Composting Toilet Question

[Panope]

I'm putting the finishing touches on a home made composter that 2.5 people will be using on weekends and occasional longer trips. No prior experience. I'd like to start by using coconut coir, but I do not know what to buy. I hear people talk about "bricks".

How large a brick do I need? (bin is a 5 gallon bucket)

Does one brick equate to one fill-up?

If I buy extra bricks, do they store well on-board?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

(sorry for butting into your thread, Gadagirl)

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Panope

I'm putting the finishing touches on a home made composter that 2.5 people will be using on weekends and occasional longer trips. No prior experience. I'd like to start by using coconut coir, but I do not know what to buy. I hear people talk about "bricks".

How large a brick do I need? (bin is a 5 gallon bucket)

Does one brick equate to one fill-up?

If I buy extra bricks, do they store well on-board?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

(sorry for butting into your thread, Gadagirl)

Steve here is a quick google of it
https://www.google.com/search?safe=i...loc=0&hl=en-US
And it is in sealed packages so it stores just fine.

[Sea Dreaming]

We bought coconut coir similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Planters-Prid...s=Coconut+coir

We cut it into 6 bricks. 1 brick fills a 5 gallon bucket about half full. That gives us enough for 1 change in our nature's head.

I am cheap so cutting a big brick into smaller is ok. But you can buy smaller bricks and never have to do more than rehydrate it. But you will pay for that convenience.

Our bricks are stored behind our head wrapped in plastic. It's not a pretty solution but practical!

[pcmm]

We have a C-head aboard and are planning on installing a second one. Honestly I think its the most reasonable of all the composting heads. And for us ( family of 4 ) seems to work without issue. No odour, not much mess ( aside from the one time we forgot to empty the urine tank. ( learning curve)

We watched the C-head video on the medium for the toilet and decided to use cedar pet bedding instead of coir. The cedar seems to kill ALL odour (if there was any). Idon't think Coir is a good choice for a composting toilet as you have to rehydrate it ( get it damp) and the whole point of the medium is to remove the moisture from the "deposits" I don't see how coir can do that successfully if it is already damp?


The C-head is such an easy system to use. Installation is simple, take it out of the box and bolt it down! the C-head also comes with all the parts to setup a secondary compost and to setup a vent on the toilet itself ( if you want it). Like the rest of them, if you follow the guide, the toilet will work for you. We like it and its far simpler than dealing with tanks and pump outs etc.

[Sea Dreaming]

The coir works damp because it works like a sponge. A damp sponge picks up more moisture than a dry one. The only odar is the fiber it's self. To me it smells like an old growth forest after a rain. I think it smells plesant!
So far we have had no issues of too much moisture. Jim thinks my mix is too dry! Any way, I don't think there is a right or wrong medium. Availability of any medium may be a bigger factor than what kind. Infact, I've thought of using recycled news paper cat litter! Ha ha! The composting head nay sayers have got to love that!

[ShaktisBoy]

Have one of each type on board. Owners side is an airhead guest side a Jabsco manual toilet. Wife and I can go 5 - 8 weeks without dumping the solids. The urine I did not want to deal with daily so I plumbed in a 12 volt pump to empty it to the holding tank. Now our 20 gallon holding tank holds only urine and needs to be pumped or dumped about once every 3 months because we are not filling the holding tank with water to. Once a month I run a gallon of distilled vinegar to cut down on the urine tank calcium buildups. I would agree however for full time 5 or more people you will be dumping the solids more often. Still it's not a big deal. Before you dump put a couple fresh scoops on top the dump.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by peghall

As previously stated. these "composting" systems have to be emptied at least every 2-3 weeks. But it takes at least 2-3 months for anything to turn into actual compost, plus temps in at least the mid '70s F...so most of these systems are really just glorified cat litter boxes.

.

Don't take advice from someone who has never used one and has no familiarity with them. We regularly got 4-6weeks between being emptied.

