Composting Toilet

[reiner]

I am going to replace my conventional toilet with a composting one like the airhead .
Just wondering about the liquid bottle. I was wondering if anybody has hocked up the bottle to a trough hull fitting so you can empty it without removing the bottle. Not sure how legal it is either.

[peghall]

Don't know about Aussie law, but US marine sanitation laws don't distinguish between solid and liquid waste...it's just as illegal todischarge ("includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pouring, pumping, emitting, emptying, or dumping") urine alone inside the "3 mile limit" as it is to dump a tank. So carrying the jugs ashore to empty 'em is the only legal way.

However, that doesn't seem to prevent at least 95% of the owners of these systems (which, btw, are actually dessicators, not composters) from pouring 'em over the side anyway. If they couldn't do that any more...had to start carrying the jugs ashore all the time, the popularity of these devices would drop like a rock.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by reiner

I am going to replace my conventional toilet with a composting one like the airhead .
Just wondering about the liquid bottle. I was wondering if anybody has hocked up the bottle to a trough hull fitting so you can empty it without removing the bottle. Not sure how legal it is either.

The toilet would need to be above the waterline unless you were pumping over a loop. It's easy to be discrete with a urine bottle. There's not much inconvenience in dumping the bottle though it's important to remember!

I can't speak to Brisbane but it's legal in Canada.

[PaulyG]

I did see a good review of a composting toilet in Cruising Helmsman website mysailing.com.au

[smj]

Originally Posted by peghall

Don't know about Aussie law, but US marine sanitation laws don't distinguish between solid and liquid waste...it's just as illegal todischarge ("includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pouring, pumping, emitting, emptying, or dumping") urine alone inside the "3 mile limit" as it is to dump a tank. So carrying the jugs ashore to empty 'em is the only legal way.

However, that doesn't seem to prevent at least 95% of the owners of these systems (which, btw, are actually dessicators, not composters) from pouring 'em over the side anyway. If they couldn't do that any more...had to start carrying the jugs ashore all the time, the popularity of these devices would drop like a rock.

95%, is that a number you got from a published source or one you pulled of the top of your head?

[peghall]

It's a number based on my having yet to meet a single owners who hasn't admitted (some after a little more coaxing than than others) to pouring it over the side, but assuming there must be at least a few who don't.

[peghall]

Not everywhere in Canada, Hum....where there are NDZs (a number of the Provincial Park anchorages in your part of the country...the Great Lakes), Canadian laws copy US law except where they're even more strict. For instance, no PORTABLE toilets in the CN waters of the Great Lakes or any other inland CN waters. However, it's legal to discharge toilet waste directly overboard in all the east coast CN waters.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by peghall

Not everywhere in Canada, Hum....where there are NDZs (a number of the Provincial Park anchorages in your part of the country...the Great Lakes), Canadian laws copy US law except where they're even more strict. For instance, no PORTABLE toilets in the CN waters of the Great Lakes or any other inland CN waters. However, it's legal to discharge toilet waste directly overboard in all the east coast CN waters.

I should have qualified that as all oceanic waters but Canadians laws don't copy US laws actually (unless you can cite the instance). Our environmental laws are very different from US law.

By the way, the Great Lakes are nowhere near my part of the country.

[bobconnie]

Come on fellas !! how many of us can say "WE NEVER PEE OFF THE SIDE OF THE BOAT !!" Same thing, and besides most coastal citys sewer runoff is a much bigger problem then a few composting toilet users draining a pee container over board !!! My goodness are we getting a little far out here ? I was hopeing to here about how well the toilets work ! Bob and Connie

[hummingway]

It's fairly common for the contents of entire holding tanks to be dumped where boats sits on the west coast, never mind peeing over the side. Amongst the ones who bother going anywhere to pump, in the gulf islands that usually doesn't mean going very far, certainly not into the Strait of Georgia where many of the boats never go. There aren't that many pump outs up here.

[peghall]

Our environmental laws are very different from US law.

I was only referring to CN marine sanitation laws, which are almost identical to ours.

By the way, the Great Lakes are nowhere near my part of the country.

But the B.C. Provincial park anchorages are right in your neighborhood.

[smj]

My guess is there are very few if anyone with a composting head that discharges their solid waste overboard. With the standard marine head and holding tank I would guess the percentage is pretty high. With our composting head we never dump our urine container in a harbor or where other boats are enjoying the water. If we are on our own then....... Composting heads work great. I could never see the standard marine setup in our future.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by peghall

Our environmental laws are very different from US law.

I was only referring to CN marine sanitation laws, which are almost identical to ours.

By the way, the Great Lakes are nowhere near my part of the country.

But the B.C. Provincial park anchorages are right in your neighborhood.

Which BC Provincial Parks have rules against dumping urine in ocean water?

[red_sky]

Originally Posted by smj

My guess is there are very few if anyone with a composting head that discharges their solid waste overboard. With the standard marine head and holding tank I would guess the percentage is pretty high. With our composting head we never dump our urine container in a harbor or where other boats are enjoying the water. If we are on our own then....... Composting heads work great. I could never see the standard marine setup in our future.

Which one do you have? I am leaning toward the c-head (size/simplicity/$) but would love some more info on options. thx!

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by red_sky

Which one do you have? I am leaning toward the c-head (size/simplicity/$) but would love some more info on options. thx!

I just looked at the C-Head and there's things I do like about. The size is a mixed blessing. A bigger tank means less usage before emptying. If you have a second container with a lid that may not be a problem and you may find that an easier system to use. I have a Nature's Head. You get at least twice as many usages before emptying but it takes up more space and you do sit higher on it. It looks like about 3" higher then the C-Head. You get used to it. Check the dimensions for fit before you buy. It is possible to roll you own and there has been threads on this subject before. Somewhere out there in cyber space there's a company that sells separator lids. You provide the rest.