Who here actually uses a porta potty?

[ChattingLil]

Embarrased to admit that I appear to have become a prima donna and am having trouble adapting to a downsized boat without heads.

There is a portapotty, but I haven't used it yet. Aghast at the thought!

I know that in secluded anchorages or at sea with close friends/family I'd be happy to bucket and chuckit, but I can't face the prospect of using the potty inside and dealing with what is below in the cassette and then emptying it. There will be times when to chuckit isn't appropriate or nice.

I have never actually used a portapotty before and I'm sure it isn't as ghastly as I think!

There is potential for fitting a sea-toilet in the space where the potty is, but I've had mixed reviews from people with boats in the class about the value of doing this.

What do others think?

 

[vyv_cox]

There have been many threads on the subject, as usual to some Portapotties are great, to some they are the pits. I'm in the latter camp where boats are concerned but I have owned and used one for camping and have a chemical toilet in my motorhome. The problem with one in a boat, to my mind, is emptying it. Splashing is pretty much inevitable if you do it over the side. I have yet to find a marina with a dedicated emptying point for chemical toilets, which means you have to empty them down a toilet. There is not going to be a tap and hose pipe for cleaning down afterwards, so you either leave a stinking green mess or go to lots of trouble to bale water from the sinks in a container of some sort.

Whereas a proper boat toilet could not be less trouble. Pump and it's gone. People will bleat on about more holes in the boat, but look after them properly and there is no problem. A Starlight 39, reckoned by many to be one of the best cruising boats ever built, has 11 skin fittings. That isn't a problem for Starlight owners, so why should it be for the rest of us?

 

[chewi]

I removed the heads in favour of a portapotti 365.
You do need to follow the instructions on the chemicals, but thats not hard.
It does allow you to use it in less secluded anchorages/marinas without causing offence.
The two parts split , the waste tank has a carry handle, poring spout and a vent button, you pour the waste into a toilet or other disposal, no need for contact with the black waste. ( the spout on the 365 allows you to empty deep into a toilet, splashing is minimal and flushes away)
the freedom and guiltfree use of it is worth the disposal routine imo.
Just dont ever be tempted to use seawater as a flush medium, it took multiple sessions of milton to get rid of the marine life.

I have no regrets about the switch

 

[prv]

Never used one on a boat, and wouldn't want to.

My parents' caravan had one. I didn't mind peeing into it (but that's a lot easier for blokes ) but even then you'd get a good view of the inside of the tank when you pulled the trapdoor handle, so it depended what previous users had used it for. I think I only used it for a sit-down job the once (we were always at sites with loo blocks), and it wasn't very pleasant.

My dad always handled the emptying, bless him, so I'm against them even without having had to contend with that

Stand by for an opposing view on why they're the best thing ever for an Anderson 22 though

Pete

 

[Seajet]

Never used one on a boat,
Stand by for an opposing view on why they're the best thing ever for an Anderson 22 though

Pete

Pete,

well here you are then !

For any boat on a drying mooring - and the more intelligent types stay overnight, that way we learn the condition of the chain etc and seabed around the mooring - a Porta Potti works when the boat is dried out.

It also works discreetly when in marinas rather than a commotion, loads of pumping, and embarassing bubbles !

'Green ' dissolving chemicals have been available for some time, and I know marinas - Northney in Chichester Harbour for one - with disposal points; otherwise the holding tanks are easy to carry and one just empties it into a marina loo, it's not rocket science.

Holding tanks seem to be an incoming legal requirement - already is in some places - , a Porta Potti is a damn sight easier to fit than a tank and the plumbing !

Seacocks are a potential source of nightmare situations - both for maintainance and lightning strikes -, best avoided when one can; I know people who are removing sea toilets and fitting Porta Pottis ( on larger boats than Anderson 22's ) for this reason, and if I had my time again on my Carter 30 I'd do the same.

Clueless people say ' what about the smell ? ' but Porta Potti's don't smell unless the seals give out after decades, there are seal kits available but I find it simpler to replace the loo, they're quite cheap.

There you go Pete, and barely a mention of Andersons !

