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composting toilet-should we do it

12K views 87 replies 26 participants last post by  Dean101 
#1 ·
We are seriously considering a composting toilet for our 30ft Pearson. The boat currently has a porta-potti which limits us to about three days usage. Ask me how I know.

Space constraints seem to dictate putting a holding tank either under the v-birth or the dinette, both of which seem conducive to neither romance or dining.

So talk me either into it or out of it. I'd like to here from sailors who have real experience with these composters. The few dock neighbors who have them seem very satisfied with them, but I feel funny asking if I can take one for a test ride.
 
#33 ·
We installed a C-head brand dessicating toilet on our boat nearly one year ago. Our boat had overboard disharge only and we wished to become compliant with the laws, be more neighbourly when at anchor and got tired of making the morning run to shore to use facilities......
The cost of a custom holding tank that would have very little capacity led us down this road.
I find as a girl, that I have to be more mindful of my positioning than my male counterpart, and sometimes some urine does end up in the wrong place, however with the ease and frequency of emptying the C-head this has posed no real problems and a little extra peat moss will take care of it.
We have one at our land based full time living quarters as well, so are very familiar with the unit. We have had a fruit fly infestation at home and on the boat. That was not pleasant, but easily remedied on the boat, we cleaned the whole unit well and hung the poo bucket in the sea for a day,(after emptying it) no more fruit flies, at home it took longer to get rid of them, I think because we were not too interested in really scrubbing the poo bucket and we should have soaked it like we did the other.
It takes some commitment and willingness to use these separating toilets, but I am quite certain that the gross factor is alot less than a portapotti.
Regarding odors, we have not yet got around to connecting the ventilating fans on either unit as there is little to no odor from either unit. I will start to notice a bit of smell when it is time to empty the bucket.
One of the reasons we chose the C-head was for the ease of emptying it. No unbolting of the whole unit as with airhead and natures head. The trade off is that it has to happen more frequently. That becomes a matter of personal preference I think.
From my point of view this is the simplest and least problematic solution to human waste storage on board a boat, especially a smaller boat.
If you do chose to go with a "composter" I would recommend spritzing the urine diverter with a mild vinegar solution after each use, this will prevent an unsightly mineral build up on it. You can tell your guests its just like flushing!
Regards, Tanya
 
#34 ·
We also have a C-Head, decided on it after a tedious amount of research on all sorts of waste treatment options, and so far, after over a year and a half, are quite pleased with it. It is compact, lightweight, sturdy, requires no special carpentry or platform, and its construction is blessedly simple. It's easy to empty, easy to maintain It isn't 'gross' or unsightly, and certainly nowhere near as objectionable as sewage-permeated hoses and pumpout stations. Ugh! The learning curve for its use is no steeper than that for any other marine head. Ours doesn't have any odor at all. It is easy to use. Due to the rather shallow bowl men DO have to sit to use this gadget-- or head for the lee rail. No two ways about that. But then real sailors generally do, right? We haven't had any gnat infestation, but I should think a quick spritz with Raid, and a bit of airing out would cure that. Have also heard that a sprinkling of diatomaceous earth in the peat kills larvae. Also, perhaps using a medium other than garden-center peat might be worthwhile. Removing the containers takes all of 30 seconds, tilting up the seat, lifting the milk jug out, and, if necessary the solids container, dumping and replacing. Easy as can be. I don't understand the objection to the 'small' container. For one thing, a larger one takes up precious space, and for another, who wants to save that stuff, and why?
If you're far out at sea, it's perfectly legal to dispose of it overboard. If you're inland, dump the solid lumps into a plastic bag and pour it into a shoreside toilet, pour it onto a dedicated compost pile, or put a permanent lid on the bucket and chuck it in the nearest dumpster. Urine is as easy as screwing the lid on the disposable (free) gallon plastic jug and pouring it out at the next opportunity. So far, we arent seeing the downside of this thing, and are grateful that we won't have to fix broken mascerators, worn flapper valves, or burned-out pumps. To each his/her own!
 
