Holding Tank in DE38 General Forum Forums

Rip it all out and put a composting head in. That was one of the best things we ever did to our boat. We installed a natures head. You should be able to do a search for composting head and see a huge thread on it.

or i can just put some links here
http://downeasteryachts.com/in.....en-okopnik

http://downeasteryachts.com/ar.....hives/1366

http://downeasteryachts.com/ar.....hives/1707

http://downeasteryachts.com/ar.....hives/2887

this details a sun mar installation. However I would advise staying far away from their system and getting a natures head or airhead.
http://downeasteryachts.com/in.....stallation

There is a lot less effort to keeping it clean on a daily basis than you would think once you get the hang of it. We use it with the trap door open when defecating and most of the time it drops through with no mess at all. We always have a spray bottle of water or water and vinegar to flush the urine part of the toilet when we use it. 7or 8 sprays and it is clean.

2 people full time on the boat and we change the compost every 4 to 6 weeks. 1 person should expect every 3 to 4 months I would think. The slower you add material to it the more efficient it is. Using the boat on weekends the two of us might have to change it every 9 to 12 months.

The urine is the bigger pain in the butt. Two people will have to empty the bottle every 3 days. We have 3 bottles and can got 9 days between dumping. What ever you do don't over flow it. it's no fun to clean. We always keep a flashlight at hand in the head to check the level for that night time visit to the head to make sure not to overflow the urine bottle. If you do overflow it it ends up in a external container bolted to the front of the head that the bottle sits in when in use.

If you do overflow it it is hands down much much easier to clean and less nasty than overflowing the holding tank on a normal marine head setup. I have had to repair and clean up from overflows and leaky hoses etc a few times on normal heads and that is what got us to try the composting head. I would never, never, never, go back. It is almost zero maintenance though it is a bit more work in actually usage to keep clean.

Upsides are no head odor ever in the boat. If you read my posts and all the other assorted posts on the composting heads you will get the idea.

We actually when remodeling the bathroom on our bedroom at our house replaced the normal toilet with the same composting head. Every year we would have a few days of power outage here where normal toilets would work because of lack of power to the well. Now it is a non issue. Composting head works whether there is power or not.

As you can tell we are big fans of it.

I think yon surveyor just wanted to put something down to justify himself. That is just weird.