Gravy Boat, Custom Albin 25

http://www.wayfair.com/Deluxe-Class-Porthole-Mirror-MC-196-HACM3051.html

http://www.wayfair.com/Handcrafted-Model-Ships-Porthole-Mirror-NT-HX0-HACM2728.html

Two portholes, the cheap 8 inch mirror $50 or the more expensive 20 inch mirror $130.

since you'll have to buy the mirror glass anyway, might be cost effective to build the round cabinet and just buy the porthole mirror

 

This is DIY composting head equipment.

The cooler was tossed because of a split in outer shell visible in photo.
I glassed it up, and I didn't need the insulation factor anyway.
What I was interested in was STURDY!
Also, the convenient strong handles, the drain spigot on bottom for EZ cleaning, and the sealing lid for transporting.
All superior to 5 gallon buckets.

The large grey plastic funnel that fits the top so nicely, was also salvaged, a wastebasket with a split bottom, which I cut off.

It holds open the neck of the plastic bag liner that inserts in the cooler, the bags top pinched between cooler and funnel.
And the funnel is easy to clean and keeps the neck of bag clean.

The sealing toilet seat top I purchased new for $30 from wally world.
It had clamp on bags and fold up legs as a portable toilet. Removed legs.

A vent pipe will be attached to rear of toilet top piece, using shop vacuum salvaged parts.

A DIY compost head. Tada!

I'm building an enclosed fiberglass head in the stern cabin port corner, using salvaged cockpit seats and backrests, coaming ect, so the yellow cooler will be under the cockpit seat, out of sight, and only the toilet top visible in the head.
Rigid and sturdy installation, but quickly disassembled to clean and service.

I also have a free 100 quart cooler with a couple minor cracks in outer shell I glassed up.
This will be in the head in chocks it can be lifted out of.
The coconut husk fiber bundles will be stored in it.
As the bag in the compost head begins to become full of coconut fiber and human waste, it will be sealed and transferred to the 100 qt cooler.
The cooler will have a vent stack shared with the compost toilet.
When the cooler is full of compost, it likewise will be empty of coconut fiber bundles.
I suspect it could hold 6 months of compost from two people, but only need it to hold two weeks worth.
That's all the water and groceries I plan to carry, two weeks worth.

 

An occasional rinse out with seawater will remove the excess salt/other to restore vessel volume to start over again.

 

Even the mirror frame(porthole) will be made of wood fashioned to mimic metal.

 

Our bodies separate liquid waste from solid wastes.
Compost heads need to do the same, in order to work.
Rather than a complicated urine trap incorporated into the composting toilet, I elected not to be lazy.
The mechanism is called "Shift your Butt".
A separate urine disposal toilet is side by side with the composting toilet seat.
Just shift over about a foot for the other activity.

Urine is not sewage. Doesn't fit the legal definition of sewage.
And ONLY legal definitions matter, where legalities are concerned.
Urine has zero coli bacteria and zero particulate matter.
It is in no way anything in suspension, which is a part of the sewage legal definition, so urine simply isn't sewage.
Many claim urine is sterile, but argue that all you want, in final analysis, urine direct from your body is cleaner than, and exceeds all the requirements and standards for treated sewage to legally be dumped overboard.
At least in Florida, urine can legally go directly over the side.

This sealing toilet seat and lid costs $5 and snaps on to rim of 5 gallon bucket.
The large funnel cost $3.
I will cut the rim off a bucket and glass it into a cutout in the fiberglass seat in the head, next to and same height as compost toilet.
The funnel sits in the matching fiberglass cone , cast as part of the bucket rim is glassed in.
The funnel is hose connected to overboard.
It's illegal to dump a container overboard.
This never contains the urine, it just guides it overboard.

The small diameter of the funnel spout is important.
It needs to be small enough, that no suspicion that feces could pass could enter any official's mind.
Only the US Coast Guard has jurisdiction over pollution compliance of private vessels in the USA, anyway.

 

Comments and questions on the head equipment are welcome.

 

http://www.landfallnavigation.com/memss.html
make your own from 26 inch bicycle inner tubes open to the sea in the center.
Never need washing out, just rinsing off prior to stowage.
The canopy doesn't need to be inflatable as in commercial tow behind stills.
It can be bendable fiberglass rods that erect like a pop tent.

Whatever the design tweaks you put in, it won't cost what these commercial models cost.
And it will be bigger, so likely will produce more water.