#37 ·
Weren't you paying attention? These heads stink IF you insist on peeing standing up, aiming at the big hole in the back of the bowl....duh! Here's your free clue: It is the urine that smells bad, especially if mixed with the solid waste. The idea behind the so-called composting head is desiccation. If you don't get the composting/drying medium wet, I believe you will find there is no problem with odor, especially if you bother to do ordinary decent housekeeping.
 
#40 ·
There is no reason that a holding tank and traditional head must stink. Most, however, have no idea how to properly use them and care for them.

There is no guarantee that a composter won't stink (or for that matter attract flies). Again, you must use it correctly.

Stinking is not the deciding factor.

Downside to composter?...... teaching the squeamish guest how to use it, cleaning skid marks (no water), dealing with diarrhea, how about your guest's diarrhea. I'll stop there. Traditional heads will flush these all way without you ever knowing about them.
 
#53 · (Edited)
There is no reason that a holding tank and traditional head must stink. Most, however, have no idea how to properly use them and care for them.
No reason the must, yet they do.

There is no guarantee that a composter won't stink
No gurantee, yet they don't.

Stinking is not the deciding factor.
Could not disagree with this more. Stinking is completely the deciding factor. I spent 3 years, several thousand dollars, and dozens of hours of labor learning this lesson.

Downside to composter?...... teaching the squeamish guest how to use it
Agree with this one.

cleaning skid marks (no water)
With no bowl, not sure how you can get skid marks.
 
#43 ·
The smell is the least of my problems. I don't like holes in my boat's bottom; the limited capacity, given the difficulty of finding pumpout; the weight; the complexity. I have a holding tank; I know what it's like. I'm trying to learn about desiccating heads, from those experienced with them.
 
#48 · (Edited)
Another too-long post vanished into the ether. sigh. I will try again. What was the question?
Oh, yes. the construction of the head is readily apparent on the C-Head.com website. Essentially, the bucket and gallon jug fit snugly inside the waterproof box that forms the base of the toilet. A molded elongated plastic bowl fits atop both. It is hinged at the back. The rear opening in this bowl is maybe 5 inches in diameter, and goes into the bucket. The bowl slopes forward to a smaller spout that fits neatly into the gallon jug. Another hinged flat layer covers the bowl, and has an expanded sort of keyhole opening to the bowl. There is a small cover that fits atop the opening to improve the ventilation draft, perhaps.The toilet seat lowers onto that. so, there are three hinged layers to lift for cleaning and removal of the bucket or jug, which can be easily accomplished with one hand. The churning crank is inserted from the top through the hole in all three layers.

I keep a spray bottle of bathroom cleaner or vinegar water beside the toilet paper and use it for basic routine cleaning. Due to the configuration of the bowl, perhaps, skid marks haven't yet been a problem, but suspect we could manage to deal with it using aforementioned products, being reasonably-good problem-solvers.

Diarrhea may require the addition of a little extra peat/coir/sawdust or whatever desiccating medium is used. (I asked!) Vomiting can be handled similarly, but is said to be best accomplished either over the side or into a plastic-bag lined bucket or trashcan.

Sandy Graves, the manufacturer, offers several sizes and configurations, including slanted bulkhead models, stepped ones, ones to fit in a pointy bow or corner, as well as the standard flat one. Drawings and dimensions are on his website at c-head.com. The standard base is 18", but the slanted one is 15" long.
For the definitive answer on custom jobs, Sandy is the one to ask, and seems very pleasant.

Hope all that is of some use.
 
#49 ·
I see all the c-head fans have perhaps pointedly failed to respond to Minne's comments about diarrhea and skid marks. What do you do if someone has violent runs? That can drop a good amount of fluid, practically water, into the solids container. Not to mention splashing it around in the head.

Do you just add mulch until it is absorbed? And without a flush, do you just put on gloves and wipe down the inside of the head? And leave that paper in it too?
 
