Toilet questions

[magnetman]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

,... or still disposing of the waste illegally -- and for obvious reasons there's no data about how many fall into these two categories...

 

I wonder if the council dog bins where people are supposed to put their unwanted dogs are getting filled up with this boat waste. I suppose if one were to ladle the compost into a plastic bag it would disguise it. It seems reasonably improbable that people collecting the product are tasked with inspecting the contents. 

 

If you did it wearing a balaclava this would probably help evade detection. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cheesegas]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

The highlighted bit is why it's a bad idea *for most boaters*, especially narrowboaters who are short of space. If you're on a wideboat (lots more space) or on your own permanent moorings like Peter-- or in a house, or you... -- then a composting toilet is a great eco-friendly idea, but in reality most boaters with them don't have the space or time or inclination to do the composting (and use the result) properly -- or certainly didn't before CART banned bag'n'binning, which is what the majority of compost toilet boaters did according to survey data.

I'm on a 45' cruiser stern narrowboat, the composter sits on top the rear mounted gas locker so it takes up little real world space. Tricky with a trad though, although I know of a few people who use the 3 box method housed in a wooden enclosure on the roof. They're on longer boats though, and it does take up valuable roof space. I agree that it does take time to research and set up, but once it's going the toilet takes less time to empty than a pumpout, and removing the compost is quick too. I think it's more the research that puts people off and it's not as straightforward as a holding tank, be it a cassette or pump out.

 

 

17 minutes ago, booke23 said:

You mean like compost toilet users do? 😉 

Heh, I imagine some do, but some cassette users also empty in the cut, like I saw one of the continuous moorers up near Tring doing through his swan hatch.

 

 

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Well I suppose that's one approach. 

 

"Oh dear, this thing is too big to fit in the boat. I know what, let's put it out on deck and use it there."

Nothing wrong with that, although I imagine the non liveaboard marina dwellers who strive for a perfectly clear roof and polished brass would have a fit at the prospect of putting a big ugly black box outside. I however think that the barrels referred to are probably water butts, it seems a lot of newer boats I've chatted to at water points are fitted with small tanks in lieu of a nice big well deck...which promptly gets filled with water butts when they realise that 400 litres doesn't get you far.

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Well I suppose that's one approach. 

 

"Oh dear, this thing is too big to fit in the boat. I know what, let's put it out on deck and use it there."

 

 

 

 

I thought it was 'cutting out the middle man' and just hanging your butt over the bow.

[magnetman]

9 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I thought it was 'cutting out the middle man' and just hanging your butt over the bow.

Maybe you could weld in a vertical tube about 6 inch diameter on the deck and have a dump through arrangement. 

 

It could double as a mooring spud pole holder. 

[booke23]

1 hour ago, cheesegas said:

Heh, I imagine some do, but some cassette users also empty in the cut, like I saw one of the continuous moorers up near Tring doing through his swan hatch.

 

Yes disgusting behaviour. The point I was actually making is that every compost toilet user has to dump their urine in the cut or along the tow path. 

[frahkn]

8 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Yes disgusting behaviour. The point I was actually making is that every compost toilet user has to dump their urine in the cut or along the tow path. 

That is a ridiculous assertion, I have a dry toilet but have never dumped urine in any unacceptable manner.

[booke23]

1 minute ago, frahkn said:

That is a ridiculous assertion, I have a dry toilet but have never dumped urine in any unacceptable manner.

 

Do tell where you dump your urine?

 

[magnetman]

I remember the canal shop geyser at Whilton (who later got banged up for sex offences) used to say that human urine was fine emptied onto grass. He was an advocate of "separating" lavatories. 

 

I thought it would kill the grass as we had ponies and when they discharged into the lawn my mother would rush out with a bucket of water post haste to prevent the otherwise inevitable brown patch. Dogs are the same as the ponies but humans apparently not a problem. 

 

 

One issue with discharging urine into the canal is that if there are large enough volumes it can encourage weed growth in the water which can be detrimental to navigation. Maybe CMers like this.

 

[Jon57]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

 

I wonder if the council dog bins where people are supposed to put their unwanted dogs are getting filled up with this boat waste. I suppose if one were to ladle the compost into a plastic bag it would disguise it. It seems reasonably improbable that people collecting the product are tasked with inspecting the contents. 

