Composting head vs classic head

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Actually with the proper amount of moisture the composting starts with the first deposit. And by the time ( in my case 3 months ) i solo sail) the first deposit is well and truely composted its the last few deposits that still resemble the deposit .

Wow - that's awesome.

I wonder ...

Is it the medium?
The material deposited?
The moisture levels?

Any garden composting I've seen takes a great deal longer to become usable material.

Not nitpicking; just uninformed and interested (see my original as to why we don't have one)...

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

I joined a cult once.

I got a lightly used Nature’s Head from a guy who purchased a boat with one and didn’t want it.

I think the advantage to a holding tank and Y-valve is that once you get outside the US, generally, you can divert everything and never have to deal with pee or poop.

Inside the US the dedicating head is my choice. I’d never go back to a holding tank.

Awesome cult BTW.

Ummm, no discharge zones exist in many, many locations outside the US. And really, if there’s no law against discharge you really would direct discharge your waste in an anchorage or lagoon? Now that’s gross. Let me know your boat name so I never anchor downstream of you.

Though I do confess to dumping our pee tank in the water pretty much everywhere. It’s just pee, which is legal to discharge from your body and is no different in a bottle.

[tarian]

Hmmm I thought that we would not get more info on compost toilets as said before plenty of threads on it , it seems those that like it like it and those that dont dont fair enough.

In regards to wiping my bottom is killing the planet , one needs to understand plantation forestry and carbon capture and release , if you have all that fancy electronics and batteries on your boat with minerals dug out of the earth , one should never critique some one using bog role to wipe ones bottom , Hypocrisy at its usual blindness.

Organic waste is organic waste not matter how small or how you deal with it and it all ends up in the sea , and like all bits of a boat you replace them regularly or maintain them so if you have smelly pipes A. you have not been doing good maintenance and B, it is time to replace them at not a great cost over years used , I also suspect over the years that composting toilets need maintenance

I am a happy 2 electric macerating toilet and holding tank kinda guy with no smelly pipes

[SV__Grace]

Love our Air Head. Purchased our boat 3 years ago with nasty, smelly non-functional heads (Vacu Flush and Electro San). Tore it all out and installed an Air Head and cheap but reliable Jabsco marine head.

We live full time on our boat and haven't used a pump out since installing our composting toilet. I'll trade dealing with a pee bottle every 3 days with not having to pump out any time.

No smell, easy installation, easy maintenance, what's not to love?

Here's our routine-

- Compost needs to be changed @every 3 weeks. Old stuff gets bagged and goes in the dumpster with our garbage runs (we anchor most of the time). Looks and smells like compost, though it would need more time to cook until ready for a garden.

- Pee bottle gets dumped into a toilet on shore if we're in a marina, or into our marine head for pumping overboard if we're at anchor. It is not harmful to sea life.

- We order our coconut coir on Amazon and can easily go 8-12 months before ordering again. Takes @1.5 bricks to renew the compost every 3 weeks, which is 17 changes per year, times 1.5= 26 bricks per year, total cost @$100.00 per year. Here's our current favorite coir- https://amzn.to/36GeivS

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Singularity

Global toilet paper production consumes 27,000 trees per day (carbon footprint not inclusive of harvesting, manufacturing, advertising, distribution, etc).

That really isn't an issue. The vast majority of paper is made from either recycled paper and/or from trees grown on tree farms. Weyerhaeuser alone has some 12.4 million acres in the US and 14 million acres in Canada. And that is just in the US and Canada.

[Virginia Lee]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I have a delicate question: how do you deal for those times when there is diarrhea or for some people with very runny stool? I understand the urine goes one way an the bowl movement another way so to minimize liquid.
Is a serious question - thanks

It can be a real problem if the solids become slushy. Add more dry stuff to compensate. Wet solids attract fruit flies fast. I am experimenting with pine based kitty litter, which is neater to add a cup at a time. Bonus, it smells nice.

I may have stumbled upon fruit fly mitigation. I softened the coconut coir in Sea water. At least one species of drosophila avoid salt

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Virginia Lee

...I may have stumbled upon fruit fly mitigation. I softened the coconut coir in Sea water. At least one species of drosophila avoid salt

Do you find this has any impact on the dessicating/drying process VL? I did this once, but felt it did make the material more moist. But my single efforts wasn't a very controlled test and I'd like to try it again if it works.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Wow - that's awesome.

I wonder ...

Is it the medium?
The material deposited?
The moisture levels?

Any garden composting I've seen takes a great deal longer to become usable material.

Not nitpicking; just uninformed and interested (see my original as to why we don't have one)...

The medium i use id peat.
The material deposited is just normal cromagnon human fecal waste ( i eat a varied diet including all meats and seafoods along with various cereal grains and vegetable matter)
As to moisture levels basically the moisture levels that are maintained in commercial greenhouses ( for reference)

I should clarify my statement about the composting . The majority of the deposits will look and smell like rich soil however the pathogens are not dead it takes abour a year for that to happen ( for use on plants that are being grown for human consumption. On flower gardens a couple montha is plenty . )

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

So basically you feel it ok to pour into the water.

That is exactly what he didn’t say !

[sailorboy1]

Get the head for your boat that you want. Never start to think that it really matters to me what things people choose to have on their boat

[Sparx]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Here's our current favorite coir- https://amzn.to/36GeivS

Ok this is interesting. Why is this coir preferred? We buy coir so rarely we have yet to established a favorite. We may buy coir later this year. Interested in your experience.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Sparx

Ok this is interesting. Why is this coir preferred? We buy coir so rarely we have yet to established a favorite.

Great question. We've tried 4 different brands of coir in the past 3 years and notice that some work better in our composting toilet than others, some last longer and are easier to work with than others.

Differences include being prone to clumping, ability to easily break up when turned, level to which moisture is absorbed (dryer is better and longer lasting), etc.

It's all made of the same stuff so I don't understand the reasons for the differences between brands, all I know is that using the right coir is a pleasure (easy to turn, long lasting), and the wrong coir is a hassle (clumps, hard to turn, doesn't last as long).

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Sparx

Ok this is interesting. Why is this coir preferred? We buy coir so rarely we have yet to established a favorite. We may buy coir later this year. Interested in your experience.

I've bought a few different brands over the years. I can't say I've noticed any real difference, except around how they are packaged. I've bought from a few Amazon sources (Smart, Growit). Last purchase was from a Canadian company called Millennium Soils Coir. This seemed quite good.

Grace, can you identify the four you've tried, and give us your top pick?

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Grace, can you identify the four you've tried, and give us your top pick?

Our current favorite is "Thunder Acres" available on Amazon - https://amzn.to/38UZfjs

Before that we tried "Plantonix" also from Amazon, but weren't happy with it.

Before than we tried the bricks from https://gardenartisans.com/

And before that we used some that came with our Air Head and liked it, but couldn't easily source it.

Our practice has been to purchase a small quantity and try it before stocking up. We prefer the bricks because they are individually wrapped and easy to store.

[AA3JY]

Gardeartisans was the original coco fiber brick core that came with our Air Head..

Https://gardenartisans.com/