Composting toilets
- Chinook
- Admiral
- Posts: 1726
- Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:20 pm
- Location: LeavenworthWA 2002 26x, Suzuki DF60A
Re: Composting toilets
With the Airhead, the urine tank is well sealed, and no threat to leak anywhere when heeling. The sight glass shows when the tank is close to full. Good idea to empty before it's full, so you avoid spillage when removing it for disposal.
- Bobglas
- First Officer
- Posts: 204
- Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 1:00 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Jefferson, NY
Re: Composting toilets
Installed a Natures Head directly on the floor in front of the shelf/pedestal. Removed door, ran curtain to port side, theres a screen in the head but put another in the exhaust(two screens) outlet (used to be the pumpout fitting). Installed a 50 watt solar panel to make up for any draw. MY WIFE LOVES IT!!! No smell. Pre loaded ziplocs w/ peat in a waste basket sits on the shelf. Very Happy, solved her worries.
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- Just Enlisted
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- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:00 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Oregon City, OR
Re: Composting toilets
Mac 26M C-Head is arriving tomorrow. We are weekenders only, so my only worry is to watch the pee jug. I'll post a pic when done.
- cptron
- Captain
- Posts: 515
- Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:08 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Hattiesburg MS. "Storm Walker" 2011 26m with ETech 60
Re: Composting toilets
We picked up our C-Head from the manufacturer on the way down to Key West Fl for vacation recently and have fallen in love with it. The unit he builds for the 26M is notched for the shelf in the head and when we sit on ours we have just as much head room as we did our porta potty. We used it for 1 week with 3 people and only emptied it once we were back at home. It too has a window to be able to monitor the level of the pee jug. and the other nice things about this composting toilette is that the handle is placed on top so you don't have to allow for room for mixing after doo dooing. and the way he manufactured it, you don't have to have extra room to lift the whole top off or remove the whole toilette in order to empty it.Sailor Dale wrote:Mac 26M C-Head is arriving tomorrow. We are weekenders only, so my only worry is to watch the pee jug. I'll post a pic when done.
I cannot say enough good things about this product. However I do have to mention that the females have a little harder time using this particular brand because of the aiming issues
- vkmaynard
- Admiral
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- Location: Apex, NC - 2001 26X "Compromise" w/ 2010 Suzuki DF90A
- Contact:
Re: Composting toilets
Toilet love?? A little extremecptron wrote:We picked up our C-Head... and have fallen in love with it.
- RobertB
- Admiral
- Posts: 1863
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:42 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Clarksville, MD
Re: Composting toilets
Completed the install of the C-Head on my
Installation involved:
1) Making hold-down brackets/hardware. The gray ABS plastic floor rails locate the head side to side and fore and aft. The thumbscrew holds the head down.
2) Chamfering the bottom corner to match the contour of the floor shelf vertical - to give a surface wide enough to install dense foam tape to provide a stress relief cushion (foam pad recommended by Sandy Graves, the source of the C-Head). Keep in mind the vertical sides are 1/4 inch thick and the base is 1/2 inch thick.
3) Making a spacer/plaform for underneath the front of the C-Head. This is located with PTFE 3/4 inch dia "pins" recessed in 1/4 inch deep holes in the bottom of the C-Head (remember, the bottom is 1/2 inch thick). This platform also has adjustable feet on the bottom made again from PTFE dowel and threaded bolts.
4) Making a wall cabinet to support the back of the toilet lid when open and to store extra liquid jugs and composting material. This unit is 8 inches deep on the outside and has ends angled 10 degrees to match the bulkheads. The lid has a raised edge to give a place to put things like eye glasses when doing "business". The overall cabinet is very light in that it is made primarily of 1/4 inch thick plywood. The inside of the cabinet is filleted and sealed with epoxy to make cleanup of spills easy. I will show the cabinet in the next message.
5) Installing spacers under the door hinges to allow more options for opening the door to give more "head room"
Installation involved:
1) Making hold-down brackets/hardware. The gray ABS plastic floor rails locate the head side to side and fore and aft. The thumbscrew holds the head down.
2) Chamfering the bottom corner to match the contour of the floor shelf vertical - to give a surface wide enough to install dense foam tape to provide a stress relief cushion (foam pad recommended by Sandy Graves, the source of the C-Head). Keep in mind the vertical sides are 1/4 inch thick and the base is 1/2 inch thick.
3) Making a spacer/plaform for underneath the front of the C-Head. This is located with PTFE 3/4 inch dia "pins" recessed in 1/4 inch deep holes in the bottom of the C-Head (remember, the bottom is 1/2 inch thick). This platform also has adjustable feet on the bottom made again from PTFE dowel and threaded bolts.
4) Making a wall cabinet to support the back of the toilet lid when open and to store extra liquid jugs and composting material. This unit is 8 inches deep on the outside and has ends angled 10 degrees to match the bulkheads. The lid has a raised edge to give a place to put things like eye glasses when doing "business". The overall cabinet is very light in that it is made primarily of 1/4 inch thick plywood. The inside of the cabinet is filleted and sealed with epoxy to make cleanup of spills easy. I will show the cabinet in the next message.
5) Installing spacers under the door hinges to allow more options for opening the door to give more "head room"
Last edited by RobertB on Wed May 29, 2013 12:22 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Composting toilets
Fantastic job Robert. Shipshape and Bristol fashion. The cabinet is way cool. Any chance you could post a drawing of the dimensions. I think you set the bench mark for future installations.
