TP or No TP

[ssullivan]

You can certainly put dissolvable paper in the head (do like the other poster said and test in a glass of water).

We don't. We follow the old addage:


"If you didn't eat or drink it first, it doesn't go in the head."

[mickmul]

Have to agree with Kai Nui. If you ain't eaten or drank it, it shouldn't go down the (manual and older) head. A small bit of TP, yes, with sufficient drawn in water. Doggy bag in bin is not the prettiest or most instant solution, but it does concentrate the mind to thrifty use. Most blockages come from lack of experience and guests who have not had the pep talk from the skipper - most will shrug their shoulders and deny putting certauin feminine products down the Gary Glitter, but the proof, as they say, is in the dismantling, and will rest with the weary skipper . . .

[hellosailor]

You can easily clog a new "low flush" home toilet with ust three or four generous wads to TP, so clogging a marine head should be even simpler. Maybe the guy had a problem with kids or guests using too much paper.

A marine head should be able to deal with TP in REASONABLE amounts, the only question is if you can make your guests understand "3 to 5 sheets is reasonable, fifteen is called you are going to be the one who unclogs it." Or whatever line you draw.

From that point of view the bag is not unreasonable and it is not uncommon when the owner wishes to accomodate sanitary pads and tampons and other unflushables too--some accomodation must be made.

But I believe in TP, in moderation, and there are many many store brands that dissolve very easily in the holding tank. The common test is to take one square (single or double ply) and place it in a glass of water. Come back in eight hours and see if it has fallen apart, or hardened into a soggy lump. The brands that make the most lint dust while you are pulling them off the roll, usually have the shortest fibers and melt real fast in water. The real cheap hard stuff made from toothpick scraps--that's a problem.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by mudnut

I'd give anything to have"chunky stuff",Mudnut.

If you really want some I'm sure we could work out a price.

[David M]

I would get a different head before I would consider owning a head that you can't put toilet paper into. If a head clogs that easily then you ARE going to have problems in the future.

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by David M

I would get a different head before I would consider owning a head that you can't put toilet paper into. If a head clogs that easily then you ARE going to have problems in the future.

I agree completely with that too.

Don't understand why some think it is ok to have to make doggy bags of used toilet paper on a boat when I would be pretty confident that they would not readily stand for it in their land home (but perhaps they do it there too - and am aware some countries, even in Europe , have primative sewerage systems which aren't happy with anything that goes down the loo).

[hellosailor]

Then again, there was a world before TP. I'm told that was invented in the late-mid 1800's but that when years still had single digits, Roman Legionaires used a natural sea sponge, tied to a stick, dipped and kept in vinegar. Shared among the legion.

I wonder if there's still time to corner the commodities market on sea sponges before this secret leaks out. Better yet, "Send $9.95 to this POBOX NOW for the secrets of how to save thousands by never buying TP again! Time-tested formula, secret of old Rome! Limited time offer!"

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Then again, there was a world before TP.

And cats are still living in a world before TP and cope ok. Maybe we should copy them .

[ssullivan]

There is really only ONE logical solution. Bite the bullet, hone those plumbing skills and INSTALL THIS:

http://www.cadetstuff.org/images/iace_1970_bidet.jpg

[senormechanico]

sully,
If it came to that, I'd prefer the "Swash". Multihull weight avoidance, you know.

Brondell is a leading developer of quality seat bidet products specifically designed for the US market.

Watch the video for the Swash.

[cooper]

...back in tha olden days there was a little box with a hole in it parked way out over the bow at the head of the boat, apparently in anything less than smooth waters it was prudent to hang on whilst experiencing the most powerful bidet known !!

[Alan Wheeler]

Yep, that is the true use of the word. Many seem to have adopted this name for the Toilet. But Toilet is the correct name. Head is not. Head is the head of the boat that once was were you hung yourself south end down. The head of the boat has never shifted. Calling the Toilet the Head is incorrect.

[GordMay]

The use of the term “Head”, referring to a ship's Toilet dates to at least as early as 1708, when Woodes Rogers used the word in his book, A Cruising Voyage Around the World. Head, in a nautical sense, referring to the bow or fore part of a ship, dates to at lreast as early as 1485.
The ship's toilet was (as Wheels notes) typically placed at the head of the ship near the base of the bowsprit, where splashing water served to naturally clean the toilet area. Head remains a proper and acceptable term for a marine toilet, just as a ship’s Kitchen, might be a Galley.

[Madwand]

I'm not from a 3rd world country and I don't want the inside of my boat smelling like one. If you're gonna throw turd-smeared TP in a bucket in your boat, why not just crap in the bucket and keep that in your boat too? Remove the toilet and add more storage space.

I'm not going to live in an outhouse. Don't care what the ramifications are.

[brian and clare]

hi folks my 2 cents. Lives on board form several years, and always flushed. Kept to cheap single ply. Problem comes when the pipes are old and full of calcified gunk and the pipe is actually half the diameter it should be. I will never ever rebuild a head again. Its worth the 200 bucks for a new cheapie manual one. IN any case, when going offshore, if possible and available I buy the dissolving TP they sell in marine stores. Its still prett cheap, and if you get a clog it will dissolve in time. No freakin way I am trying to pull the head apart 200 miles offshore. Since some crew could not be trusted, I instituted the bag rule when we could not get the dissolving tp. Gross.