Pump out or Cassette

[Sammie]

Hi

My parents are currently having a boat built which they intend to live on for a few years now they are retired. They are trying to make a decision on toilets and any comments would be helpful. They are put off by the pump out option as all the boats we have used for holidays always seem to have smelly toilets within a few days. They also fill in about a week - is this the norm? I have experience of cassette toilets from motorhoming, and have found that they can be smell free as you can give the cassette a good shake and clean, unlike a pump out. Also, additional cassettes can be carried. The draw back is the plastic bowl which tends to be quite shallow. They have picked up info from the IWA show on china cassette toilets which work on a vacuum system with the cassette mounted away from the actual loo - but from a quick search on previous posts on this forum, they dont seem to popular. So any views and experiences of toilet options would be really appreciated.

Many thanks.

[bottle]

Hi Sammie

.

Welcome to the forum

 

The subject of loo's is a favourite of boaters.

 

Here is my two penny worth.

 

Your experience with the hire boats............................................never had a smelly one on all the ones I hired, maybe yours were not emptied/cleaned properly by the hire base.

 

As to amount of times between emptying depends on holding tank size and number of persons using it and how often they use it.

 

On my boat I will be having both, 'pump out' and cassette, reason will be liveaboard and do not want to caught short if one or the other cannot be emptied

[StoneHenge]

I've never encountered a smelly pump out either, so they must have been unlucky!

 

We have two pump outs, and each have a 250 litre storage tank, which when used daily, but conservatively, last up to six weeks (but four if you have heavy useage).

 

We also have a porta potti for emergencies say if we can't get to a pump out, and there is no room left in the loos!

 

You can keep your pump out tank clean with a good rinse out half way through pump out, and rocking the boat gently as well to encourage the bottom settlers to come out. And we always use dead cheap loo roll as it disintegrates really well which means less chance of clogging and or settling in clumps at the bottom of the tank.

 

For freshness, we use a tincy cap full of blue every couple of days, no smell at all!

[KenK]

For what it's worth we have a cassette, standard Thetford with electric flush.

 

Advantages:- cheap to use (empty), normally plenty of places to empty it, although I have seen some reports that is not always the case.

 

Disadvantages:- Can be heavy to carry for an older person, at least on the way out. Not the most pleasant job in the world.

 

No ones had any problems using the loo and there are certainly no smells.

 

Ken

[chris w]

I have no experience of pump-out systems as I have a Thetford Cassette with electric flush (and a Porta-Potti on a previous boat).

 

I am a big fan of the Thetford (easier than the Porta-Potti); it's a well-designed piece of kit. Advantages over pump-out:

 

* No charge (other than an insignificant amount for the blue chemical)

 

* Can be emptied easily and quickly at a plethora of places (I have never had a problem in nearly 20 years of finding a sanitary station)

 

* Not restricted by marina opening hours, evenings, bank holidays, iced-in etc etc

 

I would suggest carrying a spare cassette as one cassette will last two people around 2 days max and since the water tank only needs filling every 3-4 days, it's good not to have to pull in unnecessarily.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by its only having a shallow bowl. I have never managed to fill it, so to speak (drawing available!!). The ability to rotate the bowl to get optimum strain angle is also another great feature. The electric flush version comes with a "full" warning light too.

 

Chris

Edited August 29, 2007 by chris w

[carlt]

The ability to rotate the bowl to get optimum strain angle is also another great feature.

Do you have a rubber bar on the door to bite down onto, as well?

 

Seriously though, I think we'll be going for the thetford cassette soon. More civilised than the portapotti (I just can't get my head around pump out) and a decent bowl.

[Stroudwater Boy]

We have had both and a boat with pump out and cassette.

 

When we built our current boat we installed a Thetford and we are very happy with our choice.

 

Previous experience over the Christmas break and cold spells made the choice against pump out easy and as I get older I get meaner. As has been said before a spare cassette is a must, we built storage for it under the sink.

 

We now use an environmental additive and it stops all the smells, human and horrible perfume.

