Which toilet to get?

[Machpoint005]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Why does anyone have to lug several kilograms of waste to an Elsan point?

That very much depends on where you happen to be cruising. 

[Paringa]

Jabsco Deluxe flush toilet. Just like home but costly...about 600 quid

[NB Lola]

Just now, Paringa said:

Jabsco Deluxe flush toilet. Just like home but costly...about 600 quid

That’s the one we have. Has empty only, quick flush, double flush and fill.

[Machpoint005]

Just now, NB Lola said:

That’s the one we have. Has empty only, quick flush, double flush and fill.

How do you know in advance whether you are going to fill it?

[Sea Dog]

7 hours ago, Iza said:

...and tank pump out just up the river less than 10-minute cruising - appreciate still the same chemical problem... 

 

I have no dog in this fight, not because I don't have a preference or reasons for it, but because it's somehow like criticising someone's driving and the argument simply never ends! However, to make a balanced judgement for yourself, you should recognise that there is no need for chemicals in a modern pump out.  Older 'dump through' type - perhaps.

[NB Lola]

19 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

How do you know in advance whether you are going to fill it?

It has a standard full level after a flush.  I suppose filling further is determined by the deposit? or deciding whether a double flush is required.

Edited June 19, 2018 by NB Lola

[WotEver]

27 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

... it's somehow like criticising someone's driving and the argument simply never ends! 

You couldn’t criticise my driving because it’s perfect. I have no faults...

 

... other than excessive modesty. 

[NB Lola]

I can understand the frustration in deciding what type of setup as whichever choice is made it’s going to cost.  Whilst this issue has been debated many times, it is reasonable for those of us with experience to share, if we wish, our thoughts and decision where we had a choice.  We had a dump through and the smell was not good.  Upon removing the holding tank we discovered it had all but rotted through.  As the smell was a factor plus SWMBO did not want to cart cassettes to Elsan Points, we decided to maintain a pump out but as best we could, have a closed system.  Whilst we have a vent it has a charcoal filter and we have not had any unpleasant odours in the last two years of use.  We do use odourless but have no evidence that it makes a difference, just habit.

Edited June 19, 2018 by NB Lola

[mrsmelly]

3 minutes ago, NB Lola said:

I can understand the frustration in deciding what type of setup as whichever choice is made it’s going to cost.  Whilst this issue has been debated many times, it is reasonable for those of us with experience to share, if we wish, our thoughts and decision where we had a choice.  We had a dump through and the smell was not good.  Upon removing the holding tank we discovered it had all but rotted through.  As the smell was a factor plus SWMBO did not want to cart cassettes to Elsan Points, we decided to maintain a pump out but as best we could, have a closed system.  Whilst we have a vent it has a charcoal filter and we have not had any unpleasant odours in the last two years of use.  We do use odourless but have no evidence that it makes a difference, just habit.

Tell swmbo you dont have to " cart " cassettes to elsan points, you simply take the boat to the elsan point and then remove the cassette.

[NB Lola]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

Tell swmbo you dont have to " cart " cassettes to elsan points, you simply take the boat to the elsan point and then remove the cassette.

I could have but we were in Willington marina then and kings Bromley after.  The elsan was always a decent walk away.  Granted in the cut elsan points are more accessible.

[Jerra]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

This one always makes me giggle. Why does anyone have to lug several kilograms of waste to an Elsan point? Do you  lug your boat under your arm to the pumpout point? You park the boat at the elsan and carry the cassettes a few feet and have it emptied quicker than messing around with sewage pipes. 

You conveniently miss the point that with the pumpout I carry out no physical work unless of course you count unscrewing the cap and often that is done for me.  With a chemical toilet the cassette doesn't magically jump out of the toilet and transport itself out of the boat and however many yards to the elsan point.  I (or somebody) have to lug it there.  Not all cassettes (and no porta pottis I have used) have wheels.  I think from memory the smallest cassette takes 17 L.  Say 15 for ease.  Assuming nothing in there is denser than water that is 15 Kg (or for those who insist on being stuck in the 1960s roughly 33lbs or 2 stones 5lbs).  With a pumpout no physical work at all.

 

When you compare time for both you are comparing apples and oranges (as the saying goes)  the pump out may take longer for the "session" but how many times has the elsan user been and emptied his/her cassette between pumpouts and what does that time add up to?

 

How much weight has the elsan user carried even for say half the length of the boat during the time taken to fill a pumpout tank?

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Jerra said:

How much weight has the elsan user carried even for say half the length of the boat during the time taken to fill a pumpout tank?

