16' to 33' usable cabin sailboats

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by El_Guero, Sep 2, 2013.

  1. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    How about a head installed in a highsided, high cabined enclosed dinghy to tow astern.

    Named the OUTBACK!
     
  2. PAR
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    of all the people . . .

    A sliding trap door, with the seat above the LWL. Open the door, let 'er rip, change tacks to flush, then close the door. If asked, it's an emergency scuttling valve.
     
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  3. rberrey
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    rberrey Senior Member

    I've acquired a burner type porta potie , but it may be too heavy for my build . I will have to figure out the weight of holding tank , plumbing , and toilet and see if I can break even . I may be able to put it in the galley and double as stove and heater. I am also not sure how people will feel about me burning s**t in a nice marina , I would have to do like everyone else and wait until dark.
     
  4. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    You might look at a C-Head composting toilet. They're light, and reasonably compact. That's what I'm planning to use, so I bought one and stuck it in my motor home for a trial run. I've been using it for months, and so far I'm pleased with it.

    Here's a picture of my installation. Unfortunately, I have a plumbing and electrical chase along the bottom of the back wall. It keeps me from mounting the toilet flush against the wall, and there was no support for the toilet lid when it was opened. I dealt with that by adding a shelf for a backstop....

    [​IMG]
     
  5. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    That brought a strange experience to mind.

    I lived up in Darwin, in the hot tropics for some years. I was driving in some bushland at the town edges, exploring the coastline for potential fishing spots.

    I arrived at the edge of a small creek ( about a metre deep ) at about the same time as a takeway lunch was making my digestive system feel very uncomfortable. I knew I would have to take a 'comfort break', but I had no toilet paper, and I didnt want to spend the rest of the afternoon uncomfortable and smelly in the heat, or risk a rash trying to use the rough vegetation as toilet paper.

    Inspiration ! I took my trousers off, and waded into the lukewarm creek up to my waist, and within seconds, the water was carrying a very bad souvlaki to the ocean, and the water was there to clean the crevices.

    Wonderfull !

    Then, a sudden thought - was this creek big enough for crocodiles ?

    If someone had had a camera on my lily white behind as I leapt up the bank, and out of the creek, it would have made the top ten in Youtube, I am sure.
     
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  6. Petros
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    Petros Senior Member

    the problem with port-a-potti and composting toilets is the smell. Not really suitable for a small cabin you intend to sleep in. It seems especially stupid to put it in under the sleeping bunk (looks convenient on a drawing), not just because the smell right under your bed, but also because you have to disiturbe the bed when you need to use it at night.

    A separate compartment for it seems like the only suitable solution, even on a pocket cruiser.
     
  7. pdwiley
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    pdwiley Senior Member

    I think the crocodiles would have been heading the other way - fast.

    PDW
     
  8. PAR
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Port-a-pottis have come a long way in the last couple of decades. They actually seal now and the better composting versions, if used properly (cranked) are pretty good too. It's not like the old days, where there wasn't much you could do, except hide them in a sealed locker, with good ventilation to the outside.
     
  9. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    As a holding tank, sure, they are pretty good.

    But until they invent one that makes a perfect seal between your bum and the seat, they will always be a problem in a confined space.

    Personal privacy isnt as much of a problem if someone is at the helm, and the other person in the cabin ( unless you are at severe angles of heel in rough seas ), its the long dark nights that test the relationship.

    Oh - did anyone mention snoring ? I have been on both ends of the snoring phenomena.

    Its embarrassing waking up on a commercial overnight ferry seats, and hearing people complain about the 'terrible snoring', when you didn't hear anything :(

    Then the memorable night that I shared the other bunk in an 18ft trailer sailer. After a sleepless night I didn't have the heart to tell Ted that I now knew why no-one else in his family wanted to go sailing with him.
     
  10. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    Privacy is more than visual. Olfactory and audible privacy are ALSO important.
    That means designing placement of the head in the other end of the hull, or in an outrigger. :) or towed astern. or..OR...a couple of decks DOWN? :D
     
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  11. Skyak
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    Skyak Senior Member

    I find it annoying that this is remains a major problem -particularly for females. In the US it is common to handle poop -from a dog, or live with the constant smell of poop and urine -from a cat. And the majority of households with dogs and cats are headed by women. As far as privacy goes I think there needs to be a word to describe the lunacy of thinking anyone wants to see you defecate as well as one for the sickos that do.

    I have a porta pot, but I am of the opinion that the best way to handle things is to direct urine overboard ASAP and to desiccate and seal feces for land disposal. Adding water to either just increases the mass of stuff you don't want in your boat. Newspaper makes fine liner/desiccant -wrap it, put it in a plastic bag -vacuum to minimize size and seal in a container. Many of the best forest preserves in the US already require pack-in pack-out which is more difficult than a small boat.
     
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  12. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    The famous Buckminster Fuller invented a semi vacuum waste disposal unit, that almost freeze dried solid waste matter.

    I have been waiting to see if it ever made a commercial appearance in specialist situations.
     
  13. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    http://www.siudesign.org/bucky-story-3.htm

    The Dymaxion Bathroom
    In 1991, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan acquired the lone surviving prototype of Bucky’s 1945 Dymaxion house. It came equipped with a version of his Dymaxion bathroom.
    A few months before the Dymaxion house exhibit opened in the fall of 2001, I visited the museum with my mom who was 90-years old. The house was just starting to be reconstructed inside the museum. As we peeked through the cracks in the temporary plywood screen that surrounded the house.
    A friendly museum guard came over and offered to take us inside the enclosure for a private showing. I’d always wondered how Bucky had handled the sink and toilet in his Dymaxion bathroom. Looking at the backside of his Dymaxion bathroom unit I found the answer. He used a regular old toilet and tank underneath all that polished stainless steel. The Dymaxion toilet wasn’t a “machine for living,” it was just the same old porcelain flush toilet covered with a shiny stainless steel shroud. Everything is design, sometimes you have to clean the toilet.

    Oh rats. Well, at least it was interesting enough for me to research it. Thanks for the post, RWatson.
     
  14. pdwiley
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    pdwiley Senior Member

    I can just see that working really, really well with the vast majority of the human race too technically challenged to even be able to read instructions on what not to place in a toilet.

    Just ask the maintenance crew on big ships which use semi-vacuum systems. Or a certain RSV of my past acquaintance carrying large numbers of very highly educated scientists....

    IMO overboard waste disposal is an issue in enclosed waters or where there are large concentrations of people. Otherwise, not.

    Disagree? How's that research proposal for fitting whales with diapers going?

    PDW
     
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  15. PAR
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    The trap door thingie is sounding better and better . . .
     
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