The $10-20 (or even free) composting toilet

[CharlieJ]

 ;D
I know of a small cruiser that has a small red coffe can in the cockpit.

Funny story about that. We know a guy who cruises on a small trawler. He keeps an old coffee cup on deck just outside the helm for that use when underway.

One day while in a marina, someone stole the cup!! He cracks up thinking about it's new use ;D

[SV Wind Dancer]

**Warning!  Grossness follows!  Read and upchuck at your own risk!**  At a marina in Jax a l/a dock neighbor on a houseboat had his macerator go kerplooie, and his ingenuity of the moment created a temporary porta-potty out of a huge battered army size stewpot with a toilet seat on top. Months later! his toilet prob was resolved, and he threw a football bash where beer flowed freely and partygoers were encouraged to help themselves to his homemade chili...from an unmistakable receptacle.     

[nowell]

Thanks Kurt. I really like the design, and simplicity of it. I think with some nice dress up, you could have an entire system that would be simple, with a nice appearance, and functional!

[carl762]

Hello, new here.

This was the first thread on this board that I read, with keen interest, last night.   I then Registered.

I'm sold, and will be putting together a system like yours.  GROG to ya.

Porta-Potty just has to go.

[Oldrig]

Here's another consideration that weighs in favor of a composting toilet:

Sheriff's deputies in Volusia County, Florida, have been boarding out-of-state boats passing through on the ICW, demanding (sometimes at gunpoint) to see the overboard discharge, sometimes putting dye in the heads, pumping 'em hard enough to get dye to come through the vents, and assessing fines of $250 or more.

Show 'em that you have no overboard discharge at all, and they'll have to leave you alone. Just be polite about it.

(Info courtesy of Cruisersnet.com -- I've not been down there yet myself.)

--Joe

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[carl762]

I read that Oldrig, and it should be noted the ship boarded apparently was under sail and the cops boarded and inspected the head at gunpoint, after a crew member ran down below against orders.  Story goes on to say that there was no discharge, but the Officer (gotta love em) wrote the guy a ticket anyway.  Nazi-like in every way.   Very interesting story.

[Jim_ME]

Interesting topic. I wouldn't have considered a composting head much of an option.

Joe, That isn't going to make cruisers feel welcome in that area of Florida, is it...?

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you, and all, too.

-Jim

[CharlieJ]

Most interesting story. I wonder at the REAL tale. Laura and I have traveled the entire coast of Florida without a SINGLE  instance of law inforcement officials being other than polite and reasonable. Either for heads or anchoring. We did change to a pumpable porta potti in Marathon, but that was due to both a harbor regulation (which we felt reasonable) and our own decision to do so. We weren't FORCED into it.

By the way, since we learned to USE the chemicals, we've had little difficulties with that head- and we sleep over it.

And we have had no problem finding places to pump out. In Florida, we never paid a dime for that, other than as part of a mooring fee.

[carl762]

Charlie:

There's a Sheriff's side to the tale and it's as reasonable sounding as it gets, from their side of the story.  However, the method of boarding ... and followup - pathetic - at the officer level.  Link's on other board.

Anyway ...

Haven't been boarded yet, so they could check out my poop!!!!  ;)  

CapnK, I raise me mug to ya!!!!!   I'm pulling the porta-potty today, after I throw a big big bird on the fire.  

[CapnK]

Welcome aboard, Carl! (& Grog! of course)

Glad to have you here, & I hope your composter story works out as good as mine has!  :)

[carl762]

Thanks Capn, glad to be here. 

[oded kishony]

>Future mods will include a stirrer of some sort which won't make you so 'intimate' with the stirring operation.<

Perhaps a simple way of stirring things up would be to have the peat in a strong plastic bag suspended inside the bucket and have a piece of wood anchored to the bucket with a hinge between the bag and the bucket. A rope is attached to the piece of wood and whenever you want to stir things up just pull on the chord.

A bit of trial and error would be needed as to the size and shape of the wooden paddle. Having a heavy duty plastic bag might have an added benefit that if something goes wrong you could wrap it all up and dispose of it rather than having to clean it up.

Love the concept.
Oded
(been lurking all along ;-)

kishonyviolins.com

[maxiSwede]

Hey, if the - errh - container is tight enough, as in very tight.  One could possibly just use the well known teqnique as with a cocktail shaker!  ::)

'Shaken, not stirred' as opposed to James Bond's famous comment.  ::)

Honey, could I have a Fry MArtInI please?   :P

[CapnK]

Wow, Oded - a blast from the past! ;D Wondered where you'd gone off to... ;) Interesting idea, having the container flex for mixing... Will have to ponder that one!

