Narrowboat Toilets

[robtheplod]

My heads going round in a spin with this and I'm wondering if this could be the answer, modified for boats? 

 

[magnetman]

9 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

My heads going round in a spin 

 

 

Interesting idea to have a rotary lavatory on the boat. It won't be a new idea someone will have done it. 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

29 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Please show evidence if leaking pipes.

I don't have leaking pipes as I use a Thetford cassette, what I’m saying is show us the rest of your self Pumpout configuration, your connections to pipe/pump, 

Edited August 25, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[magnetman]

Reinforcing the point always a good sign. 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

Reinforcing the point always a good sign. 

A little glitch with the submit not responding.

[Midnight]

6 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

I don't have leaking pipes as I use a Thetford cassette, what I’m saying is show us the rest of your self Pumpout configuration, your connections to pipe/pump, 

Are you the pumpout police?

I am currently abroad so cannot comply. However if you are based in the Calder  area I will gladly demonstrate when I return.

[magnetman]

25 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

A little glitch with the submit not responding.

Yes I remember that being common with GPRS internet. 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 hour ago, Midnight said:

Are you the pumpout police?

I am currently abroad so cannot comply. However if you are based in the Calder  area I will gladly demonstrate when I return.

No, but a bit pointless putting that on if you don't put the whole set up on. What’s it showing? that you’ve stuck some pipe together to go down an Elsen disposal so you can self pump out down Elsen points and not pay for or use proper pump out stations😂😂

Edited August 25, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Theo]

On 23/08/2023 at 20:23, mrsmelly said:

Well to be honest its non of the above  The nearest would be cassette but my preference without a doubt as a long term liveaboard was Porta bogs, so closest here is cassette so I will play along and tick it 

Ditto.  As long as I could get one with a couple of spare holding tanks.

[wandering]

I love the ease of the toilet on my boat (before she sank, lol). I do my business and pull a lever and away it goes into the tank. Simple. Finding a pump out is never too hard, merely an occasional inconvenience every now and again. It's the cost that's the most annoying, having to pay 15-20 quid every 6-7 weeks. The idea of traipsing a plastic thing around full of my waste does not appeal and I've been in some of those Elsan stations and some of them are truly squalid. I don't like cleaning at the best of times so having to pop on the marigolds to rinse a cassette does not appeal.

Edited August 25, 2023 by wandering

[Tigerr]

Today I took the boat to the marina pumpout and sucked the shit out of it. 3 months worth. 

Took about 15 minutes, being a 'full load'. Indeed I had to pay. I'm happy to do that. Flushed it all away.

Passed a sweaty chap later lugging 2 full cassettes from his boat in the heat to the poo point.  He's on a mooring a fair hike from the facilities, much further than me, so I imagine he avoids the task.

I can only imagine he's keen on the exercise, or begrudges the cost.  

I have cassette on the motorhome. It's not so bad as long as one ensures not too close, nor too far from the emptying point. Even then, you can roll the cassette along smooth surface. 

As for boats - when we we were buying 6 months ago, we simply scrolled past anything with a cassette system. 

 

 

[Midnight]

27 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

No, but a bit pointless putting that on if you don't put the whole set up on. What’s it showing? that you’ve stuck some pipe together to go down an Elsen disposal so you can self pump out down Elsen points and not pay for or use proper pump out stations😂😂

It shows how spills and smells can be avoided. A photo of the whole set up will just lead to people like you speculating that the joints leak, the pump is too powerful and pipes are too small. 15 years experience says the set up works fine. Demonstrations available.

It's not so much about paying - although being Yorkshire born an bred - it's more about convenience and not waiting for the red light to come on. 

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Tigerr said:

Indeed I had to pay. I'm happy to do that.

 

Unlike several pump-out owners on here, it would seem!

 

 

[magnetman]

I think Pumpout Police is a brilliant term. 

 

 

 

One of the things I dislike about ordinary lavatories is it does not give people an opportunity to engage with and inspect the stool. 

 

I'm sure that doctors would be less hard pressed if people could do this simple task daily and take appropriate action according to any problems. 

 

 

[Tony1]

 

For me it depends on the boat type. If I had a widebeam I would have a compost/separating toilet, plus a quick-composting 'Hotbox', plus a few storage containers on deck and roof. 

On a narrowboat, especially a smaller one, for me it has to be a cassette, as there's no space for composting. 

I like the idea of pumpouts, but the idea of dealing with a broken one terrifies me. 

[Tony Brooks]

1 minute ago, Tony1 said:

 

For me it depends on the boat type. If I had a widebeam I would have a compost/separating toilet, plus a quick-composting 'Hotbox', plus a few storage containers on deck and roof. 

On a narrowboat, especially a smaller one, for me it has to be a cassette, as there's no space for composting. 