#50 · (Edited)
Hmmm. Guess I could try again to address Minne's concerns, this time in English?
See paragraphs 2 and 3 above?
We have not experienced severe illness aboard our boat, and our experiences so far have not caused us undue hardship. The shape of the bowl (excuse me while I repeat myself) directs effluent directly into a plastic bucket or a plastic disposable gallon jug. That big opening is less susceptible to the greatly feared skid marks than a flush toilet, and in the unlikely event, there is that spray bottle that most grownups can master. So here is the theory for the attack of cholera. Hang on, it is pretty technical.:rolleyes:If the plastic gallon pee jug becomes soiled, we throw it away and replace it with another recycled milk jug.:rolleyes: If the plastic five-gallon bucket becomes soiled or soaked such that a few handfuls of extra peat cannot deal adequately with it, we dump the bucket contents into a trash bag, seal it securely, and if the bucket is somehow terribly soiled, we can tie a line around the bale, and toss the bucket over the side to rinse it off, just like people do with nasty pumpout hoses. Or we could take a hose and wash it just like spraying off the deck. Not exactly rocket surgery. :rolleyes:Then we replace the fiber medium with fresh stuff. Probably takes all of five minutes. See there? Not a big dramatic deal after all. Nothing nearly as exciting as repairing a snarled mascerator.
 
#51 ·
It amuses me to see strong sailors brought to their knees by the very thought of having to wipe a toilet bowl. Heaven help 'em if they should ever have to change a baby's diaper, or clean up after a puppy. S(tuff) happens, or so they say. It is a good thing somebody thought to invent soap and water, then, for a quick washup.
 
#54 ·
We like the little compressed bricks of coir. A year's supply fits in a shoebox. And as we have been installing pretty cypress tongue and groove paneling, we have quite a supply of pleasant smelling sawdust and shavings, which I scoop up from under the saw table and put in gallon ziplock bags. Two of those last us for weeks.
Hauling a gallon jug of urine up to the bathroom at the marina isn't that hard. I wouldn't dream of dumping a jug of sterile urine overboard, any more than I could imagine someone more conveniently plumbed taking a perfectly legal leak over the lee rail. My gallon of recycled iced tea usually goes on my own azaleas, and they appreciate the nitrogen.
 
#62 ·
Switching to a composter was one of the best head decisions I ever made. I would never consider going back to a traditional head. I use the material from under old moss covered logs as a composting agent ,in a cloth bag made from the leg of old jeans, which I dry behind my stove. As there is plenty around here,, there is no need to carry much. Definitely no mess problem with it. A table spoon of dry swiimming pool bleach eliminates any odour.
 
#60 ·
Oh, my! I am truly impressed at how accommodating some of you are, even to choosing your head to make the occasional delicate guest happy. Seriously! You're mighty nice. I won't be holding myself to your high standards, I am afraid.

Maybe I just am overreacting to what seems a very high-handed entitlement mentality, but the contortions of courtesy people seem to expect are becoming wearing. My dinner guests can't eat gluten, eggs, meat, sugar, seafood, fish, dairy, artificial sweetener, carbs, fat, anything but organic, free-trade produce, alcohol, soda pop, and the list of mutually exclusive demands on my hospitality seems to be endless. Now I am supposed to tailor my plumbing to the occasional picky passenger?

No. Just no. This is my boat, not Burger King, and you'll be having it MY way. You are a guest, not the pampered princeling who owns this yacht, nor am I your loyal indentured servant. You, the guest, may decide whether you can eat this, drink that, or bear to use my toilet, but we have two choices here: Take it or Leave it. Staying ashore is, indeed, an option.

I can see I shall have to rework my welcome-aboard briefing to one more in line with my increasingly curmudgeonly personality. /rant. So there! :D
 
#63 ·
I can see I shall have to rework my welcome-aboard briefing to one more in line with my increasingly curmudgeonly personality. /rant. So there! :D
FWIW, my doormats say "Go Away." The one for the boat is in coconut fiber, and the one for the house in cypress slats which a fella in Florida builds and then routes out cute sayings like 'Go Away.'
 
