The 'head' on a boat is the loo, or toilet. Originally one climbed out onto the bowsprit or the netting attached there and relieved oneself. Hence the term 'head', being the forward part of the ship. Eclipse came with the stock porta-potty, which uses a two tank system, where the upper tank contains a deodorant and anti-bacterial solution in water, while the lower tank holds the waste, with a small quantity from the upper tank added to the lower at each use. While good for a weekend, we weren't excited about this system for long-term use.
Most live-aboard yachts use a marine toilet, which involves a large tank, various valves and pumps, and must be pumped out at a marina. When they fail, and they do, the stories can be epic. We weren't excited about this either.
Solid waste can be dumped overboard if one is far out to sea, but we're not going there. We are told that liquids can be dumped overboard or on land.
Recently, the marine composting toilet has come on the market. We really like this idea. It separates solid from liquid waste, and mixes the solids with peat moss which breaks it all down fairly quickly. Liquids are dumped overboard. But Eclipse is small. The two commercially available composting heads are about 19” high, which doesn't leave enough room to sit on it.
At the Maine Boatbuilders Show in Portland, we got to see one of these, take it apart, and see how it really works, and contemplate modifying it for our low ceiling. The option to modify was quickly ruled out.
So I set to work to build one. From a different manufacturer we bought a separating toilet bowl with seat and lid, called a 'Separette' (blue plastic in the photos).
The liquid waste goes into a 1-gallon laundry detergent bottle. We generally empty this daily. (dark blue in the front of the box.) Everything else I built.
The solid waste goes into a custom bucket. The space available is confined by the shape of the hull, so this is an odd shaped bucket. I made a styrofoam block to fit in the space, then rounded the corners over generously, wrapped that in polyethylene sheet, then covered it in several layers of fiberglass cloth and epoxy. On a good day I could get two layers built-up. Once the fiberglass was thick enough, I tore out the foam and plastic sheet.
Then there's the auger. The peat and solid waste must be broken up and mixed. I found up a piece of 3/8” solid stainless steel rod, and using a torch, was able to bend it into it's convoluted shape for mixing the peat. A wooden handle and crank arm screws onto the end.
There is very little smell with this system. That doesn't mean there is none. The final component is a very quiet computer fan with some PVC ducting to outside. You can see it inside the space with a wire coming out. And in the first photo you can see a 1-1/2" PVC pipe leading up to the outside world.
We're very happy with this system. It's simple, easy to clean, no odor, legal, and with enough headroom. The only downside is the countless hours it took to build it!
