Best loo!

[PaddingtonBear]

Well if you haven't got enough battery power to operate a macerator or vacuum pump then I think you've got some bigger problems... No lights, no waterpump...

 

True - but you don't want a non functioning toilet adding to your woes.

[sueb]

The beauty of a dump through is simplicity. Nothing to go wrong, nothing to get blocked, no dependence on electricity (what happens to the macerator/vacu-flush if you've got no battery power?). You might not like to look into the tank (so shut the lid before you flush) but if you need to give it a good clean it's nice to be able to see that it's done properly.

 

From having been extremely squeamish about toilets I now delight in shining a torch down the hole while we're pumping it out, inbetween chucking bucketloads of river water down it (why waste fresh water just for rinsing?)

 

Plus the tank's under the toilet, not under the bed, which I always found rather unnerving.

 

I thought that until our loo refused to open!! We still have a dump through and I wouldn't want anything else. Hubby kept going on about wanting a porta potti until we had one and then he couldn't wait to get the toilet repaired. Who wants to empty a loo everyother day?

Sue

[blackrose]

True - but you don't want a non functioning toilet adding to your woes.

You could make the same argument about your electric waterpump or your lights - so should we all go back to a hand powered waterpumps and candles? Anyway, most toilets operate with water and it's going to get pretty nasty without. Canal water perhaps?

 

My Vacuflush toilet uses very little current: 1.5 amps at 12v. That's 18 watts which is less than my 20w bathroom light. If your batteries can't supply that amount for 30 seconds then they're well & truly knackered and I can't see how anyone would have got to that point without noticing?

 

I thought that until our loo refused to open!! We still have a dump through and I wouldn't want anything else. Hubby kept going on about wanting a porta potti until we had one and then he couldn't wait to get the toilet repaired. Who wants to empty a loo everyother day?Sue

I never empty mine more than once a week. Who wants to be stuck in ice or the wrong side of a lock stoppage and not be able to get to a pump out point? I've had both and I know which I'd rather have now, but at the end of the day it's all about personal choice. Edited March 5, 2008 by blackrose

[Keeping Up]

You could make the same argument about your electric waterpump or your lights - so should we all go back to a hand powered waterpumps and candles? Anyway, most toilets operate with water and it's going to get pretty nasty without. Canal water perhaps?

Been there, done that. The charging system died once (diodes burned out), we lost battery supply but just filled a jug from the canal and kept it by the dump through. We also saved battery power (and gas) by spending every night in the pub to eat and drink, until we got it fixed. Where's the problem?

[blackrose]

Been there, done that. The charging system died once (diodes burned out), we lost battery supply but just filled a jug from the canal and kept it by the dump through. We also saved battery power (and gas) by spending every night in the pub to eat and drink, until we got it fixed. Where's the problem?

Well if that happens to me I'll go and buy a portapotti or just crap in a bucket! No problem there either.

[blackrose]

By the way, it's not only dump-through pump out toilets that don't use electricity. I used to have a boat with a pump out toilet with a tank located to one side. You hand pumped the waste from toilet through a macerator and into the tank. It worked quite well.

 

I thought these were fairly common on yachts (with and without tanks)?

Edited March 5, 2008 by blackrose

[RichardH]

Tried them all.

 

Portapotti - ok if you are moored er...right next to the disposal point or if you have a car and the disposal point isn't too far away. Friends have this and have 2 spare cartridges but supplement with bucket and chucket for yellowy.

 

Dump Through - easy to see when full. Aromatic in summer.

 

Macerator - just bought new boat and it is awesome. No smell. Brill and I'm a bloke. Not sure what to do when 4 year old experiments by putting stuff down it.

 

BSP - how do you know when monster poo tank is full on your ex-BP?

[cotswoldsman]

Please please don't buy a self pump out and then use the elsan disposal as far as I am concerned the sooner these are banned the better!!!!!!!!

[BlueStringPudding]

BSP - how do you know when monster poo tank is full on your ex-BP?

