Most Durable Portable Marine Head?

[sanjuan7.7]

Hi HeadMistress,

I've been trying to read all kinds of reviews of portable toilets online and I'm starting to get dizzy from it all. Thankfully I was directed to your forum, but still wasn't able to find any suggestions for portable toilets on small sailboats (I'm probably just not looking hard enough).

We have a San Juan 7.7 that we take out for weekend trips mostly, 2-3 times a summer as well as a fair amount of just day sailing. We're hoping to find a toilet with a big enough tank that we won't have to change it after every trip and that wouldn't stink up our little boat if we left it with waste in it over the course of the summer and only dumped it once at the end of the summer.

Is this totally unrealistic? It would probably only be used 8-10 times total per summer since we normally camp on the island and use the outhouses on land so it's only needed for the time between destinations.

As far as a toilet that can be removed and dumped in a conventional toilet vs needs to be pumped in a pumping station, what are your recommendations? Our main concern is durability, capacity and not smelling up the boat if left for extended periods of time.

Thanks for your help!

 

[c_witch]

Summer heat

HIee,

We have a 22 footer that I have been refitting for a year now. I have installed a new Dometic 974 MSD in it. It is rigged for dockside pumpout as well as seaside pumpout with a macerator. The 974 has a small holding tank only 2.5 gallons. Personally I would not leave any thing in the holding tank after having been out on it. This was the reason for adding the macerator. If we can't pump out at the dock then at least when we bring it home I can always put a 5 gallon bucket under the thru hull (as close as possible lol ) and pump it out then run fresh water thru it to really clean it. In the summer the temp inside the cabin gets pretty high when she is closed up and I'd be very concerned about any liquid in the holding tank evaporating. At any rate without flushing it out I'd expect there to be a smell for sure after sitting for a week.

Brina

PS The other reason for the seaside pump out is that I am setting this boat up for extended coastal cruising as well as minimum passage making of 600nm in open water. With additional water in 1 gallon jugs we can increase that to a limit.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I'd definitely go with an MSD model...

Managing the tank in an MSD portapotty is no different from managing any other holding tank, so you would able to let it sit for a few weeks between pumpouts if you vent to allow enough ventilation to keep it aerobic and use a tank treatment, same as is necessary for any other tank. Otoh, if you treat it the same way you'd treat a portable tank, it's gonna behave like one and stink if you allow waste to stay in it. It's a lot easier to rinse out an MSD version too...simply hold the flush lever down and pour buckets of water into the tank or stick a hose into during pumpout.

And, unless you have a height issue, I'd go with the larger 5-6 gallon model. They hold 50-60 flushes...maybe not enough to allow you to pump out only once a season--I wouldn't recommend doing that no matter what type of system you had--but certainly more than adequate to last you AND a boat load of guests through several weekends aboard. It would also give you more flexibility in choosing destinations that might require you to stay aboard all weekend instead of always going to the island to camp.

The Dometic SeaLand Sanitpotties are good choice...so are Thetford MSD portables. You can buy either for a very good price from the online store here at this site.