti, thats what we have done. Removed the aft heads and fitted it there, the ensuite in our forward cabin one used as normal. So in marina or Bruces Yard, use porta potti, lasts three days with two of us, anywhere else use the normal one. The porta potti is also our legitimate holding tank.
 
If its a number 2 just flush once you leave harbour or anchorage. Only a problem if more than one person needs to go. For a number 1, as long as no one antifouling the hull then flush away whenever.

As a keen climber and walker I take the view that poo thinly dispersed and exposed to the elements (or diluted in entire ocean) will soon be rendered sterile and less smelly than most sewage work outfalls. Its millions of us sending our poo into bathing beaches that is an issue, sadly us sailors are a very small fraction of such immense masses of folk
 
Thanks Guys
No room really for a Portapotti. I think for the sake of the horrified landlubbers who are likely to come on board, a holding tank is the answer (there is room in the nearest forepeak locker) plus a changeover valve to fresh water supply. That'll be interesting to arrange as it's pressurized! Could have bidet functions too!
Cheers!
Pete
 
I think that the more people who use holding tanks the better, especially in enclosed waters such as Salcombe, but that the remaining number who don't or can't will not represent a major hazard. We have and use a holding tank but when we were young and foolish we did try to restrict solids to times of ebb tide.
 
Annoyingly the Bav we use in the Med (France) does not have a holding which always limited where we pulled up for the night and as we preferred to anchor is was a bit restricting. The boats owner only ever day sails so was not interested in investing in a holding tank, which you can understand, so two years ago we donated a Porta Potti, a bit strange to use at first but the anchoring has been worth it.
 
Hi
As you know Barmouth is a drying harbour. There are moorings to be had where subject to tide you can walk off your boat or have a very short row in the tender to get to shore.
The best thing to do is to join the Merioneth yacht club, it has great facilities for members Toilets and showers with 24 hour access a newly revamped bar where you can enjoy a drink looking at a vista which is hard to beat or sample the fine food served in the dining room regular monthly suppers are held.

The club has also secure fully serviced compound where your boat can be overwintered and there is space for parking too.
http://merionethyachtclub.co.uk/index.html
 
Slight thread drift but we have some friends who spent the winter on the hard, working on their boat. We were fairly new to the game and had just spent a week on the hard, using a bucket for night time requirements. After a long, well lubricated supper, the Admiral asked our friend how they coped: the wife (who is Swiss) replied that they had a bottle and funnel. Anything else involved a plastic bag and Swiss precision...
 
duncan99210 said:
Slight thread drift but we have some friends who spent the winter on the hard, working on their boat. We were fairly new to the game and had just spent a week on the hard, using a bucket for night time requirements. After a long, well lubricated supper, the Admiral asked our friend how they coped: the wife (who is Swiss) replied that they had a bottle and funnel. Anything else involved a plastic bag and Swiss precision...
Click to expand...

A gliding friend almost circumcised himself when he hit turbulence just as he was carefully relieving himself into an empty Coke can.
 
Gypsyjoss said:
Hi Guys
Just spent nearly 15 years in the Med on boats with a holding tank. So, round the clock peeing/pooing facility!

I have just bought a bilge keel yacht with no holding tank (quite common in the UK) in Barmouth (which dries).

The public loos in Barmouth close at night (I'm reliably informed) and I like an 8 am dump! I'm further baffled because you can't flush the heads at low tide (no sea water) even for a pee!

My Mediteranean friends are rightly horrified. The only time they use a bucket on board is in the yard (for a pee at night) and the yard loos are open 7/24.

So what do you do?

What laws are there concerning peeing and pooing in estuaries and harbours in the uk?

I await your replies with interest!

Cheers!
Pete
Click to expand...

Use dog poo bags.

PS hang them from bushes to get your own back.
 
Gypsyjoss said:
Hi Guys
Just spent nearly 15 years in the Med on boats with a holding tank. So, round the clock peeing/pooing facility!

I have just bought a bilge keel yacht with no holding tank (quite common in the UK) in Barmouth (which dries).

The public loos in Barmouth close at night (I'm reliably informed) and I like an 8 am dump! I'm further baffled because you can't flush the heads at low tide (no sea water) even for a pee!

My Mediteranean friends are rightly horrified. The only time they use a bucket on board is in the yard (for a pee at night) and the yard loos are open 7/24.

So what do you do?

What laws are there concerning peeing and pooing in estuaries and harbours in the uk?

I await your replies with interest!

Cheers!
Pete
Click to expand...

Was that you launching 10th or 11th July?
 
I have to agree with peabracket re the showers and toilets in the MYC. for your circumstances.
The Club is cheap to join.
Otherwise,unfortunatly,the club has little going for it,and certainly no racing, despite what the website states.
I was a member from 1978 up until 2 years ago.
I live in Barmouth,if you wish for any advice,don't hesitate to get in touch.
Cheers.
 
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