The brown water blues - Can a sewage tank mess up my weight and balance?

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by aquestaer

Another option to consider is a composting toilet. When I signed up at my marina there was a requirement for "No Black Water Discharge". My boat didn't have a holding tank. I asked if a composting toilet would be acceptable and they had no issue. It was certainly a lot easier to install and weight is not an problem at all.

Originally Posted by Dirk Williams

Different direction, how about a composting toilet, would that work, short term, long term.

Dirk

Originally Posted by wrwakefield

Hi Nick,

I agree re: Composting head. We replaced one of our two Lavac heads with one a couple years ago. [Lavacs are great heads- I just wanted to eliminate the need for a second holding tank... It can be quite limiting when you need to empty them...]

It has been great, and our guests think so too... [Even though they can use either head, one being a Lavac flush toilet, they always choose the Nature's Head '...because they don't have to pump it...'

If you are interested in learning more about how we made our decision, including photos and links to additional information and resources, here is the link to my page on this topic.

Best wishes with your new boat and head remodel.

Cheers! Bill

I am against the composting heads after having read Glenn Damato's book Breaking Seas and hearing other horror stories of urine making its way into the compost bin making a stanky mess of everything.

If I were simply living aboard might be something to consider, but I plan on spending a lot of time cruising with my boat, not wanting to take a chance on having one of those systems fail on me, certainly not wanting to clean up the mess.

Especially when I already have an awesome toilet on-board that works great, and all it needs is a bigger tank.

The system has been working fine for me by myself, but in a week I can completely fill the 15 gallon tank.

The other consideration is I do not have a separate shower stall, my head is going to be glassed, gelcoated and turned into a shower with a toilet inside.

I could just see this not working well with a composter.

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by Adelie

It'll heel you over noticeably but not way over.

Preload the other side a bit and it will be a lot less noticeable.

Also find a way to up the tank to 45gal then you won't get gigged for having 2 guests.

Which direction is forward or aft? Hacked up cabinet top right in photo is foreward?

The photo is looking aft, the head is located in the 4' forward of the mast and is on the starboard side.

I can already fill this tank in a week by myself. It won't make it past 10 days with out being pumped if it is just me on-board.

You are spot on with the advice about making the tank larger, I think I need to plan on that, just not sure where to put it yet.

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

More likely, that should mean: certified for discharge in inland or near-shore waters EXCEPT in marked no-discharge zones. Something like that. No discharge is no discharge.

Anyway, you could ask Peggie for more opinion about your treatment system, before you decide to remove.

-Chris

I am going to deep six it, It is in the way of making my head into a shower, id rather be able to shower on-board than pump it over the side anywhere.

[peghall]

There are much better places to put a waste tank than the bilge. However, I kinda like the suggestion to just add another tank that prob'ly wont be used, just to satisfy the marina. You're welcome to give me a shout via email if you'd like to brainstorm in more detail than is practical in a forum.

[Celestialsailor]

So here's the deal with harbors...Ya they want you to have a 15 gallon tank for waste water. You have that. Do you really think the harbor staff is going to remember it is 15 gallons or that you past the inspection? A month from now he won't remember if it's 15 or 150.
Reminds me when I was in San Diego at the police docks getting inspected. He lifted up the floor boards where my water tank is and exclaimed..."Wow! I've never seen such a dry bilge before. Usually I get almost everyone for having water in the bilge. I just smiled, knowing the actual bilge was 5 feet aft and 3 feet deeper.

[botanybay]

I have had excellent success with Ronco!

Luckily I am in long driving distance so I had them rotomold the tank with no fittings, plumbed everything using dip tubes from the top and then marked the tank with a sharpie where I wanted fittings.

I drove the tank back down and they spin welded the fittings in while I waited.

The result is a tank that fits like a glove and no stress on the hoses!!!

For a small additional charge they made the walls twice as thick as their normal sanitation tanks.


Sent from my SM-G935V using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[peghall]

For a small additional charge they made the walls twice as thick as their normal sanitation tanks.

Since their normal thickness starts at close to 3/8" and gets thicker with larger tanks, you now have a holding tank with walls more than 1/2" thick!

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

I am against the composting heads after having read Glenn Damato's book Breaking Seas and hearing other horror stories of urine making its way into the compost bin making a stanky mess of everything.

If I were simply living aboard might be something to consider, but I plan on spending a lot of time cruising with my boat, not wanting to take a chance on having one of those systems fail on me, certainly not wanting to clean up the mess.

Especially when I already have an awesome toilet on-board that works great, and all it needs is a bigger tank.

The system has been working fine for me by myself, but in a week I can completely fill the 15 gallon tank.

The other consideration is I do not have a separate shower stall, my head is going to be glassed, gelcoated and turned into a shower with a toilet inside.

I could just see this not working well with a composter.

Nick, I wouldn't rule out a composting toilet based on one person's bad experience. First of all, it's pretty hard to get urine in the solids bin, but if you do it's not exactly a big deal. Either you dump a handfull of coconut coir in to absorb the moisture or dump the whole bin and start again fresh. The best thing about a composting toilet, in my opinion, is that it's bulletproof, simple and reliable. The biggest screw up or disaster that can happen can be solved by simply dumping the composting bin contents into a garbage bag and starting over. Compare that to the woes of bilges full of sewage from leaking holding tanks! I've been using a Nature's Head now for about 4 years and would never go back to a seawater head. My Nature's Head is simple, easy to use, NO SMELL WHATSOEVER and zero maintenance (other than dumping the contents). I think you'll find that almost 100% of people who switched to a composting toilet have nothing but praise for the system. I know this because when I was considering installing mine I looked for any negative comments on the net that I could find. I didn't want to import the composting toilet into Brazil (at about 2K USD!) only to be disappointed afterwards. What I found was that users raved about them and people with no experience often had something negative to say, but not based on any real data whatsoever. I just suggest you do a little research before you discard the composting option. It's easy to install (half a day) and you can glass over a throughhull and recover a lot of storage space when you pull out the holding tank! Did I mention zero smell and bulletproof simple?...

[Simply Sailing]

What I found was that users raved about them and people with no experience often had something negative to say, but not based on any real data whatsoever. I just suggest you do a little research before you discard the composting option. [/QUOTE]
Couldn't agree more. We've had an Air Head for 6 years, done plenty of off shore miles, and even had our kids (and grandkid) on board for many of those miles, and never had a mess that was nearly as bad as our one SMALL leak in a holding tank 16 years ago. Wouldn't trade it for anything. We even glassed over the thru hulls. Not going back.