 

Bet ya'll would rather see construction than me philosophizing!
Don't blame ya the least bit!
Showed you the settee end of the tunnel berth, on the aft starboard side of salon.
Mentioned a quarter berth, (dead-end tunnel berth), being constructed on the port side.
Bet you thought it was a mirror image of the starboard side? Nope.
That port quarter berth don't come near to or into the salon, but is entirely in the after part of the boat and only accessible from the aft sleeping cabin.
Privacy is hard to come by, on a 25 footer. But I try!
Figure now you want to see what actually IS in the aft port corner of the salon.
This is.




There is another similar picture below, thumbnail #3, with some red outlines for cutouts, for the wet locker and hat locker access holes.
That piece of cockpit side you see missing in the background, will have louver vents for the hanging wet locker you see opened up there.
It's not actually in the cockpit, but under the full width seat that runs across the cockpit and faces aft.
The companionway to enter, coming down those steps, is cut into the backrest of that aft facing seat.
the cockpit has been temporarily removed for construction convenience.

Also, now if you take a look at the bottom of the companion steps in this picture #3, they aren't resting on that old hatch lid, I'm using as a step down.
Unlike the first picture where the steps mount on top.
Works better shifting that lid farther aft and setting the steps on top of it, as you can see in the full size 1st photo below, also shown in above vignette mid-text.

Those companion steps hinge down or are removable, and that old hatch lid step flops open, hinged outboard. Tool storage underneath.
I was checking feasibility of that hatch-lid step/tool locker, opening first without having to remove the companion steps first. But trying it?
Decided the steps work better on top, even if it's a minor inconvenience to remove the steps prior to getting at the tool locker.

But, I might just make a short extension to mount the companionway step on! And the tool locker could open without removing the steps! Tomorrow!

Also, doesn't show clearly, but that narrow bulkhead beside the steps, doesn't reach clear to the ship side.
The side decks are generously wide, and that bulkhead stops about 8 inches short. Shelves for shoes go in that gap.
Plan is, sit in the swivel chair to put your shoes on, then scamper up the companion steps.

Area aft of companion steps has a stainless 30 gal fuel tank in bottom. canned goods PVC tube rack above tank, and suitcase locker above the canned goods,

The other photo, #2, shows the swivel chair's proximity to the recliner chair/soak tub.
There is a countertop that goes along the ship side behind that chair and on along the side of the tub.

The chair can swivel to put your legs under that counter and work or write there.

The chair is also a fall stopper when coming down the steps.
Wide open spaces with nothing to grab hold onto, are bad ideas on small craft.
Better it's just a bit crowded and safe hand grabs everywhere.

Oh, that's the flip open engine box midships next the steps.

 

Want a smaller photo vignette in above post text. This one.

'Gravy' is slowly simmering but coming together.
Probably will thicken quickly near the end. Gravy usually does.

 

Well, you've gotten an idea of the salon layout and I'm satisfied I maximized the use of limited space, to the best of my ability.
Four places to sit. Wife's EZ chair, my recliner tub, the tunnel berth settee end, and the swivel chair. And ALL more comfortable than sitting on vee berths.
Actually two could sit side by side on the settee without feeling crowded. makes 5 seats.
I'm right handed, and there are four places to write or eat for right-handers, and 3 for lefties.
The table in front of wife's EZ chair serves her chair, and is on the right side of someone sitting on settee, for them to use to write or for a plate and drink.
I'll sit on the settee to dine, if I have 3 left handed people aboard, needing the seats convenient for lefties. A folding chair or stool, could also face the table, if placed in front of the engine box. calm water only option.
The swivel chair faces the end of that table, for dining, and twist the chair 180 degrees, faces a counter to work at. The counter can double as a serving buffet at meal times.
There are sliding tables for chart work or workbench use, that slide on top rails of tub recliner. Could easily be written on or dined on.

The table is a lift top tray table, with storage inside the tray.
There are two largish triangular areas, one either side of tub, that will be fitted with large deep nets, design to keep items out of the bilge and away from the shipside, but using all the space except for those ultimate inches.
Shelving with deep sea rails, will line the ship sides at the tubs location.
Batteries and a spare water bottle stored under the tub.
There is a fore peak locker, and beside the companion steps, a wet hanging locker, with separate hat/glove locker, and a shoe locker.
There is a low tool locker in front of engine box, low flat canned goods storage beneath settee with linens stored above the can tubes, and can tubes behind companion steps with space for suit cases above them.