[Pie Eater]

Thetford with a spare cassette - simple to use and maintain.

 

Steve

[Sammie]

I'm not sure what you mean by its only having a shallow bowl. I have never managed to fill it, so to speak (drawing available!!). The ability to rotate the bowl to get optimum strain angle is also another great feature. The electric flush version comes with a "full" warning light too.

 

Chris

 

My husband found the bowl shallow on our Thetford loo in our motorhome. This was when sitting, rather than standing, and after a night on the Speckled Hen

[Yar Well]

Hi Sammie

Welcome to the forum.

We have a Thetford Cassette with electric flush and two spare cassettes which we store under our bed. (No odours as they are well sealed)

Advantages as per previous posts but one of the main reasons we went the Thetford route is that it is self contained and should there be any problems it will be easy to replace without to much hassle.

Friends who have gone the pumpout route have often said they wish they hadn't as you will have to pay whatever charge is asked for by marinas now and in the future for a pumpout. You also tend to plan your route to ensure you can get to a pumpout station.

 

Cheers Yarwell

[pagan witch]

We have a Tecma macerating loo that pumps to a remote holding tank of around 200 gallons. Kind of the opposite approach to the vacuum idea.

 

Only time it has ever given a family of 5 liveaboards is when something wsa put down it that shouldn't have been, and even then that has been only twice on the last 3 years (and one of those problems we inherited from previous users).

 

We use a plant spray filled with vinegar to spray around the bowl every few days to keep the limescale out (the blockage that wasn't our fault was caused by limescale breaking off and jamming the pump).

 

We also self pump via a Lee Sanitation kit. Paid for itself in 4 uses.

[sueb]

We have a Tecma macerating loo that pumps to a remote holding tank of around 200 gallons. Kind of the opposite approach to the vacuum idea.

 

Only time it has ever given a family of 5 liveaboards is when something wsa put down it that shouldn't have been, and even then that has been only twice on the last 3 years (and one of those problems we inherited from previous users).

 

We use a plant spray filled with vinegar to spray around the bowl every few days to keep the limescale out (the blockage that wasn't our fault was caused by limescale breaking off and jamming the pump).

 

We also self pump via a Lee Sanitation kit. Paid for itself in 4 uses.

 

20yrs of living with a pump out with our own pumpout kit. Only got frozen in once and a BW barge came through and broke the ice. Had a casette whilst we had a repair and couldn't wait to get rid of it

Sue

[Sammie]

20yrs of living with a pump out with our own pumpout kit. Only got frozen in once and a BW barge came through and broke the ice. Had a casette whilst we had a repair and couldn't wait to get rid of it

Sue

 

Off to look at the lee sanitation website for the pump out kits....... But where do you then pump out to????

[Callunna]

Disadvantages:- Can be heavy to carry for an older person, at least on the way out.

 

Well, I'm not on my way out yet (I hope) and I like to think I'm "Early Middle Age" rather than "Older" (though unfortunately not "wiser") but I know from tent camping how much of a faff it is to empty the porta-potti. I'm the only one who manages not to heave when emptying at an Elsan point, so my job designation is Sh*t Shoveller.

 

I don't fancy carrying on this tradition when we become liveaboards, but the boat we've got our eye on has a cassette toilet which I'm not 100% happy about.

 

Is it possible to retro fit a pumpout/macerator loo?

 

And could somebody please explain what a macerator is, sorry - I tried to find a reference in other posts without success.

 

We could try the cassette system for a while then if it's a problem, maybe we could install a 'proper' bog?

[mayalld]

My husband found the bowl shallow on our Thetford loo in our motorhome. This was when sitting, rather than standing, and after a night on the Speckled Hen

Was that on one of the bench type units?The 200 series (as typically fitted to boats) are rather better

And could somebody please explain what a macerator is, sorry - I tried to find a reference in other posts without success.

Well, we hardly like to talk about the inner and most indelicate workings!A macerator is a set of whirling blades that chop up the solid content before it gets to the tank. A bit like a food processor for processed food!