I like the idea of pumpouts, but the idea of dealing with a broken one terrifies me. 

 

I suspect a dump through is simpler than some of the cassette types, judging by what I read on here. Not so the fancy sucky choppy up things. Sea toilets dumping into a tank are probably between the two type complexity/breakdown wise.

[magnetman]

The best one I have had considering the fact I have my children to deal with from time to time is the Shires loo with the low profile cistern and the U bend. On a boat on top of a holding tank.  100% reliable and in an emergency you can pump the waste into a beer keg and cart it to the elsan disposal point. 

 

 

 

 

[Tigerr]

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Unlike several pump-out owners on here, it would seem!

 

 

Mind you, benefit of experience - made sure we now have a stainless tank, minimal piping distance from loo, and solid piping. 

Our previous boat had long (12 yr aged) those awful flexible pipes, a big lift, and hot water piping adjacent. Basically a sewage brewery setup but we didn't know. Mid boat bathroom, 3m rear bed cabin and tank under the steps to the stern. Seriously bad design issue. 

The integral steel tank rusted internally - only a matter of time before my curry acids ate through that. The cast off rust sheets and rusticles had also started to be a problem when we did pumpout, passing through the pump. Like sticks. 

It was a Reeves boat. A chum with a similar Reeves 5 years older, had the tank rust though, which they discovered when the effluent started leaking into the back cabin. Had to have a serious bit of welding done and replace a lot of woodwork.

Our back cabin bed bed stank though, and eventually had to replace not just the pipes but then also all the woodwork in the rear cabin bed because the volatile elements had fouled the varnish into the wood itself. Literally seeped into the wood. I fixed the problems, but it took a few years, and a lot of work. 

Despite that, I'm still not up for lugging cans of shit to a foul elsan point. A pumpout costs about 3 pints in the pub and it's more satisfying. 

 

[Tony1]

11 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I suspect a dump through is simpler than some of the cassette types, judging by what I read on here. Not so the fancy sucky choppy up things. Sea toilets dumping into a tank are probably between the two type complexity/breakdown wise.

 

I totally agree that dump throughs a re great to use and less prone to breaking than the choppy-up types, but in the last couple of years I've gotten the impression that pump out facilities are out of action at a frequency that would concern me a bit, if I had one.  

 

 

[magnetman]

Helium balloons can be interesting. 

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

There have been complaints on some of the language being used in this topic. It is possible to get your point across without using the sh1t word. Please try and do so.

In the first part of the forum Rules & Guidelines it says:

Quote

CWDF provides an inclusive online waterways related environment suitable for all ages and the nature of the language and images used must reflect this.

I'd suggest imagining a stereotypical disapproving maiden aunt. If you wouldn't say it in front of her, then don't write it on CWDF.

Jen the moderator.

[Momac]

3 hours ago, magnetman said:

 a daily output you can easily hold in your hand. 

 

 

Speak for yourself .🙂

[blackrose]

To be honest, while a pump-out would put me off buying a boat, I wouldn't be "looking for" a cassette because I wouldn't fancy using someone else's used cassettes or toilet and would rather buy a completely new unit.

[ditchcrawler]

6 hours ago, Lady C said:

In general, PO users pay for a service whereby someone else pumps their shit out.  There are a few places where a charge is levied for cassette emptying but that is without any service element.

I have never seen an attendant at a CRT pumpout machine 

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, wandering said:

I love the ease of the toilet on my boat (before she sank, lol). I do my business and pull a lever and away it goes into the tank. Simple. Finding a pump out is never too hard, merely an occasional inconvenience every now and again. It's the cost that's the most annoying, having to pay 15-20 quid every 6-7 weeks. The idea of traipsing a plastic thing around full of my waste does not appeal and I've been in some of those Elsan stations and some of them are truly squalid. I don't like cleaning at the best of times so having to pop on the marigolds to rinse a cassette does not appeal.

It yet again needs reiterating that no one has to " Traips around " anything. When you empty the cassette you do exactly the same as when emptying a pump out tank. You pull up at the mooring adjacent to as you do with a tank and carry the cassette a few yards from the boat to the elsan, the whole operation is completed and you are on your way before the pump out boater has unwound the hose of the pumpout machine. Of course you can moor four mileas away from the elsan if you are kinky enough and wheelbarrow the cassette down there but why would you. Having had both types over 30 odd years full time living aboard I know which I vastly prefered and it wasnt some poxy tank jobby, ive owned dump through and macerater types. Its obs a personal choice but for years I have had to reiterate that a four mile walk with a cassette doesnt come into the equation. Would you put your boat on a trolley and wheel it down to the pump out point to empty or would you motor it there?

Edited August 25, 2023 by mrsmelly