 

[rob2]

I think most salient points have now been covered - in surprisingly good taste! I have a chemical loo in my caravan, it's the main reason I bought a van so I no longer have to dress, find my wellies and run across a field to the loo. The only times I've suffered any splashing when emptying was when i was less than confident tipping it (just like pouring from a kettle). There is no reason for them to smell, seals or not, if you are using the chemical as intended. It did occur to me that I should combine all aspects of hygiene when emptying and take the emptied cassette into the shower for cleaning, but a couple of flushes through by filling from the tap will mostly suffice.

Having said that, I have a Jabsco on the boat and pleased to have it. Mind you, first flush that one smells!

Rob.

 

[ridgy]

I had one for a while and would only use it for a #2 as a last resort. A bucket in the cockpit was more preferable if privacy allowed.
Not great at sea in anything other than flat conditions as there is not the concave rim that you have on a sea toilet.

Better than nothing on a day sailor I suppose but I was glad to get a sea toilet back.

 

[prv]

Other point not mentioned so far is the advisability (or not) of having a plastic container of sewage stored in your cabin in boisterous conditions. Especially since they're usually found in small boats, you could easily fall off a wave and hurl the thing into your bunk. Yes, they're supposed to be sealed, but how much do you trust it? I know it would worry me.

With a proper toilet, as Vyv says, "pump and it's gone" - gone as in outside the hull and away.

Pete

 

[charles_reed]

I used to have a PortaPotti, on my 2nd boat, and in the days before removable cassettes. At that time my main crew was a Merit II psychiatrist of some 18 stone. The Porta potti was mounted in the forepeak, held down by the little turnbuckles supplied for the job.
Usually we went to Cherbourg from Poole for our weekend trips and on one occasion, after an exuberant night out in late March, my crew went below because he couldn't wait any longer. Being late March and having just come off watch, he was wearing, under his foul-weather trousers, a pair of long johns and his pyjama trousers under jeans and preparing, in a boat, without standing headroom, in a seaway for the necessary disrobement, almost completely exhausted him so when he finally did get on the Portapotti a particularly large wave took him by surprise and he, on Porta Potti, slid out of the forepeak and half way down the saloon and back before, grasping the mast-support, he managed to come to a halt.
Using the Porta potti in reasonable weather was absolutely fine, one opened the forehatch and looked at the world around in marina or out.
IMHO a portapotti is an unnecessary link in the chain of returning to Nature that which has come from Nature - the formaldehyde-based fluid is poisonous to the environment - when I can't use the sea toilet (dried out or on hard) a bucket suffices just fine. Much easier to use, empty, and far less to go wrong. IMHO the PortaPotti is an invention of the dark side of man's nature.

PS We had the forerunner of the PortaPotti, an Elsan when I was a child in Devon and before we dug a cesspit (but that was just after the 2nd World War). I must say the PortaPotti was an advance on the Elsan.

 

[WestWittering]

I have a proper 'heads' on the boat & a port-loo in the VW camper. I often wished when we were on the boat that it was the other way round.

Porta loo benefits : they don't smell, cost nothing to install, have a built in holding tank, easy to empty, more room in the boat & no pipes etc. cheap to buy & no servicing.
Drawbacks : may need to put a bungee or two on it to stop it moving about - I am sure it it no trouble to raise it & secure it.

My one resides discretely in a buddy seat in the camper, best thing I bought for the camper. I think Thetford make one designed for boats, I remember seeing it when I was doing my research.

Di

Having read the previous post, I could suggest mounting it on gimbals - but I won't

EDIT

More benefits - two pumps and it is clear, not endless pumping. Virtually silent. Nothing to block. Much more discreet.

Buy an nice new shiny one - see the Thetford website.

 

[Seajet]

I had one for a while and would only use it for a #2 as a last resort. A bucket in the cockpit was more preferable if privacy allowed.
Not great at sea in anything other than flat conditions as there is not the concave rim that you have on a sea toilet.

Better than nothing on a day sailor I suppose but I was glad to get a sea toilet back.

ridgy,

No idea which model of loo was inflicted on you, but I've used one since 1978 on month long trips with 3 mixed gender crew, before that was on boats with sea toilets where the owner refused to let me use the loo for fear of the thing sinking the boat; so much for " no cancave rim and only suitable for a daysailor " !