[Callunna]

A macerator is a set of whirling blades that chop up the solid content before it gets to the tank.

 

Omigod! What if something went horribly wrong???!!!

 

It doesn't bear thinking about!

[bottle]

You have to get down and get dirty

[Bojangles]

I'm thinking of installing a macerator or a vacuflush system.

 

Anybody got any personal experience of either and can tell me the advantages of each system; please?

[saltysplash]

Do you have a rubber bar on the door to bite down onto, as well?

 

Seriously though, I think we'll be going for the thetford cassette soon. More civilised than the portapotti (I just can't get my head around pump out) and a decent bowl.

 

 

Still chuckling after reading that one,

 

My only experience of a smelly pump out was on a wyvern boat back in the late 70's. It was one of the old recirculating liquid type. We didnt realise we could get a pump out during the trip so suffered upto the last day

 

The old tub has a Blake baby sea toilet which has an inbuilt macerator which is basically a sieve plate on the evacuation pump. Does the job grand and not had any blockage in 2 years...touch wood.....and im led to believe they can be converted for a holding tank setup... proper size bowl and seat...very comfy.

However my personal choice will be the bi-pot 50 million litre thingy when swmbo and self finalise our purchase......she dont know it yet though

[mayalld]

Omigod! What if something went horribly wrong???!!!

 

It doesn't bear thinking about!

Now you see why we don't like to actually talk about the finer details.

 

This is one of those subjects where you will be hard pushed to get good advice. Just about everybody has a very firm opinion on which is best, and will defend it to the death.

 

Of course, those of us who have cassettes are right, but we humour the pump-out mob

[blackrose]

Off to look at the lee sanitation website for the pump out kits....... But where do you then pump out to????

 

I think that may be a rhetorical question. You certainly aren't allowed to self pump into BW elsan points as they are for tipping small amounts of waste from cassettes only.

[carlt]

I think that may be a rhetorical question. You certainly aren't allowed to self pump into BW elsan points as they are for tipping small amounts of waste from cassettes only.

I thought you were unless they had a "No self pump-out" sign? Of course, I don't think you should be allowed to.

 

The worst one I saw was the crew of a boat at Cropredy wharf, about 10 yrs ago, pumping out into the toilet with a leaky old hose and a whale hand pump. The stench was awful and the walls were sprayed with the stuff, and they just boated off, leaving it for some poor BW bloke to clean up.

I shall not say the name of the boat but it was a converted, motorised river class butty in purple.

[Radiomariner]

I thought you were unless they had a "No self pump-out" sign? Of course, I don't think you should be allowed to.

 

The worst one I saw was the crew of a boat at Cropredy wharf, about 10 yrs ago, pumping out into the toilet with a leaky old hose and a whale hand pump. The stench was awful and the walls were sprayed with the stuff, and they just boated off, leaving it for some poor BW bloke to clean up.

I shall not say the name of the boat but it was a converted, motorised river class butty in purple.

 

If my memory serves me right, the station at Cropredy is one of the few that has a sign "Self Pumpout" and means just that, use your own pump.

A couple of years back with my vacuum system full indicator light flashing I found the pumping station at Banbury closed for the weekend on Saturday, Cropredy no use to me on Sunday, and found Fenny Compton was closed on Monday! By the time we found a pump out station the ladies were complaining of stinging nettle stings on their behinds! (Even the finest of navigator can not always arrange to be at a pub when the ladies need the toilet!

At that time I really wished I had opted for something different. But the girls seem to prefer the non smelly vacuum job, and it does use less water than a macerator. I am not worried about empting my water tank, you understand, but about how quickly the holding tank fills. In my case, with two persons on board during the week and four at weekends, tank lasts about ten days.

[ChrisPy]

cassette - thetford bench type

[carlt]

If my memory serves me right, the station at Cropredy is one of the few that has a sign "Self Pumpout" and means just that, use your own pump.

Not at the time it didn't and I would stress, these jerks were pumping out into the toilet, not the elsan point.