Head Poll - what type do you have?

[Mike OReilly]

Looks like the percentages are staying pretty stable now, but keep adding your numbers folks. The more the better…

I am thinking about the next poll. I’d like to see how cruising area affects head choice. I suspect (as others have said) that location correlates strongly to how sewage is managed. So my question to you:

What areas/regions can I list? I don’t want the poll to be too big, but I want to get useful data. Off the cuff I’m thinking:

Great Lakes
North America costal
Bahamas/Caribbean
Mediterranean
Baltic/Scandinavia
Australia
Pacific Islands

[Mr B]

Originally called the Water Closet, or WC,
We call it a toilet, Where ever it is, Boat or land,

But us Aussies just call it, The Dunny,

[Don C L]

May have missed it but what is "other?" A bucket?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Don C L

May have missed it but what is "other?" A bucket?

Yup … It’s the catch all for whatever else people might be doing.

No surprise here that the standard marine heads with holding tanks are the dominate option. I am surprised that Type II numbers are so small, and that composters and direct discharge numbers are virtually the same.

This is aggregate data. I suspect there are strong regional differences.

[sailorboy1]

Crap man, 5% are using "other"

[peghall]

I am surprised that Type II numbers are so small...

That's because Type I is legal on all vessels up to 66'... only vessels 66' + are required to use Type II.

And fwiw, Type I is not "minimal treatment"...although federal law requires only that they reduce bacteria count to a max of 1,000/100ml, most of 'em reduce it to less than 10/100ml. Most Type II only meet the federal requirement of a max 200/100ml, which is also the federal water quality standard for swimming.

[taxwizz]

Originally Posted by peghall

I am surprised that Type II numbers are so small...

That's because Type I is legal on all vessels up to 66'... only vessels 66' + are required to use Type II.

And fwiw, Type I is not "minimal treatment"...although federal law requires only that they reduce bacteria count to a max of 1,000/100ml, most of 'em reduce it to less than 10/100ml. Most Type II only meet the federal requirement of a max 200/100ml, which is also the federal water quality standard for swimming.

Peggy...Are you referring to boating in the Great Lakes? Your info does not sound correct, at least not on the Canadian side.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by peghall

It's the other way around...the "fixture" was first. The original crew "toilet" on sailing ships was a board with a hole in it attached to the bow over the water...iow at the "head" of the ship. That led to referring to actual toilets as "heads." When vessel design evolved to include a private compartment for the toilet, it was called the "head compartment," shortened to just "head" for both the toilet and the space. As the boating industry has tried to broaden its customer base to appeal to a broader segment of the population that's unfamiliar with nautical terminology, it's begun calling the toilet a "toilet."

Another bit of marine plumbing trivia. Sailing ships and even the earliest propeller driven vessels had high freeboard, allowing the aforementioned "heads" and "water closets" to be direct-drop facilities. The ironclad warships MONITOR and MERRIMAC were among the first low freeboard vessel...making direct drop toilets impossible. The MONITOR's designer, Swedish engineer John Ericsson solved the problem by creating the first marine flush toilet--a kind of mini-torpedo tube. After a sailor used the toilet, he had to close a near valve, open a far valve, then actuate a pump to drive the waste out. His design is still the basis for the toilets on submarines today. Ericsson's designs included a lot more than toilets...the MONITOR also had the first rotating gun turret, making it unnecessary to continually turn and re-position the vessel to reload and fire. But nobody thought to tell the crew, so they didn't know how to use it until it was too late in the battle to be able to do more than stalemate the MERRIMAC.

Ericsson was an amazing inventor...worth spending some time reading about.

Very interesting! And thank you for that.

But I'm not convinced that the board with a hole in it on old square riggers was ever "the heads". Wouldn't "the heads" have been the PLACE, rather? "I'm going to the heads" -- meaning going to the head of the ship, where said board resides. You said yourself "iow at the 'head' of the ship".

