Sawdust toilet for small head spaces

[CharlieJ]

Also- direct deposit, while legal offshore is idiotic. Much safer to use a container, and dump. I say this after many offshore miles

[SeaHusky]

I did not ask my friend how many times their "wet" marine toilet system needed disassembly during their cruises.  I am confident it is several times since I have had that experience as well.  Taking a toilet apart during a cruise is, in my estimation, the most dreaded task of all.

Just like oil filters a anodes, carry e few spare "heads". When clogged simply discard and replace...

[Owly055]

     At sea, folks normally dump sewage overboard.  The logical extension of that is "direct deposit", which is the most common cause of MOB situations... pissing over the side or stern.    I've gravitated to catamarans, and interestingly I have yet to see or read about someone who put a head on the bridge deck... basically just a  hole like an outhouse, with the entire ocean as your pit.  There is no simpler solution for offshore...... porpoises do it, fish do it.... seals kind of like to do it on your boat ;-)   As practical as it is, the subject seems to be taboo, gross, disgusting to many people...........   Jim Brown advocates it on the Searunner trimaran as an option......"gentlemen please be seated" is a rather priceless quote.

                                                                      H.W.

Newicks Roue Wave had a openimg in a wing deck for exactly that- a water tight hatch.

It's a practical if not PC solution............ of course even voyagers spend 95% or more of their time at anchor &c.   With sawdust toilets, I suspect that except in an actual slip, urine gets dumped overboard most of the time...... I'd rather resort to "direct deposit" of urine than diversion into a jug and then dumping the jug.   The nitrogen content of urine is very high, and it is quite sterile, it seems a shame that it gets flushed down toilets into treatment ponds when it should go on fields for fertilizer..... really all sewage should.  Our practice of mixing it with huge amounts of water, and ultimately discharging the water into rivers seems wasteful of two valuable resources.

                                               H.W.

[CharlieJ]

Urine always gets dumped overboard, usually from a small container in the cockpit.

[SeaHusky]

it seems a shame that it gets flushed down toilets into treatment ponds when it should go on fields for fertilizer..... really all sewage should.  Our practice of mixing it with huge amounts of water, and ultimately discharging the water into rivers seems wasteful of two valuable resources.

                                               H.W.

Our whole sewage system needs to change. In Germany, and soon Sweden, it is illegal to use sewage as fertilizer on crops due to its high content of cadmium and other contaminants. Also, like you say, 99% of our sewage is purified drinking water. A modern replacement system could be vacuum powered and if you could get people to only put no.1 and no.2 in it we would take a huge step toward sustainability.

[Phantom Jim]

A new - to - me concept: the Laveo Dry Flush.  Everyone give it a good look and report what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMa6yTos38s

[SeaHusky]

A new - to - me concept: the Laveo Dry Flush.  Everyone give it a good look and report what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMa6yTos38s

Perhaps I missed it but how many deposits/cassette?
Like many of the comments my reaction is that it uses as much packaging as deposit. If the packaging is biodegradable then it might be a solution if you only need a head occasionally but for standard use - to much waste for a sh~t problem.

[Phantom Jim]

The literature lists 17 flushes per "cassette", apparently both urine and feces.

I am still thinking about the concept and do not want to weigh in until I form my opinion.

[Phantom Jim]

Ok, a few comments about the Laveo Dry Flush Toilet.

1. Cost is around $600 plus $20 per cassette of 15-17 flushes
2. Most reviews are fairly positive, but the poor reviews reflect the worst of onboard toilet problems...odor and unsanitary mess
3. Customer service seems to be a problem with a 6 mo. warranty and several very unhappy owners
4. Those that are happy are really happy
5. Appears to be about the size of the C-Head

This may turn out to be a viable option as time transpires.  There seems to be a couple of quirks that may need to be ironed out.

Does it beat the simplicity of the composting toilets?  I do not know that answer yet.  I do know it is a lot more expensive than a sawdust toilet and about the same cost as a C-Head.  It does cost more than a dollar per flush, which is a lot more than any of the composting toilets.

Stay tuned for the next episode!

[SeaHusky]

How about making something in the same basic fashion but instead of twisting the bag you close a clamp and weld it shut like a vacuum sealer?

[Norman]

From someone who became annoyed when certain public toilets went from one quarter to two, a dollar seems high.  And that does not even include soap, water, towel, and sink, which is included for the quarters.

Back to sawdust and such.

Norman

[Frank]

Off topic, but Norman, I remember feeling totally ripped off the first time I had to pay 10 cents to use the washroom at the public market building in London Ontario back in 1975. Unheard of to me then!
I feel your pain 😄

[Phantom Jim]

I think I will add the Dry Flush from Laveo to the list of possible toilets for smaller boats.  If the technology is sound, the product works and the supplies are available then it may meet the needs of someone.  Just like some boaters like the holding tank system, others may like the porta potty or one of the composting toilet styles.

The Dry Flush is another toilet that is available for us to use.  It maybe more expensive per use, but that is for the user to determine whether this is too much.  I, personally, am not particularly intretested in it but my friend whose wife is put off by the possibility of seeing another's waste may be attracted to the design.

[Phantom Jim]

On a different note, I am investigating different methods to cover the waste so the next user will be spared the vision, or the perception thereof, of someone else's waste.  The Dry Flush uses a mylar bag to contain the waste and perhaps a bagging system could be designed to augment the sawdust design.  An inner baggie just below the rim seat with some sawdust in it.  The waste would drop into the baggie, more sawdust is added and the entire bag dropped into the bucket.  This approach involves a lot of handling of the toilet rim and seat to secure the secondary baggie. 

Another approach entails circular paper cutouts that cover the last deposit and the sawdust.  The technique would be: 1, do the duty; 2, sprinkle sawdust to cover; 3, drop in a circular cover paper to eliminate the sight of the sawdust covered materials.  I suggest using old newsprint as the paper.

The common sense approach is to not be put off by the sight of the contents of the sawdust toilet in the first place!

Any comments are welcomed.

[Phantom Jim]

A different use for the sawdust toilet technique:

Line the porcelain toilet bowl with a grocery store bag and add the sawdust.  The waste is added and more sawdust is added and the bag removed and placed in a bigger trash bag.  Use good store bags with no holes in the bottom.

This will be useful when there is a failure of the marine toilet or the holding tank is full and there is no good place to pump out.  I suspect that each bag can accept a couple of uses before replacement.  We were cruising with a 5 gallon sawdust toilet as the backup and this will allow us to have the sawdust option without carrying the bulkier bucket.

I would not consider this a replacement for a sawdust toilet.

[Phantom Jim]

Maybe this is the solution to marine toilet problems ;)
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f115/stinky-head-no-more-214401.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

[Phantom Jim]

I have become aware of a product named Sweet PDZ, used in horse stalls to absorb ammonia and help deodorize manure areas.  It is a natural product, zeolite, that is from volcanic activity and can be part of a composting process if so chosen.  It is available at Tractor Supply for about $13 for 25 pounds, approximately 0.75 cubic foot.

I will test this product in a few months but would propose that any who are currently using a compost toilet do an evaluation of this product.

My thought is that this product may allow a reduction of the volume of biolitter needed to cycle a compost toilet.  This would the most benefit for sawdust toilet users who use about 3 gallons of biloitter per cycle.  If the volume of bioitter could be reduced perhaps even by 1/3, that would significantly reduce the time between disposing the contents, perhaps from 3-4 days for two adults to 4-5 days.

This could also benefit separating compost toilet users as well but to a lesser extent.