Composting continues well below 70F (just a bit slower) and since it's drawing in air from the cabin, temperature isn't typically and issue anyway. We used ours thru a few winters with high temps in the 40's and lows down to the mid 20's with no noticeable impact on the results.

More importantly, who cares if it's finished composting unless you are putting it in your vegie garden which your typical cruiser doesn't have anyway.

When emptying, it doesn't look or smell objectionable. More like rich soil.

6 people for a week - make sure it's empty at the start of the week and it should be sufficient. Yes, you need to explain the use but sent an 8yr old into a manual head without instruction and see what happens....

We had a natures head and really liked it. Good sized solids storage and a full size adult seat. If we were buying again, we would consider the c-head (or I would build my own knock off). It uses a pair of 5 gal buckets, so if you are a purist and want to finish the compost, you can take one home and put it on your compost pile to finish out.

[SailnSteve]

Anyone have experience with transiting to other countries "objecting" to "soil" as the composting material? Canada/USA have regulations regarding plants, soil etc. that I'm curious would preempt composting toilets.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by SailnSteve

Anyone have experience with transiting to other countries "objecting" to "soil" as the composting material? Canada/USA have regulations regarding plants, soil etc. that I'm curious would preempt composting toilets.

It's a good point. We got away with it on our arrival in NZ 9 monthes ago. But it was mostly sawdust onboard, and we had emptied it while well offshore before arrival.

I don't think its really on their radar yet. Certainly the lady that cleared us was happy to not enquire too much, as the idea of taking a pile of fresh poo compost was not so appealing.

I guess its only a matter of time, but they are (hopefully) not going to take sealed bags of peat away, but I can see them taking opened bags away at some stage in the future, certainly in Aus and Nz.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Don't take advice from someone who has never used one and has no familiarity with them. We regularly got 4-6weeks between being emptied.

Composting continues well below 70F (just a bit slower) and since it's drawing in air from the cabin, temperature isn't typically and issue anyway. We used ours thru a few winters with high temps in the 40's and lows down to the mid 20's with no noticeable impact on the results.

More importantly, who cares if it's finished composting unless you are putting it in your vegie garden which your typical cruiser doesn't have anyway.

When emptying, it doesn't look or smell objectionable. More like rich soil.

6 people for a week - make sure it's empty at the start of the week and it should be sufficient. Yes, you need to explain the use but sent an 8yr old into a manual head without instruction and see what happens....

We had a natures head and really liked it. Good sized solids storage and a full size adult seat. If we were buying again, we would consider the c-head (or I would build my own knock off). It uses a pair of 5 gal buckets, so if you are a purist and want to finish the compost, you can take one home and put it on your compost pile to finish out.

Some people only poop every 2 or 3 days. If 2 people are going every day it fills faster. These toilets do not compost they just desiccate not a big deal, but again I've had 5 composters and have changed my feelings,,,I can tell you, even 1x a month you are carrying a bucket of crap across your boat, to empty somewhere or overboard, then cleaning stuck crap out of the composter, then refilling it, compost is messy. Then repeating 12 to 20 times a year. For a full time cruiser it sucks and you are dumping overboard anyways. Then when you have guests you are dealing with their crap and it's even messier.
To each their own[emoji12]

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Some people only poop every 2 or 3 days. If 2 people are going every day it fills faster. These toilets do not compost they just desiccate not a big deal, but again I've had 5 composters and have changed my feelings,,,I can tell you, even 1x a month you are carrying a bucket of crap across your boat, to empty somewhere or overboard, then cleaning stuck crap out of the composter, then refilling it, compost is messy. Then repeating 12 to 20 times a year. For a full time cruiser it sucks and you are dumping overboard anyways. Then when you have guests you are dealing with their crap and it's even messier.
To each their own[emoji12]

Sure there will be some variation but we get 4-6wks and we don't cruise to see how little we can eat (FYI - I'm 6'2" and north of 300lbs. I can't remember going 2 days between... )

Why are you cleaning the interior of the composter? If there is a little crud stuck to the interior, it doesn't smell and doesn't impact the use. We just dump and put it back in place. If it really bothers you the c-head really solves it because you simply put the lid on the bucket and there is no chance it gets near anything in the boat. Use the other bucket and let the first fully compost. (If that eliminates just one time rebuilding a liquid sewage system, I'll JOYFULLY haul 12 buckets of compost per year)

Unless you spend most of your time offshore, I'm sure you would never dump your sewage overboard in a marina or small harbor...right....

