I left off, nearly a year ago, with my Head rip-out and replacement with a composting toilet.
just to recap, my motivation...
miles of sewage hoses and a holding tank that drained back into the toilet while sailing.
With my toilet ripped out of the head, I got some jobs working Monday to Friday out of town.
As you can guess, I wasn't motivated to work on the project when home on weekends. So little progress was made.
To exacerbate the situation...
...as projects often go, the deeper I dug, the more work I wanted to do "while I was at it".
I replaced the old fresh water hose throughout the boat.
I rebuilt the head vanity replacing the old cabinet with new hardwood ply and replacing the old faux wood formica with new ply covered with faux slate tile :) I chose the darker tile on the right which blended in nicely with Sedna's mahogany interior.
I removed the vinyl wallpaper, scraped off the icky sticky glue, and painted the bulkheads with Interlux topsider.
And finally I got back to the composting toilet. I built a cardboard mock-up of a simple square cabinet. The pieces were my templates for cutting the plywood pieces later
... not a big deal for the simple rectangles, but very helpful for the toilet side/sink cabinet front that needed to conform to the hull shape.
I had a couple failed attempts at making a urine separator from pvc bedpans etc, then I decided to cut my losses and buy one from the Swedish company www.Separett-usa.com. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? I think so.
It has been harder than I expected to find acceptable receptacles. I can't say I'm totally satisfied, but I have a workable solution.
I'm pretty happy with the 1.5 gal laundry detergent bottles for urine.
The bottle in the picture has blue some "found" port-a-potty deodorizer. I won't be buying any, but it is nice to have some additional color to identify the fluid level to avoid overflow. That said, it takes me over a week before I empty the urine container. I keep a spare in the cabinet beside the head.
I'm less happy with the $3.95 black Rubbermaid PVC wastebasket for solids.
It is working fine for now, but I want to install a stirring paddle and I think the rectangular shape just won't work.
I painted the front of the cabinet with Interlux Topside, oiled the top, and replaced the mahogany trim throughout the head.
The proof of course is in the the pudding... or in this case "pooping" and I must add "sailing".
There is no pumping, no opening and closing valves, no unpleasant odor...
... just open the toilet lid sit down, do your thing, do the paperwork (if depositing solids), toss the paper in the toilet, close the lid and walk away. If appropriate toss a cup of mulch into the toilet from the container in the cabinet.
I can pee standing up or sitting down and the liquid goes down the right path.
As I mentioned my boat was out of commission for months. There was no way I could have sailed with the awful mess of supplies and tools in the in the cockpit and saloon.
But once again I'm happily sailing...
Hadn't thought of building my own head but there ya go. Was thinking of a Nature's Head, but they are close to $1k. Building might happen. But for urine collection, you could look at their containers too if what you find cheaply doesn't work out. they are $40. http://store.natureshead.net/p/28-Nature-s-Head-Extra-Liquids-Bottle.aspx
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