Good on you for trying it out Murray, please let us know how it works for you. I think its thae same system as the space station?
Cool...will think about diverting urine through watermaker to supplement potable water
All relevant points, if we boated the same as you.
We tend to stay in one location, which is invariably a very small bay, for extended lengths of time. I still work, but once retirement comes along we foresee staying in anchorages for a month or more at a time while we photograph the area. With this system there would be no need to pull anchor and move to deep water just to empty the holding tank.
We never empty the holding tank!
There s not a darn thing wrong with using a Marine treatment system in a situation like you describe.
If that little bit of your own properly treated waste in unacceptable to you, that is of course your decision.
Then you will probably happy with your coconut fiber or kitty litter solution.
Murray,
Good luck with the endeavor and let us know how it works out once you get it installed. It wouldn't be my choice, but I'm certainly not offended by it being your choice.
Why do people get their panties into such a knot over this stuff?
You may have the disposable income to chuck a bunch of money at the problem and a cavernous space for all that equipment. We went for "happy and humble" so would prefer spending that kind of money elsewhere, and the space where the holding tank now sits could be used for a better purpose.
Hmmm...
We removed the holding tank from our 24' Bayliner 2452 and installed a Raritan electroscan. A simple system that is still holding up today. (We know the owners).
The only modifaction to that boat that required money was the thousand dollars for the Electroscan MSD.
I'd bet you'll be more than that into your new marine sanitation system, so I'm guessing that although you infer it's a money or space issue, that it's something else.
What ever decision you make, it's your personal decision. You made it a public decision, open for discussion when you started this thread. Just don't try to tell me it's a space or a "disposable income" issue, as it clearly is not.
Each to his own, as long as I'm upwind
Murray,
Good luck with the endeavor and let us know how it works out once you get it installed. It wouldn't be my choice, but I'm certainly not offended by it being your choice.
Thanks. Will do
I'm with Dave here Murray, and can sympathise re the issues that conventional marine loos can pose. So good luck with your plan. As others have said, please keep us informed.
In our case lack of access to pump-out facilities, pump-out macerator pump never self-priming, when it should - then corroding out, no room to put in a Raritan type of treatment plant, and constant issues arising because of infrequent use of the system we had, drove me to find an alternative. For us, being used to using a portable Porta Potti type loo from our trailer yachting days, I blanked everything off, (but a future owner could easily restore same), and went that route. No regrets so far at all. And, being treated, (here anyway - ? about in your waters), it can be dumped into the domestic sewerage system or out in reasonably open water, or taken ashore and buried..?
Did you seriously consider a system like this..? Going by your comments re your plans in the near future, the ease of disposal, but simplicity of containment, and no need to separate liquid from more solid waste, might have been positive aspects to going over to a portable type...?
Peter I know your selling your boat did you ever seriously consider the negative side to selling ?
Not quite sure which negative you're referring to Gaston.
If you mean letting go of a boat and not having one being negative? Yes, sure. Think of that every day, but my frugal retirement is not going to support maintaining a boat.
If you mean having a portable loo being a negative from a resale point of view? Yes. Thought about that also, hence just capping everything off, and I'd throw the TMC with new macerator pump installed in with the boat. If the new owner wanted to track down the blockages, and get the (also new) bloody pump-out pump to work, he's welcome.
However, in our boating area, he would almost certainly still be left with the dilemma of having to illegally pump out the holding tank, which is still in there but just half full of water at present, because we have so few and far between pump out facilities. The 'brilliant' authorities that set in place legislation requiring holding tanks, etc, omitted to legislate for marinas to have to provide the means to empty them. It is a 2 hour trip for me to reach so-called open water to legally pump out. So that would be so for the majority of other owners. Go figure...
Another cultural bias opinion...
......
For an almost forever maint. free toilet setup the RV toilets are the answer , IF the toilet can be over the holding tank..... 1/10 to 1 /20 the pump outs required and an almost limitless component life.
Greetings,
Ms. HM. I don't know how you read my comment as my expectation that our head system would "last forever without any maintenance". That was NOT what I was inferring at all. I fully expect to have to replace joker valves and impellers on a regular basis even if that basis is every 5 or 10 years or so. Not a big deal IMO. No different than any other system that requires some attention...
We tend to stay in one location, which is invariably a very small bay, for extended lengths of time. I still work, but once retirement comes along we foresee staying in anchorages for a month or more at a time while we photograph the area. With this system there would be no need to pull anchor and move to deep water just to empty the holding tank.
Are urine separating/desiccating toilets the same as what's often called a "composting" toilet?
If you contain the urine in some sort of tank or bottle, is it legal to dump that over the side within the three-mile limit?
What you did while kayaking seems to work.
No. The purpose of a composting toilet is ultimately to use the waste material as compost, such as in a garden. A urine separating/desiccating toilet keeps those wastes apart so the solid waste can dry out and be disposed of in deep water or in a compostable garbage bag ashore.
So, what happens to urine in a composting toilet? Does it become part of the compost?