 

If you did it wearing a balaclava this would probably help evade detection. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bit too much trouble. You would need steps to get high enough to get your arse level with the bin. 🤣

[IanD]

1 minute ago, Jon57 said:

Bit too much trouble. You would need steps to get high enough to get your arse level with the bin. 🤣

 

Surely you'd also need to wear a balaclava (with a nose-hole?) on your arse in case there are any cameras around? 😉

[magnetman]

This is going down hill again isn't it. 

[Jon57]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

This is going down hill again isn't it. 

Not if you flatten the bag it doesn't. Sorry 😔

[IanD]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

This is going down hill again isn't it. 

As always -- sh*t rolls downhill, as my dad used to say... 😉

[magnetman]

To be fair it is quite interesting to consider the moisture content and the remaining solids. I would have thought a good approach would be to have a drying system. This would of course need to be vented but once the product has a moisture content of almost zero then presumably it could be ground down with a pestle and mortar of some sort and disposed of in the same way that dead people's ashes are. 

 

It seems odd that such elaborate systems are devised to deal with what is actually a very small daily output. 

 

I mean we have huge infrastructure dealing with it all. If people just dried it out, ground it down and blew it into the wind the world would be a better place. 

 

The stories one hears about human waste containing endless toxins and being almost as dangerous as nuclear waste just seems like made up nonsense to me. 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

48 minutes ago, frahkn said:

I have a dry toilet but have never dumped urine in any unacceptable manner.

 

Maybe not unacceptable to you, but to others  ?

[magnetman]

The freezer can be used here also. 

Black widow catapult and ball shaped ice blocks. Makes you feel like a ten year old again. Always good to be in touch with the inner child. 

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The freezer can be used here also. 

Black widow catapult and ball shaped ice blocks. Makes you feel like a ten year old again. Always good to be in touch with the inner child. 

 

 

In the past I have found that cheap toilet paper gets you "in touch with the inner man"

[IanD]

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The freezer can be used here also. 

Black widow catapult and ball shaped ice blocks. Makes you feel like a ten year old again. Always good to be in touch with the inner child. 

 

You could then fire them at vandals, or fishermen, or cyclists, or e-scooter riders, or... [choose your pet hate] 😉

[magnetman]

Other boaters who don't slow down when they can see you are moored on pins in a narrow channel. Blast them with the products of nature. 

[Jon57]

19 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The freezer can be used here also. 

Black widow catapult and ball shaped ice blocks. Makes you feel like a ten year old again. Always good to be in touch with the inner child. 

This is also handy for the maggot drowners. When it melts their is no evidence. Ice cubes ars better still. 

[frahkn]

1 hour ago, booke23 said:

 

Do tell where you dump your urine?

 

We empty our urine container (roughly two days worth) at an elsan or (if pushed) in public toilets.

 

We have spare containers and elsans are fairly common.

 

We take the compostable material home and compost it.

 

How you could assume that "every compost toilet user has to dump their urine in the cut or along the tow path" is beyond me. 

 

It was a half-witted remark of the first order.

 

 

[booke23]

Calm down @frahkn, you'll give yourself a coronary. I'd appreciate it if you refrained from insults, it's uncivil conduct. 

 

9 minutes ago, frahkn said:

How you could assume that "every compost toilet user has to dump their urine in the cut or along the tow path" is beyond me. 

 

It was a half-witted remark of the first order.

 

It's not an assumption at all......By their own admission that's what compost toilet users do!!!

 

[cheesegas]

14 minutes ago, booke23 said:

Calm down @frahkn, you'll give yourself a coronary. I'd appreciate it if you refrained from insults, it's uncivil conduct. 

 

It's not an assumption at all......By their own admission that's what compost toilet users do!!!

I saw someone empty a cassette in the cut, so therefore that’s what everyone with a cassette does. Your logic makes no sense. Sure, some do empty pee containers on the towpath but that doesn’t mean everyone does. 
 

Anyway, I have four 13 litre containers which generally last two weeks, and they get emptied down an Elsan or public toilet. If the Elsan’s out of action, I’ll go for a long walk into the woods away from a footpath and empty it there.

[Jon57]

5 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

I saw someone empty a cassette in the cut, so therefore that’s what everyone with a cassette does. Your logic makes no sense. Sure, some do empty pee containers on the towpath but that doesn’t mean everyone does. 
 

Anyway, I have four 13 litre containers which generally last two weeks, and they get emptied down an Elsan or public toilet. If the Elsan’s out of action, I’ll go for a long walk into the woods away from a footpath and empty it there.

I saw someone taking their piss into the woods once. Not everyone is taking the piss.

[magnetman]

Are composting toilet users the original piss takers? It is an interesting interpretation.