There are days when the insanity of boat gear makes me want to scream and shout. What’s even worse is how compliant we all seem to be with this kind of norm where boat stuff is concerned.
Talk about marine quality… The last few days I’ve been trying to fix a traveler car which retails for somewhere around $1000 and used ones go for about $700. It needs a couple of sheaves which you can’t replace short of destroying it. The worst part is that it’s a piece of crap and I don’t want it on the boat since I prefer a simpler, less expensive, system that performs a lot better. Still, throwing too-expensive gear in the dumpster because it was designed to be non-repairable truly offends my sense of right/wrong big time.
Meanwhile, on other tasks, I’m sorting out a new urine-diverting dry toilet for the Islander with the idea that I can shoehorn the watermaker into the head as well. My thinking at the moment is that a smaller toilet envelope would be no bad thing. While I’m inclined to DIY and my last composting head worked perfectly for going on to fifteen years I’m somewhat intrigued by this German head in terms of size which, on a boat, is really just about all you need.
Obviously a simple urine-diverting dry toilet is so simple to build that it’s childs-play to build one for less but wrangling the various bits together can be a whole lot more time-consuming than you’d expect. At this price I’m seriously tempted.
Another somewhat nicer albeit more expensive unit from Trelino might be worth checking out as well.
I find the price of both offensive for its purpose. Builders bucket, gallon fuel container with a funnel and flexible spout: and a box to place them in. Im not sure the “soft and silent closure mechanism” is doing it for me…….obviously not in the correct demographic.
I have used a “porta-potti” in all my boats, but also rig up a seperate pump in the head to flush it, and also acts as an extra bilge pump. Works in places where you cant pump over the side with its storage capacity, and take up less room than a sea head with holding tank, and cheaper. Pretty sure the cheapest model porta-potti could be fitted with a plastic bag for composting.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thetford-92806-Porta-Portable-Toilet/dp/B0056PS6SM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BTFTD0S64QM6&keywords=porta+potti+165&qid=1696251663&sprefix=porta+potti%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1
Yeah, crazy expensive when you consider what’s included but a whole lot less expensive than what other so-called composting toilets are selling for. There’s still a lot to be said for the elegance of a cedar bucket.
The bottom line is that not everyone is able or willing to DIY stuff or swim upstream against the current of consumerism so I’ll continue to point out more affordable options when I come across them.
“I’m sorting out a new urine-diverting dry toilet for the Islander with the idea that I can shoehorn the watermaker into the head as well.”
You could just go full on Stillsuit…
It’s what we should all aspire to!