Magnus - ***VERY TIGHT*** would definitely be the operative word(s) with that technique. ;D

[rorik]

Use a paint shaker as a base....?   ;D

[JWalker]

$6 LUXURY composting head!

I used a kitty litter bucket that was laying around,

I cut a separator out of the lid,

then heat molded it to have some curve,

then drew a line where I wanted to put the separator.....

then I took some 316 pin stock I had laying around and used a propane torch to bend it for a stir stick. That took a few times to get it right....

inserted that into two holes at opposing ends of the bucket......

[JWalker]

I then 4200ed the separator to the bucket.

MAKE SURE YOU SAND/SCRATCH/SCORE THE SMOOTH PLASTIC BUCKET (I promise, make sure)

Then I drilled a hole at the bottom of the separator and threaded a pex fitting, one that you can unscrew a little and pull the tube out....

I ran another pex fitting into a nalgene bottle fir the pee jug, this removes for dumping easily.


Then I installed a LUXURY elongated lid!

a few wood blocks to hold it in place....it lifts off easily.

viola!

[JWalker]

The admiral and I used this at home for about two weeks....and were very happy with it....then it started to get really damp....then wet.... ???

so I investigated....

remember when I said to score/sand/scratch the smooooooooth bucket surface?

yup...it had come off a little and was leaking out of the separator into the compost. :o

I dumped it, (cleaned it!) scored/sanded/scratched the line and reglued...I did a better job shaping the 4200 that time and got absolutely no place for a drop off pee to collect. the flow is nice and strait into the bottle now! 8)

We tried it again for about two weeks before our winter migration....

the thing does not smell! You can kneel next to it and not smell anything!  ;D

I'm so impressed.

Future things I may address:

I could work on the stirring mechanism...there are a few places that don't get folded in...but I think I may cut a fiberglass batten to fit in for extra stirring every few days...There is a crank handle on the front of the bucket for stirring, and it does a good enough job, but there is just that little area....

Bug hat! I saw a fly poking around the lid....and if he were to find out what a wonderful lovely place that is.....well....I think I'll make a noseeum shower cap kinda thing.

Maybe ventilation.... I want to use it more before I commit....but I found some 1.57 inch computer fans that draw like .08 amps...so it would take roughly 2 amp hours a day....I was thinking of putting a hole in the side of the potty and using some shop vac hose to vent it. This however will add to complexity, in dumping the potty.

[CapnK]

Saw this a little while back and thought it might be an interesting "add" to this subject:

Poop-Eating Worms Power the Eco-Toilets of the Future

Now, if that's not an attention-getting headline, I just don't know what is...  ??? 8)

WRT the worms, I think it will take some experimentation - with just the 'output' ::) of 1 or 2 people, might this become something of a "closed system" if you had enough worms?

Yes, I will be trying it... :D (Apologies in advance to PETA sympathizers, on behalf of the worms soon to live (hopefully) in my forepeak... hehe)

If I can find a way so that it works at the dock, perhaps then it will work at sea as well, and we can rid ourselves of carrying eatra peat/coir, and the need for regular emptying of our quiet, smell-free "terlits"...   ;D

------ Below is the relevent part of the article-----

The poop industry is ripe for disruption, and a French company is offering one solution: Use turd-eating worms to compost waste right at the source.

The company, Ecosphere Technologies, has developed an outhouse that, rather than relying on chemicals like a port-a-john, relies on about a pound of red wiggler worms that are native to Europe. A new installation in Quebec uses imported worms, placed inside of a mixture of dung and straw underneath to toilet, to devour feces delivered to them by a conveyor belt system. (When someone uses the toilet, pee filters through sand to wash away, while a pedal allows the user to transport their poo to the worm space.)

?A worm eats almost its own weight in food each day,? worm farmer Helene Beaumont told the AFP during a demo at a golf course ?And the more poop there is to eat, the more they reproduce.?

The whole system uses no water or electricity, and a series of passive vents allegedly keeps the toilet smelling great. The company claims it can be used 10,000 times without servicing, which is far better than what a port-a-potty can boast, although with a current price tag of $40k for the worm system, port-a-potties are still a lot cheaper.

[Sunset]

Just curious, what if the worms get sea sick and start upchucking? ??? ;) :)