#64 ·
We have the Airhead and I would never, ever give it up. Never!!

We bought two urine containers, so we have a fresh one to replace the one that needs emptied. Which we take to the Bathhouse and empty. Before installing the empty container, I put 1 tsp of sugar in the urine bowl which cuts down on odor. As there is none.

The composting portion..we've only stayed on the boat long enough last year that we had to only empty it once, at the end of the season. This year we will be on the boat more of a full time basis. So we'll see how long it takes the two of us to use it and fill it. Although, I always use it, my hubs likes to walk up to the bathhouse to use their facilities in the morning, so we may get a longer time before having to empty it.

JMHO and for what its worth. :)
 
#65 ·
Ameila, fwiw, gluten, sugar, fish, seafood, can actually kill some of your guests. Gluten and sugar do it slowly, through a wide range of autoimmune diseases (celiac disease, true wheat allergy, triggers a wide range of serious autoimmune diseases, the list is growing) and Type 2 diabetes, which among other things can destroy your retinas. Both can cause slow and unnecessary death from a variety of conditions that hadn't been related to the causes until a decade or so ago.

Fish and sugar are actually kinder, they tend to kill immediately from anaphylactic shock, but if you're lucky, someone has an epipen on board.

Crap in the bucket? No one really wants to bother changing baby diapers while they're having dinner, either. Not even the proud parents.
 
#66 · (Edited)
Hello! What a strange and hostile response! When I was a child, I was taught to eat what I took on my plate, to politely and quietly decline what I could not eat, and never ever to make an issue of it, under any circumstances. That is so not done these days. Everybody is a prima donna, entitled to dictate and pass judgment on the menu. As a result, despite the fact that I used to like to cook and entertain, I don't give many formal dinner parties anymore, because I simply cannot keep up. It is just too confusing to plan a lovely menu that will accommodate everybody's whims and fashionable sensitivities. Who will or won't eat what, and who will feel as if the menu needs their personal prior approval? I am too old to prepare a different main course for every guest to cater to their needs. When I first began to entertain, if you couldn't eat shrimp, you didn't. If you were on a diet, you passed the plate on by, or just took a tiny taste.

Flexibility, gracious appreciation, and willingness to accede to the customs of the home--or boat-- in which one finds oneself seem to be hopelessly out of fashion. I equated this personal-preference-as-diktat to the need to design the head and its infrastructure to accommodate some hypothetically hyperfastidious guest's hypothetical head hangups. What an odd leap that we somehow discuss bathrooms at the table. We don't, and if you do, you may be excused from the table. :roll eyes:

Furthermore, even if your head and your foul holding tank makes your whole boat smell like a poorly kept privy, I wouldn't dream of mentioning it, or making a scene. Doesn't seem like too much to ask the same courtesy in return. I might suggest, though, that if you are so repulsed by my desiccating head, that you take care to go in a more acceptable facility before boarding my vessel.
 
#71 ·
.....some hypothetically hyperfastidious guest's hypothetical head hangups......
1. My friends are not hypothetical.

2. It's a cultural norm to use flush toilets, where waste "goes away", it's not fastidious.

You have the right to run your boat as you wish. We prefer a more welcoming and comfortable environment for people of all tastes. Yes, I will cook vegetarian and gluten-free. I have done both aboard, at least by insuring there is enough of everything else they can eat. They would each get sick if they ate steak or bread. Their digestive systems are no longer accustom. The guest composter hangup is simply an issue that is fair for people to consider, but can dismiss if they choose. Depends on the guest you invite.

Perhaps the annoyance or anger that is often shown in response to raising this issue is from perceiving a criticism of choosing a composter. That is not my intent, I'm only attempting to offer considerations. If there is a system I am critical over, its the porta potty, due to the toxic chemicals that are required. However, even then, I understand their use when space is too limited for another solution.
 