The U.S. Navy seems to agree with UK usage, calling the space "the head", and not the fixture:

"Head

"The 'head' aboard a Navy ship is the bathroom [N.B. -- NOT the toilet]. The term comes from the days of sailing ships when the place for the crew to relieve themselves was all the way forward on either side of the bowsprit, the integral part of the hull to which the figurehead was fastened."

[emphasis added]

Navy Terminology, Origins of

[Simply Sailing]

Air Head composting toilet, 7 years and counting. Wouldn't change it for the world. We had a bucket for 5 years before that, but when we sailed back to the country we realized it wasn't going to work there, so we got a composting head in order to not have to REINSTALL the holding tank, Y-valve, hoses, thru-hulls, etc. that we had ripped out 5 years earlier. Next to a bucket (which only works in those anchorages where you're pretty much hanging on the edge and the ocean takes it all away) it's the best choice for us. Here's what I wrote about it for Good Old Boat, years ago.
Simply Sailing Online

[Luther]

I have 2 Raritan PHII manual pump toilets both with Y valves going either overboard or 30g holding tank with macerator pump.

I'm quiet happy with them but forward head needs new hoses. It's a long run to the holding tank so I'm tempted to shop for a composting toilet.
I haven't read of anyone who converted to a composting head saying that they would change back.........

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Luther

...I'm quiet happy with them but forward head needs new hoses. It's a long run to the holding tank so I'm tempted to shop for a composting toilet.
I haven't read of anyone who converted to a composting head saying that they would change back.........

There are a very few you could find — but only a very few. I’d encourage you to speak with people who have actual experience living with these heads. For some reason composting heads are one of those topics that attract a lot of uninformed opinion.

Most of us would never go back to a standard marine head.

[Kahala]

We have 2 Tecma toilets installed. They were standard equipment on boat. A nice feature with Tecma toilets is you can adjust the flush cycle duration and flush water volume electronically on the back of the control panel. Benefits of Tecma: very quiet operation, adjustable flush water volume, more efficient macerating system, more comfortable bowl and seat shape. Cons: high cost, weight, seat heater uses additional power.

[GrowleyMonster]

Manual pump Jabsco and 25gal tank. I have basically a complete spare head minus the bowl itself, so I can do repairs. I just installed this guy in my new shower stall and did not want to run the overboard discharge hose all the way to where the old head was, so currently there is no direct overboard discharge capability. There is a Y valve but it dead ends at a pipe cap for now. Maybe next haulout I will put a through hull there for it, but for now I have to visit the pumpout when it is full.

Being single and living aboard in a well equipped marina, it takes a while to fill up such a big tank. Basically it just doesn't get used at the dock, unless I have a boat bunny over to entertain me. If I had the space and money I would spring for a type II but this works nice and it is dead easy to maintain.

The original head was some unknown brand and it had about a 4 gallon tank that wrapped around the base of the unit, and you would disconnect it and carry it ashore to dump. I thought that was the stupidest system I have ever seen, so I replaced it with a jabsco and a 6 gallon tank taking up part of the hanging locker, with a Y valve feeding either tank or overboard. Not a bad system but I wanted the head for an office space, and since I built a shower anyway, I decided to move it to there to get double use out of the same space, and mount the big tank I got steeply discounted at Worst Marine. For a while I had two operating heads. Probably the only 27 foot boat in Louisiana with two heads and a proper indoor shower too.

[peghall]

I'm quiet happy with them but forward head needs new hoses. It's a long run to the holding tank so I'm tempted to shop for a composting toilet.

Cheaper and easier to install a second tank for the forward head.

[Rebar_Caruso]

forward head is Raritan electroscan - into holding tank, with macerater at foot of the head, and for the pump out. All good on my end. Have the Y valve option for pump out from deck, or out under the hull/water.

aft head is a Jabsco pump toilet with holding tank. Macerater pump after the holding tank for either deck pump out or thru hull below waterline.