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We compost our waste have done for the last 30+ years on our smallholdings, moorings & our cottage in the west of Ireland.Our boats have either sea-toilets (on EA waters& of course the sea). We successfully compost on our narrowboat along with many other boaters who do things correctly. This current problem of binning the waste has arisen alongside the, (mainly London) problem, overcrowding on the towpath which leads to boaters being reluctant to move to seek pump-out which of course cost money & difficulty in finding another mooring spot.. Quite a few of these boats are rented and even sub-let and the 'landlords' promote the binning of the crap as an acceptable practice. I see Wu Wu composting toilets recently put out a newsletter referring to a pilot composting waste collection service which may be the way forward in some areas. One simple solution may be a charge for binning human waste around the same as the cost of a pump-out. It won't bother us who have been composting for years but it would put off the quick-fix brigade. Rather than argue constantly from an uninformed point of view I would suggest people read the many interesting posts on the Facebook group 'Compost Toilets for boats and off grid living ' read the book Humanmanure or visit the CAT in Wales. All of which greatly predate the current 'scandal of lazy sods chucking their shit into the bins.

Today in 2008 nice clear view of Chateauneuf from the burgundy canal . The boat moored on the outside is the electric powered trip boat that goes through the Pouilly tunnel 3.3 km long.

This day 2014 - the canal formerly known as the Marne à la Saône, recently renamed the Champagne - Burgundy canal to encourage tourism, but known universally to boatmen as the Heuilly canal as that is where it joins the Saône. Lock-keepers often offer garden produce, but this one had jars of truffles from the local forest. A major difference between UK and France is the majority of locks are automated and you work from the boat to the bank - you don’t want to climb up and down slippery lock ladders and rope handling skills are useful. You need a decent line and an eye large enough to go onto all the various bollards you encounter.

Which is always the danger with a lot of things, even if there isn't an actual issue the perceived problem can be used a the final nail in the coffin. Or to sum it up, it's the small minority of selfish idiots who feck it up for the rest

I have seen two Elsans with such a device fitted Marple & IIRC Whaley Bridge. I use a contraption made up of push-fit plastic pipe to ensure all of IT goes into the sluice below the water line. No mess very clean. I got the idea from a fellow boater in Skipton several years ago.

No doubt I’ll get grief for this….In my opinion widebeams seem to attract a certain type of owner…and they tend to only think of themselves…they don’t even comprehend they may meet a similar sized boat approaching from the opposite direction. The thought that their boat may not be suitable for a given waterway is rarely a consideration.

He did say he was at Pyrford, so it rather follows that boaters bins would be provided by NT rather than CRT.

Keep out of the way if you meet one of these - whoever is steering may not be able to see you. The Dutch-built Eiger-Nordwand (Eiger North Wall) is propelled by Liquified Natural Gas, an ongoing trend on the Rhine and associated waterways. Somewhere under those containers is a storage tank for the LNG, presuably a large one, since filling stations are presently few and far between.

No I should not have to. They are both on mains drainage, there is absolutely no reason why I should not pump out there, my effluent is not going to block anything unlike a porta potti or cassette.

I do not think anyone of the forum has suggested that composting toilets is a bad idea, in fact it is an environmentally GOOD IDEA, when done properly and in accordance with the instructions and methods outlined in the documents you mention. The problem seems to be very much originating from the 21st C ethos of "I do what I want, I get what I want, and if it makes my life easier I do it, stuff the rest of you" there is absolutely no moral sense of right or wrong and as you say selfishness is rife. Society must be at it lowest point for generations.

Not at all. It was just that I have and it was me they were moored behind me in Coventry in their video in question and I don't recognise them for their 'supremacy'. But obviously Colin does his research as many of us do because we are fascinated and passionate about the canal environment where we find ourselves. And I now have your measure. So I shan't make much of what you post in future as you don't research and just spout.

It's me, I'm back and I'm very pleased to say I'm not pushing up daisy's just yet, I'm back to "boast" about my welding skills, I must say the grey stuff didn't let me down. Joking aside the welder and rod combination worked a dream, not one stuck rod, which was my biggest fear. I would certainly not claim that the welds were the best I'd ever seen, but they were pretty good considering the forty odd years since last having a go and much better than the ones I ground off, that the the boat fitter (not shell builder) had done. Tony and anyone else who dismays at their old style cheap, heavy, Sip type welders, I recommend you try one of these modern cheap (£129.99) inverter welders, I'm sure it's far superior to the ones I used in the old day's, brilliant live arc on 110A and 2.5mm rod, good melting of both uxtor plate and angle, I even turn the amperage down to 100A and would have probably tried a slightly larger rod if I had one and a place and time to practice. The whole welder isn't much bigger than a shoes box and weighs under six kilo, absolutely amazing. Plug unit directly into the 16A shore-line, Fire chief (wife) stood by with the water hose running, disconnected house and gen-set batteries and engine alternators also turned off PV, MultiPlus and isolator, to hard to reach engine battery, haven't started engine or gen-set yet but inverter and PV's seem to be doing their job. Thanks to all of those who posted advice and opinions, apologies to those I didn't see until after the works had been completed. Regards

They are very good, some of the best Volockies I have come across

Well, there is just something about know it all AdeE that just tees me off. I am not alone.....

Dont know if this one has been seen before

But they are dump throughs so as long as the pump out fitting and hose is large enough probably no problem. I think the pump out wagons use a "pressure" tank and vacuum pump, so no impeller to block.

The first and most important bit of kit to acquire before diving into an integral water tank is a small foam rubber cushion. Invaluable when sitting, kneeling, squatting or lying.

Update - cleaned, primed and 1 coat of potable blacking!

Oh bloomin heck Martin, go and polish your caravan or something.

At last I've found YouTuber who puts less effort into their videos than me!

These large fishing matches are a nerve racking experience but it was really interesting when we went past one of them loaded. They didn’t seem to understand that we moved quite a lot of water on a shallow canal so we were shouted at for speeding,pulling their keep nets out of the ground and anything else they could think of. Occasionally one would thank us as it seemed we pushed the fish onto his hook.