#67 ·
Hostile?
OK, call it that. Your post sounded quite dismissive of a number of serious problems. I'm not talking about the prima donnas who insist that they won't drink Coke they only drink Pepsi, I'm talking about guests who may have serious dietary issues, and it sounds like you're saying "TFB" if your menu poisons them.

Take it or leave it? No, if I'm having guests at home or afloat, I make reasonable accommodations. They can't specify the cut of meat but if I knew they were vegans, I sure as hell wouldn't tell them "Tonight's dinner is steak, eat it or go hungry." And if they had peanut allergies, I sure as hell wouldn't tell them "Lunch is PBJs, if you don't like it call out for your own pizza."

Now if you want some real head worries, find one of the WW2 submarines that is open for display and tours and read the extensive instructions showing how to operate the head (while submerged) without sinking the boat, or blowing the sewage tank back into it.

If all you have is a Turkish Toilet, great, but you might want to let the guests know ahead of time. Or, at least hand them a Sears catalogue before you send them in.

Food allergies and digestive disorders can be major life issues, dismissing them outright is like saying you'll undo the whole ADA, ban wheelchairs from public spaces, and set the world back fifty years on "accommodation" for folks with real handicaps. Which these are.
 
#68 ·
Hello! What a strange and hostile response! When I was a child, I was taught to eat what I took on my plate, to politely and quietly decline what I could not eat, and never ever to make an issue of it, under any circumstances. That is so not done these days. Everybody is a prima donna, entitled to dictate and pass judgment on the menu. As a result, despite the fact that I used to like to cook and entertain, I don't give many formal dinner parties anymore, because I simply cannot keep up. It is just too confusing to plan a lovely menu that will accommodate everybody's whims and fashionable sensitivities. Who will or won't eat what, and who will feel as if the menu needs their personal prior approval? I am too old to prepare a different main course for every guest to cater to their needs. When I first began to entertain, if you couldn't eat shrimp, you didn't. If you were on a diet, you passed the plate on by, or just took a tiny taste.

Flexibility, gracious appreciation, and willingness to accede to the customs of the home--or boat-- in which one finds oneself seem to be hopelessly out of fashion. I equated this personal-preference-as-diktat to the need to design the head and its infrastructure to accommodate some hypothetically hyperfastidious guest's hypothetical head hangups. What an odd leap that we somehow discuss bathrooms at the table. We don't, and if you do, you may be excused from the table. :roll eyes:

Furthermore, even if your head and your foul holding tank makes your whole boat smell like a poorly kept privy, I wouldn't dream of mentioning it, or making a scene. Doesn't seem like too much to ask the same courtesy in return. I might suggest, though, that if you are so repulsed by my desiccating head, that you take care to go in a more acceptable facility before boarding my vessel.
THANK YOU ! ! Well said. Bravo

You home is your castle. While in other people's castle's show some respect.
 
#70 ·
Hostile?
OK, call it that. Your post sounded quite dismissive of a number of serious problems. I'm not talking about the prima donnas who insist that they won't drink Coke they only drink Pepsi, I'm talking about guests who may have serious dietary issues, and it sounds like you're saying "TFB" if your menu poisons them.

Take it or leave it? No, if I'm having guests at home or afloat, I make reasonable accommodations. They can't specify the cut of meat but if I knew they were vegans, I sure as hell wouldn't tell them "Tonight's dinner is steak, eat it or go hungry." And if they had peanut allergies, I sure as hell wouldn't tell them "Lunch is PBJs, if you don't like it call out for your own pizza."

Now if you want some real head worries, find one of the WW2 submarines that is open for display and tours and read the extensive instructions showing how to operate the head (while submerged) without sinking the boat, or blowing the sewage tank back into it.

If all you have is a Turkish Toilet, great, but you might want to let the guests know ahead of time. Or, at least hand them a Sears catalogue before you send them in.

Food allergies and digestive disorders can be major life issues, dismissing them outright is like saying you'll undo the whole ADA, ban wheelchairs from public spaces, and set the world back fifty years on "accommodation" for folks with real handicaps. Which these are.
You must be a lawyer.
 
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