There also are lockers up high, the former low windshield in the house, that I closed in with a nose extension, is now a full width sea railed series of shelf lockers.
Above the sink next to the EZ chair, are ship side racks for spices and medicines and plates and cups and cutlery.
Also used as drying racks for washed dishes, as they drain into sink.
And the sink is occupied by a close fitting mini-fridge, when desired.
The tilting demijohn freshwater dispenser, is gimbaled in the space above the engine box. Easily removed when accessing engine for service.
The aft facing cockpit seat that covers the area above the water bottle and the engine box, has a seat locker hatch, that opens to access the water bottle from the cockpit, and makes changing the bottles strain free. Also ventilates, and provides natural light and more room for working on engine.

The shore power cord and garden hoses store in an on deck bow locker and are system connected inside that locker.
The underside of that locker is in the bow, center supported by the forepeak bulkhead.
And the electrical and pressure water lines run the short distance aft from there, to the appropriate terminals in the salon.
Example, a faucet over the sink, is fed pressurized shore water via a hose stretched from the bow locker to the dock connection.

Some more to show in finished pictures, lighting and ventilation, cooking facilities, dedicated storage for appliances, wife's purses locker , a trash bin, the ship's valuables and documents safe, storage for fishing poles and equipment, ect.
Not finished yet!
Same time, same station, see ya.

 

Hoytedow: Thanks for the earlier answer.

Yobarnacle: Do you have a DIY plan for one? Not plan as in future plan, but as in blueprint plan.

 

Upoopia

Well, ok then ...

A perfect plan for a perfect world. Oh wait, we don't live ...

Without getting into the nitty gritty, let me just mention that at times things don't go as planned. Not to mention those rare times when rapidly revolving between the two main tasks aren't all you have to do, but three tasks simultaneously when you add unexpected and impatient nausea. And I've heard tell that sometimes boats rock. I imagine, though, that you'll make Cirque du Soleil proud! Well, except for the messy flip flops. ;-)

I jest, but not totally. I'm wrestling with the same design problems.

Something's not adding up. Those two seem to contradict. Can you explain whether any of that is based on written guidance from USCG or applicable others or just your practical experience?

 

Officials don't know what was in the bucket you just dumped overboard. Paint thinner from cleaning brushes? Used engine oil from the oil change?
You can't dump buckets of anything! Makes it simpler for pollution enforcement.

You can not legally wash dishes in a bucket, and dump the dishwater overboard, in any US water. You can't legally dump overside mop water from a bucket.
But you can hose off your decks. You can clean your mops by towing them astern. Your sink where you wash dishes can drain overboard, except in a few municipalities with greywater regs.

You can swim, and legally completely evacuate your body in the water, though a good current is desirable.
You can hang it over the rail and legally urinate and defecate, as long as you aren't violating public decency laws, like indecent exposure. In other words, as long as nobody is looking.
You are a natural biological creature indigenous to this planet, and have AT LEAST as many rights as fish, whales, dolphins to pee in the water.
Put the binoculars DOWN, Justaguy!

But you can't use a bucket for a head, and toss the contents overboard.

You can't anymore use a standard marine toilet that holds the contents till flushed overboard, even though it's only urine.

But you CAN pee in a funnel with attached hose going over the side. It isn't a container. Just as you can legally pee in your cockpit and let it drain through the scuppers, but your boat will soon be foul smelling!

Clearer now?

 

Yeah, thanks. I think that is about as clear as any sane human can make it.

Sure. That's my idea of nature-watching -- some guy grunting while bent over the side of his boat! Wrong kind of "wildlife".

Sounds right according to natural law, but probably not according to various over-reaching laws that have been created.

I spent time in Florida as a kid and did a lot of swimming and fishing with poles and nets -- all unmolested by law enforcement. Many years later now, I've been reading periodic newsletters from FWC (fish and game agency) to get reacquainted. Honestly, it seems like they're trying to lock up nearly everyone with a pole and a 5-gallon bucket. Makes me nervous about going fishing for fear of violating some esoteric fish law du jour. Really taking the fun out of the activity before I even start doing it again.

Normally, I'm not with the "reduce regulations / government hating" crowd. However, I've got to say that the more I learn about regulations like these, I'm beginning to think they are right (at least in spots). While reading about compost toilets the other day, I reached a breaking point and had a little spontaneous private rant about me apparently being the only animal on the planet out of millions of species who can't s__t in the water.

No one wants to return to the New York or London of ages past with raw sewage flowing in the streets and overflowing in the small creeks and rivers. But, man, there must be a happy medium somewhere.

(stepping down off soap box ...)

 

Didn't, but do now!
Send 5 grand Confederate money as design fee to my paypal.
http://oldcurrencyvalues.com/Confederate_Money.html





from addendum


FLOATING SOLAR STILLS ONLY VIABLE IN CALMER WATERS AND LOW WIND CONDITIONS