This long post has been requested by may on the list as it pertains to a subject dear to our hearts and minds, what do we do with our crap? Just yesterday I was boarded (by invite) by a FWC office (Florida Wildlife Commission) in regards to my MSD, Marine Sanitation Device. He left with a handshake and compliment on my system I built by hand.
My knowledge of the marine sanitation devices (MSD) span many years and all have to do with repair and maintenance, namely the unclogging of said head (the proper nautical term for a boats toilet). Growing up I was, like most everyone, in an environment where you sat down on a open seat to do your business, finish up with paperwork, stand-turn-flush and its gone. While even land based toilets have issues the fact is they do not keep the “product” in house for you to have to dispose of by some other means. In a marine environment that changed in the 1970's when new regulations required all vessels near shore and inshore to contain the human waste in some form of holding tank. Most vessels prior to these new laws, literally pumped the waste overboard and forgot about it. This worked great because human waste was immediately disposed of and there was no need to think twice about it, on the down side; it contributed to the decline of our marine environment and truthfully, no-one wants to swim in turd riddled water. So the adoption of human waste disposal management began and has now found it's way to the live aboard boater as defined by law.
The trouble with human waste, or any mammals waste is it is made up of two separate parts, urine and feces. On their own the separate products break down rather quickly, think of the dog turd, within a day it does not really even look like poop, a week it falls apart and becomes dirt. You never see a dog pee on its own poop, they separate the two naturally. We as humans seem to need a toilet to sit on and we do our business in the same bowl, the two mix, and unless you mix lots of water into it, your gonna smell it. Do your business several times in the same place and you get a septic tank that requires heavy chemicals to just keep the smell at bay. Now picture this same condition in a boat, the result is worse then bad. A boat owner has only three options, illegally dump said waste overboard, bring your vessel to an approved pump out station or take your vessel offshore far enough where it is legal to dump human waste. Many boaters unfortunately find themselves choosing the illegal path because pumping out requires moving your boat to an approved facility that are far and few between. Some have little choice, remember what I said about older boats not having holding tanks? Old boats are relatively cheap to get into and upgrading them to meet current MSD requirements can be expensive if not downright impossible. There is an option that is approved by the standards set forth my the U.S. Coast Guard and its not the camp toilet, it's called a composting head, more specifically a urine separating waste collection system. For this article I will refer to it as CH, or Composting Head.
Before I get into the construction let me point out a couple things. First, if it were not for companies like Natures Head, Air Head and a host of others manufacturing these types of units I would not have had a clue as to how to even start the process much-less pass an inspection. The concept of making a CH started with me examining everything these companies produced. Second, honestly I could not afford one, they are not cheap. If I had the money I would have bought before I thought. Thank goodness for poverty, it is truly the mother of all invention. Third, even if I could afford one, the design layout in my 1972 Morgan 35 classic would not permit any of the footprints offered so I had to look elsewhere for additional ideas. So in short, if it was not for my pocketbook and space requirements I would likely be sitting on one of the pre-manufactured every morning, instead I had to build my own.
My next tip of the hat goes to the people all around the world who are giving up living on the grid in big fancy houses for off-grid living in tiny spaces. Like many people I was tired of the daily grind and the huge expanse of space I took up. I didn't need it and after 20 years paying off the house we lived in, nearly 2500 square foot and almost an acre of grass that needed mowing I moved onto our self sustaining sailboat. There is a wealth of information (thank you Google) available and great people willing to share this information. I hope this gives back some of what I took so freely.
So once I got the concept down and tossed it around in my head (no pun intended) I got down to work. First let me walk you through what happens when Nature calls and we answer. When I first open the door to our head I see a carpet covered board and a regular long style toilet seat and lid. The board is plywood running from bulkhead to the inner wall of the molded sink and has a facing, also carpeted plywood extending down to the floor. Attached 6 inches up from the floor is a lid so to step in you step up slightly before turning around and sitting. First thing I do is lift the lid, just like your toilet at home, revealing a funnel forward and a bucket underneath, lined with a garbage bag and in it a pile of dry peat moss with some cedar shavings for that aromatic scent peat moss lacks. Basically no cedar, no scent. When you sit down the funnel sits beneath your forward parts while your rear sits behind it. This is the urine separator. Guys you can stand if you must but honestly, a real sailor sits in a head regardless of what side of Nature is calling. Remember the rule, three points of contact always, that only leaves one hand and it is just safer to sit. So once seated, do your business naturally, read, enjoy the fact there is no sloshing around of water beneath you and your not sitting on a wobbly pedestal requiring pumping in the right direction. We do separate our toilet paper but it is more out of habit then necessity plus we often use baby wipes for that fresh cleaned feeling only a baby wipe can offer.
Once finished with your business, the real ingenuity will be discovered. The funnel you hovered over is attached to the underside of the seat, the base attached firmly to the plywood and is braced by a cut down 5 gallon bucket to hold the removable inner bucked that has a liner and can be removed if needed. Stepping out of the head and off the hinged footrest allows you to finish the job. Lift the toilet seat with funnel attached, lift the hinged footrest reveling the composting material. Scoop some composting material with the tools provided and cover your deposit. Close the lid to the composting material leaving the scoop inside then lower the seat and cover. Now here is the magic. The funnel attached to the toilet seat nest into another funnel attached to the inside front panel and has a hose ran from it to the holding tank inside of the engine compartment assuring a long downhill run, these both have screens in them to prevent any composting material to fall in when covering. To flush the line out so there is no smell of dried urine the sink drain is plumbed into a “T” fitting below the secondary funnel and a couple squirts is all it takes to rinse the line clean enough that there is virtually no smell, even the inspector from FWC commented on the lack of smell and could not believe it was a total enclosed system with no outlets going outside the hull.
The bucket is emptied by lifting the liner out, tying it and depositing it just as you would a diaper or kitty litter, in the garbage. The 5 gallon collapsible urine receptacle is removed when needed, capped with the provided screw on lid, transported to shore and dumped into a toilet or port-a-potty. This process is the most tedious and in the future I may change some things but for now it works and by the letter of the law meets all the requirements of current MSD laws. Because this system is considered a Portable Toilet under Florida Statue 327.02 (34) means a device consisting of a lid, seat and containment vessel and support structure which is specifically designed to receive, retain, and discharge human waste and which is capable of being removed from a vessel by hand. The fact that mine is so elaborate does not change the outline of this definition. While I may not have an official Type III stamp on it I am in the works of finding out how to go about that but I really don't think I need to. The officer who inspected seemed overwhelmingly satisfied and stated the system was well thought out and stated he wished more vessel owners would take the time and effort towards waste removal as I did.
My system will not be like yours so measurements and such would be worthless. It is the idea and science behind what I did that makes it unique and the fact that my total cost of the system was under $50 makes it well worth every penny. So far this system has been in full use by 2 adults for over a year, it works. I look forward to hearing and seeing the commentary following this. I have no doubts there will be nay-sayers and their comments are welcome but please be polite.