 

[Davy_S]

The best way is to **** on a newspaper in a bucket, then light it and let it drift towards another boat. Or, simply **** down the sink if you dont have a proper loo. dont like portapottys.

 

[Cantata]

Used a Porta-Potti for 6 weeks in Holland last year (where you are not allowed to pump a sea toilet, and guess what there are very few chemical emptying points).
Having never used one before it was surprisingly OK and we coped just fine - it seems a clever design and the chemical fluid works well.
But my feelings are that it's OK when it's just family on board, but would perhaps be different if others had to use it. But then perhaps I'm a sensitive soul.
As others have said, modern sea toilets are basically simple things which are no trouble and just keep on working provided you treat 'em right.

 

[WestWittering]

I had one for a while and would only use it for a #2 as a last resort. A bucket in the cockpit was more preferable if privacy allowed.
Not great at sea in anything other than flat conditions as there is not the concave rim that you have on a sea toilet.

Better than nothing on a day sailor I suppose but I was glad to get a sea toilet back.

Number 2s are banned on our boat - JUST IN CASE it blocks... Wouldn't be so concerned about the porta-loo. In fact, if our sea loo does block up EVER, I shall replace it with a Porta-potti from Thetford!

Di

 

[prv]

I've used one since 1978 on month long trips with 3 mixed gender crew
[...]
boats with sea toilets where the owner refused to let me use the loo for fear of the thing sinking the boat;
[...]
so much for " no cancave rim

What has either of those anecdotes got to do with the shape of the rim?

It's a valid point, which hadn't occurred to me. If I had tilted my parents' caravan porta-potty to 30 degrees of heel, the bowl would have spilled everywhere. I've certainly used toilets on boats that were heeled over until all the water was up the side, but the overhang of the rim kept it in.

I guess it's possible that marine porta-potties have this shape, but it seems unlikely because it would be very hard to mould in plastic.

Pete

 

[WestWittering]

What has either of those anecdotes got to do with the shape of the rim?

It's a valid point, which hadn't occurred to me. If I had tilted my parents' caravan porta-potty to 30 degrees of heel, the bowl would have spilled everywhere. I've certainly used toilets on boats that were heeled over until all the water was up the side, but the overhang of the rim kept it in.

I guess it's possible that marine porta-potties have this shape, but it seems unlikely because it would be very hard to mould in plastic.

Pete

Are you talking about heeling while you are using the loo, or just in general?

Di

 

[ChattingLil]

The best way is to **** on a newspaper in a bucket, then light it and let it drift towards another boat. Or, simply **** down the sink if you dont have a proper loo. dont like portapottys.

hmm. not so sure what the asterix stands for in this posting but a) not so easy if you are a female and b) I don't have a sink either!

 

[rob2]

...there is not the concave rim that you have on a sea toilet.

I was reminded of the book "The Specialist" about an American chippy who specialised in loo seats. Having built a three holer for a local works, he was called back as the workers were spending too long in there. He cut the smooth rounded edges off and they didn't spend much time in there after that!

There was a guy who used an ordinary loo seat on top of the bucket and another who fitted seats in the quarters of the pushpit - one of which was a loo seat complete with lid.

Rob.

 

[ChattingLil]

Number 2s are banned on our boat - JUST IN CASE it blocks... Wouldn't be so concerned about the porta-loo. In fact, if our sea loo does block up EVER, I shall replace it with a Porta-potti from Thetford!

Di

lol! I wouldn't know how to even THINK about enforcing or policing that rule! In five years of sea-toilet use (previous boat) with a variety of crew in all shapes, sizes and health issues (don't ask!), I've never had a blockage. The only rule I had was that it had to go through you before it was allowed to go through the loo. and the second rule was that if you blocked it, you dealt with it. Therefore everyone was always careful and there was never a problem.

Have to say also, that I am not fazed by the prospect of sea-cocks. They are easy to keep an eye on.

 

[Poignard]

. . . multiple sessions of milton to get rid of the marine life.

Absolutely. The thought of sitting there, deep in contemplation, whilst a lobster reaches up to grab a hold of one's privy parts ...