Composting Toilet

[Tim Mertinooke]

I removed the existing toilet, tank, and hoses on my CD26, and replaced with a C-Head composting toilet. The V-berth is now wide open for storage underneath where the 20 gallon holding tank used to be which is nice. I also added a new bronze thru-hull transducer for my Garmin chartplotter where the intake seacock was. I went with the Angled bucket model with a faux teak print and am very happy with the fit, finish, and look. I also positioned it so that a small trash can with lid will fit comfortably next to it (a request from my better half). Now that I have the location established, I am going to add teak supports attached to the shelf base that the toilet base itself keys into. This should hold it into position, and allow for some hardware to be attached which will then lock it into place. It's been installed for a month now and I have begun "testing" whenever I visit the boat which is still on the hard. So far there is zero smell, and I could not be happier with the decision to simplify. My wife, son, daughter, and I will put it through its paces this summer while we cruise, and I will be sure to update everyone on performance.

[jen1722terry]

Hi Tim,

We'll be curious to hear how you like your C-head. We've had an Airhead for 3 summers and have mixed feelings about it.

Granted, we are full-time live-aboards for 3 months at a stretch, so the composting feature is meaningless and we've had to vary from the instructions to avoid leaking. The solids tanks fill up long before any meaningful composting occurs. We empty the tank every 3-4 weeks.

Ocassional users may have better results with the composting, which can take several months.

What we do like is that we plumbed the liquids tank directly into our holding tank, which gets pumped out, or over board (if legal), every 3 weeks. Much less holding tank odors with liquids only and no need to manually dump a small liquids tank every few days. The liquids hose needs to be cleaned of mineral deposits every year.

So, kindly share your experiences with the C-head as the season progresses.

Happy Sailing. Spring launch is getting closer.

Jenn and Terry