Shirley - both users of the pump-out and the cassette who walk half the length of the boat to 'fill the pump-out tank' (or cassette) will be carrying roughly the same amount (depending on food / water intake and duration since last trip), and will both weigh similarly less on the return journey.

 

The difference must surely come when it is time to EMPTY both systems.

[Ray T]

After 65 + years of sitting on the things may I suggest a comfortable one. ?

Edited June 19, 2018 by Ray T

[Jerra]

26 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Shirley - both users of the pump-out and the cassette who walk half the length of the boat to 'fill the pump-out tank' (or cassette) will be carrying roughly the same amount (depending on food / water intake and duration since last trip), and will both weigh similarly less on the return journey.

 

The difference must surely come when it is time to EMPTY both systems.

LOL.   MY poor wording obviously.

[system 4-50]

2 hours ago, Paringa said:

Jabsco Deluxe flush toilet. Just like home but costly...about 600 quid

Me too. Worth every penny.  Ceramic. No smells. No chemicals. 70 gall tank. Infrequent pumpout.  Sometimes I stretch to an extra pee just because it is so much fun. If I got frozen in I would get my cheap PortaPotti from home.  Before I got the Jabsco I used just the PortaPotti and I found it hard work to get it up the boat steps to empty it. What would you prefer to do, hang out of the door and shout "have you finished emptying yet?" or spend ten minutes tipping poo out of a tank?  I reckon the Ladies much prefer a proper bog.

[Boater Sam]

Tank and pump out with our own gear, dead easy. Empty into elsan points, its already fully macerated. Use CRT pump out points with their gear or ours. Then it costs nothing. 

Never any "blue" used, never any smell.

Put a proper loo in, Blakes Baby sea toilet into the tank, sealed inside the boat, never blocks, will last 2 lifetimes. Ours is now 71 years old! And perfect. The gold standard in loos.

Solid bronze, no plastic, real pot bowl.

Water supply from overboard or as ours, use the grey water from the wash basin in a small sealed tank overflowing to outside.

[Sea Dog]

5 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Tank and pump out with our own gear, dead easy. Empty into elsan points...

 

Surely not cricket? Tens of gallons at once down something designed for a potty at a time seems to me to be taking the mickey.  I could be wrong...

Edited June 19, 2018 by Sea Dog
Autocorrect of down to done reversed.

[Boater Sam]

Its never been a problem. Our waste is fully macerated unlike a cassette or porta potty, the electric pump has a 24mm throat size, your cassette has 100mm!

I am mindful not to use points where its only a cess tank but mains and sceptic tanks will have no problems at all.

On the farm we pump into the septic tank, all 13 of us, and 150 cows, no problem.

[Sea Dog]

10 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

...your cassette has 100mm!

No it doesn't - I have a macerating pump out! 

[Boater Sam]

OK, remiss of me not to ask first, everybody else using  a cassette note that  it has a 100mm outlet.

 

Well done Sea Dog, another member of the real loo club instead of the cr@p carriers of the world.

 

I also pump out into the shore loos if there is nowhere else convenient, for example the top of Farmers Locks in Brum.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Boater Sam

[rusty69]

13 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

If you dont mind either type then its a no brainer. A cassette or porta bog will be MUCH cheaper to install will take up MUCH less space and can be emptied in LOADS more places usualy for FREE. There are models with ceramic liners.

But you will miss out on the 70 gallons of your own sh@t sloshing beneath your bed whilst trying to sleep in your sewer tube with a cassette. 

[Boater Sam]

Never heard it slop but perhaps the action in the bed is not sufficient. Its nearer 100 gallons by the way, with a warning light when 85% full.

 

At least I don't have to store full or empty cassettes under the bed! As for composting, I find the whole system disgusting.

Having sat on the loo with the paper to read, I don't want to see my deposits again.

[rusty69]

100 gallons of sh@t, i think you have a problem, or pee overboard perhaps

[Dr Bob]

33 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

100 gallons of sh@t, i think you have a problem, or pee overboard perhaps

We've got the capacity for a 100 gallons of Sh1t on board but we are never that full of it.......normally.

[Dr Bob]

I am really surprised how peeps can recommend carrying nearly 20kgs of weight around to dispose of .....even getting it off the boat is a chore....when the alternative involves no manual work at all. Retrofitting a cassette boat with a pump out will never work as it is too much cost to install the tank etc so really it is only a choice for a new boat or when you buy one. I'd never have the tank under the bed though and I'd never have a steel tank. Plastic rules in this case.