(of course silly rules only make a composter more logical as you can stop for 2-3 weeks and not have to worry about the officials following the brown trout back to your boat when you have to empty the tanks every 3-4 days (assuming you don't have to up anchor to find the next broken pumpout)

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Sure there will be some variation but we get 4-6wks and we don't cruise to see how little we can eat (FYI - I'm 6'2" and north of 300lbs. I can't remember going 2 days between... )

Why are you cleaning the interior of the composter? If there is a little crud stuck to the interior, it doesn't smell and doesn't impact the use. We just dump and put it back in place. If it really bothers you the c-head really solves it because you simply put the lid on the bucket and there is no chance it gets near anything in the boat. Use the other bucket and let the first fully compost. (If that eliminates just one time rebuilding a liquid sewage system, I'll JOYFULLY haul 12 buckets of compost per year)

Unless you spend most of your time offshore, I'm sure you would never dump your sewage overboard in a marina or small harbor...right....

(of course silly rules only make a composter more logical as you can stop for 2-3 weeks and not have to worry about the officials following the brown trout back to your boat when you have to empty the tanks every 3-4 days (assuming you don't have to up anchor to find the next broken pumpout)

We clean the Inside because stuff can build up and the longer it sits the harder it is to remove and less bacteria.
As for dumping. Have you ever cruised outside the US? I haven't seen a pumpout from the Bahamas to Croatia. Certainly not in any marina in Spain or Portugal , Gibraltar etc etc. And even if cruising in the US, do the places mind your putting human waste into a dumpster? Or are you doing that "under the radar" as you imply our dumping in the water😎
As for rebuilding a liquid system, once every several years (our last boat went 16 years before waste lines and vents needed replacing is alot less mess then monthly poo bucket re distribution(Joker valves are no biggie)

[smj]

We have owned 1 Airhead, 2 Naturesheads and 2 C-Heads over the last 11 years. Airhead and Natureshead we would empty about once a month, the C-Head about once a week. Although you empty the C-Head 4 times as often, there is little to no chance of the mixture turning soupy, always dry and easy to change. Only once had to clean the Natureshead as we got a case of the flying bugs! Love our composters and would never go back.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

We clean the Inside because stuff can build up and the longer it sits the harder it is to remove and less bacteria.
We never had any significant buildup. Certainly not enough to impact operation or reduce capacity. Bacteria is what does the composting, so trying to eliminate bacteria from the storage container is pretty pointless, especially when the next use will simply reintroduce bacteria.

As for dumping. Have you ever cruised outside the US? I haven't seen a pumpout from the Bahamas to Croatia. Certainly not in any marina in Spain or Portugal , Gibraltar etc etc. And even if cruising in the US, do the places mind your putting human waste into a dumpster? Or are you doing that "under the radar" as you imply our dumping in the water😎
Certainly the rules are silly and often impractical (though I think you are fibbing or conveniently looking the other way in some areas) but with 4-6weeks between dumping, it's a lot easier to comply or at least appear to comply.

As for rebuilding a liquid system, once every several years (our last boat went 16 years before waste lines and vents needed replacing is alot less mess then monthly poo bucket re distribution(Joker valves are no biggie)

I was talking about joker value not a full on replacement. The bucket of dry soil is pretty innocuous by comparison.

A full on replacement? Time for a new boat.

[smj]

I'm guessing it would be easier to store a bag or 5 gallon bucket of compost if unable to find a good place to dispose of it as compared to storing a full holding tank if unable to find a pump out. This of course would be taking into account that you are trying to be responsible with your dump site.