Composting Toilets

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by MarcW

Natures Head mixing issue.

We added a bead of sika, 2 beads in hieght on the ridge behind the number one holes this solves the mixing issue.

Replaced the seals with new rubber which seems to be lasting.

Great piece of kit.

That bead of sika sounds like a great idea! Thanks MarkW.

[Bloodhound]

Originally Posted by Tellie

That bead of sika sounds like a great idea! Thanks MarkW.

From what I can see, Sika is the name of a company that manufactures and supplies a range of sealing products. Can you (Mark W.) provide the name of the specific sealant you used to build the dam?

Thanks,

Ralph

[MarcW]

Ralph I just used what I had sikaflex 291.
Will be looking into other materials once it fails may take a while its been on for 5 months (cleaned with soft brush only).
May glue a plastic strip then?
Good luck with your choice of sealant.

[nv5l]

Fyi, I just spoke to a guy at Natures Head, and he said that the price will be going up from $850 to $875 on March 1st. However, they are offering a $50 discount from late January and late February, coinciding with the Chicago and Florida boat shows. You'll need to give them a call for specific dates, but if you order during that time period, you can get it for $800, plus shipping.

I'm on a tight budget, so that's a lot better than the $969 they want for the Airhead.

[Brent Swain]

Still grossly overpriced for the $5 worth of plastic and a few bits of stainless.
Build your own, for a tiny fraction the price.

[zeehag]

QUESTION: HAS ANYONE USED ONE OF THESE COMPOSTING TOILETS WHILE FULL TIME CRUISING???? HOW DO YOU LIKE IT ON LONGER PASSAGES, OR DOES IT PRECLUDE THESE/? seems these have an inherent NEED to be land attached......

[Wand]

There's no sense using them on a passage; just pump out. Different story on rivers and lakes etc.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by At sea

There's no sense using them on a passage; just pump out. Different story on rivers and lakes etc.

I imagne someone with compost experience will pipe in here, but the above seems to imply that one might have both a composting head and a conventional head on board.

I haven't changed out to composting yet. But I can't imagne it would be any different on a passage than a conventional marine toilet or my PortaPotty, which I have certainly used on passages.

Don't understand why one would feel like they have "an inherent NEED to be land attached......"

Users on this thread are reporting weeks between emptying. I have gone many many months, as a liveaboard and cruiser between emptying. Less time while on the hook because I didn't want to get caught off gaurd, but not because it was full.

I realize I'm comparing my portapotty to a composting head, but there are similarities that make the comparison work. It's all in how do you use it. In a holding tank systems, all pee goes into the tank, along with flush water. That mindset doesn't fit with these systems.

As I said early on here, and as you might figure from what I said above, I have never had the inclination to have a holding tank system aboard my boats. The very first thing I did when I aquired Minggat was to rip the smellything out and replace it with a portapotty. Smell instantly gone. I did keep the tank in storage for years thinking that the day might come that I might regret my decision. About 3 years ago I noticed it sitting there and decided enough time had past.

[callmecrazy]

I was going to ask the same thing, I really don't see how this is land attached? And considering a holding tank system is completely dependent on pumpout facilities while nearshore (which is the vast majority of time). It seems to me that a conventional marine head is, in this day and age, as land-attached as it gets.

There is nothing wrong with dumping soil into the water (I think?), although I can imagine having to argue that point with the authorities. As far as supplying the composting head goes, the reports are in, you can go many months with a small supply of material that can be obtained anywhere in the world. this is self sufficiency at its best

[Bloodhound]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

Still grossly overpriced for the $5 worth of plastic and a few bits of stainless.
Build your own, for a tiny fraction the price.

Home Depot will sell you one for 5 bucks. It's called a 5 gallon pail with tightly fitting lid. That's a dollar a gallon. Yes, I agree they're overpriced, but everything else is, too. What's a bloke to do? Gotta make the moulds, gotta fabricate, and gotta make a profit, cause groceries ain't free.

[Minggat]

You're right. The job can be done much cheaper. It's a perspective thing I think. The more you spend, hopefully the better it will come out.

If someone were to remodeling the bathroom in their house with the bucket model, after a while they might come to think, "that thing looks like a bucket for a toilet". Their wife and friends might not take as long to come to the same conclusion.

Having said that, what Brent put together looks well thought out and several steps above the $5 approach, and still well below the price tag of the factory molded model. Not at all out of place on a sailboat. So it's probably safe to say that Brent's comment was to encourage us to think outside of the box, rather than to just make bucket toliets.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by Minggat

The more you spend, hopefully the better it will come out.

Pun Intended?

[Greggegner]

I started down the sarcastic path but turned back. If a composting head gets full when cruising off-shore you dump it (leave a little as started). It is mostly broken down so only a small amount is raw. Compare that with pumping 100% raw overboard. Urine is sterile, dump it over other day or so.

[nv5l]

In my case, the cost of going from a non-holding tank system to one with a holding tank isn't really that much cheaper than switching to a composting one -- 40 year old narrow beam boat. Since I don't really have room for a holding tank anyway, this works better for me, plus I don't need to run a lot of hoses and sacrifice any storage space, or rebuild the cabinets and add yet another hole in the deck for pump outs.

As for the bucket on "your" boat, that doesn't bother me a bit. Although I've lived in plenty of primitive environments, I guess I'm getting soft in my old age.

Perhaps you could post photos of your head, with bucket "installed," so we could get a better idea of how it's working out for you.

[Thai Fighter]

I have a Envirolet Smart flush vaccum toilet installed in my Gemini cat. It runs off my PV system, and you can use it just like a regular toilet. I empty the bin once every 3 months.