We stop listing to port and level out when it's nearly full. When we start listing to starboard, we're just a couple of days away from scariness (ever played The Sims? If so, you know what happens to the toilet if the Sims don't flush it...? Well, that's what our toilet looks like if the tank get's completely full )

We also saved battery power (and gas) by spending every night in the pub to eat and drink, until we got it fixed.

[Ernie]

Please please don't buy a self pump out and then use the elsan disposal as far as I am concerned the sooner these are banned the better!!!!!!!!

Remember - some elsan poins are designated by BW as being suitable for self pump out so why should the kits be banned ???? Mine has saved me a small fortune..........

[blackrose]

Remember - some elsan poins are designated by BW as being suitable for self pump out so why should the kits be banned ???? Mine has saved me a small fortune..........

Fair enough if it's designated as such, but otherwise the practice should a hanging offence. The problem is that once some people have the kit they think they can self-pump anywhere.

Edited March 6, 2008 by blackrose

[Ernie]

The problem is that once some people have the kit they think they can self-pump anywhere.

Can't say I have come across anyone doing this - yet.......

[cotswoldsman]

Can't say I have come across anyone doing this - yet.......

 

 

Ernie as someone who visits your web page quite regularly and seen how much you move about I am amazed!!! But then I guess as I use a casette toilet I visit elsans more regularly and have to stand and wait my turn as someone spends ages pumping out huge amounts of **** and as mentioned before on this forum even saw one boat last December pumping into the canal. Cant understand if people can't afford to pay for pump out then use a casette toilet.

[Ernie]

But then I guess as I use a casette toilet I visit elsans more regularly

I think you have hit the nail on the head – I don’t visit elsan points very much at all – unless I happen to see the ‘suitable for self pumpout’ sign – and they are very few and far between. I tend to have to visit marinas for pumpouts.

[Chickadee]

Does anyone on here acutally use a compost toilet? I've used them in other places but never on a boat.

[blackrose]

Does anyone on here acutally use a compost toilet? I've used them in other places but never on a boat.

Yes, there were a couple of threads some months ago about them. Mixed results

[barroca grande]

Carrie on Blackbird has made her own.

 

Lilo have a few tips on how to make your own.

 

NB Zindagi (sp) have had one on their liveaboard. They find it works okay.

 

I am planning on putting a compost toilet on my boat so have been picking his brains. So ask in about a year and half's time and Iwill let you know how we get on.

[Bones]

as everyone seems to be regailing us with the most wonderful excitment around the lavatorial pleasures of the boating community, I simply couldn't resist but add my tuppence. Now, I am no expert when it comes to the lavatory, other than the difference between a lavatory, loo and toilet (in that order), but I too have my preferences (despite what other people think). In addition, I find it intolerable that the chaps can pee over the side but titter insensibly if a lass is to do the same. Therefore I stand now to put my vote for the bucket and the bush. Other than that,I can only agree with Keeping up and his hostillary experiences, but must add that I find my chums macerator lavatory with its china bowel a most pleasing experience.

 

Something I find most intolerable is anything akin to the lavatory in a pink twee cafe near ben nevis. I was most impressed when I first entered the room - a delicious thick padded vinyl seat, or at least I thought it was, until I realised the seat was filled with expandable foam that unexpanded when I sat on it at such a rapid rate I thought I would do myself a most ingracious injury.

 

I think that sums it up.

[saltysplash]

Portapotti or any of those types,

 

Easy peasy, comfey when reading in the library, easy to keep clean. Use a little foldable trolly for carting the full tank along the moorings and have a couple of spare tanks to keep you going when no disposal areas are nearby.

[Bones]

Portapotti or any of those types,

 

Easy peasy, comfey when reading in the library, easy to keep clean. Use a little foldable trolly for carting the full tank along the moorings and have a couple of spare tanks to keep you going when no disposal areas are nearby.

 

 

so that was YOU in the whsmith reading rooms the other day.

[saltysplash]

so that was YOU in the whsmith reading rooms the other day.