Sandy Graves
Sandy Graves
- RobertB
- Admiral
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- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:42 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Clarksville, MD
Re: Composting toilets
I essentially built it around a milk jug (a necessary component of the C-head). Milk jugs measure 5.75 inches sq by 9.75 inches tall. The construction uses approximately four .75 inch square oak "sheer clamps" (a term from kayak building days) to support the lengthwise edges and .25 inch thick plywood for most of the box. The two bottom shear clamps are below the floor, the two top ones as shown. So, overall outside cross section is about 8 inches wide (.75 sheer clamp x 2, .25 plywood x 2, 6 inside the shear clamps but 7.5 inches below them) by 12 inches tall (.75 sheer clamp, .25 plywood, 10.25 inside, .75 lid). The length is to fit, roughly 29.5 inches long with ends angles at 10 degrees (I cut the bottom plate first to test the dimensions then built the cabinet around it). End plates are .75 inch thick pine. The top end closeouts and lid frame are mahogany. The inside has fillets made from thickened epoxy and is coated completely with epoxy. The outside is spar urethane.Fireboat52 wrote:Fantastic job Robert. Shipshape and Bristol fashion. The cabinet is way cool. Any chance you could post a drawing of the dimensions. I think you set the bench mark for future installations.
Sandy Graves
Caution, fitting the cabinet in the proper position was difficult, first had it too low and could not open the base enough to get the bucket out or the head. If too high, could not open the lid to get a jug in and out of the cabinet.
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- Just Enlisted
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Re: Composting toilets
C-Head works as advertised
The wife and I just spent 9 days on Gemini around the MYCBC Rear Commodores Cruise to Saltspring Island, BC. I can now report that our new C-Head performed to perfection. Easy install, no venting, no smells and still room for more use. No more Yucky splash back from dumping the nasty porta-potty.
The wife and I just spent 9 days on Gemini around the MYCBC Rear Commodores Cruise to Saltspring Island, BC. I can now report that our new C-Head performed to perfection. Easy install, no venting, no smells and still room for more use. No more Yucky splash back from dumping the nasty porta-potty.
- renzoreba
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Re: Composting toilets
I too was in the market for a composting toilet. My 1997 26X came with a porta-potty with pump-out hoses. I disliked the chemicals, the odor, and the poor holding capacity (it was, after all, a $100 porta-potty). Came across composting marine toilets, and basically narrowed down my options to either Nature's Head and C-Head. I don't think there is better this or better that. I think that each individual has to asses his or her own needs and base their decision on those needs. As for me, I am a weekender sailor, not a liveaboard. Price also plays an important role in making a decision. In the end I purchased a C-Head. Sandy was very helpful and professional. The C-Head arrived impeccably packaged. Excellent quality finish, very pleased. Very easy to install, plus I added a few mods of my own to prevent anybody from stinking up the cabin. Bought a little electric box and wired a computer fan and a switch in case I go on a long sail to the Bahamas. Added an inline blower to suck up any green gases from the head compartment while in use (made sure I got a noisy one to cover up any loud farts). Installed a Dorade vent using the same hole where the suction hose ran for the porta-potty. Added a switch panel to the starboard side (did some rewiring for this and got rid of some scary looking wires). Re-wired the head to this panel. With the money I saved I upgraded my stereo system. What I like about the X is that the solid head compartment with a door gives you more privacy over a mere curtain. Plus it has a little sink to wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc. To avoid my male guests from having to sit down to pee I purchased a few disposable urine bottles which can be used in the head compartment and then poured into the C-Head's urine container.
Re: Composting toilets
Actually, the above underlined words are not really accurate. I asked a ventilation engineer about the placement of the fan, and he said that there was exactly the same resistance to air flow whether you were pushing or pulling air, so the fan location makes no difference. I like the Nature's Head, because you don't have to string up wires to the fan installation on the ceiling. It's just built in. Secondly, the gasket makes no difference. Neither toilet is airtight - they can't be. The air has to get drawn in through the toilet by the fan and exhausted outside. Air is getting into the airhead, plain and simple, that is how it works.You could install a gasket on the Nature's Head for about $3 but it would be pointless. Both are great toilets, and both are in my opinion superior to the other less expensive brand one reads about. There are two REAL differences, marketing BS aside. The Airhead needs 2" less space, front to back, for an installation. The Nature's Head is $100 cheaper. I chose the Nature's Head and it's perfect. There are many good dealers but I found this guy very helpful: http://sustainable-solutions.info/Chinook wrote:We bought an Airhead composting toilet last season, after viewing them at the Seattle Boat Show. We used it last summer, and were very pleased with it. It installed nicely in our 26X, having very nearly the same footprint as our old porta-potty. I plumbed the vent hose to the solar nicro vent already installed in the head window, and added a switch to the electric vent fan which the Airhead comes with. It was a neat, simple installation, and the vent setup allows me to rely on the solar fan when it's running well, or by turning the switch, I can run the 12 volt fan, which has an extremely low draw. On our 3 week San Juan/Gulf Island cruise, with 3 people aboard, it performed great, and still had capacity available at the end of the trip.
At this year's boat show, both the Airhead and its competitor, Nature's Head, were being exhibited. Design concept for both units are identical. Airhead was first on the market, and I'm told by the Airhead rep that Natures Head was made by a former employee. Airhead is priced a little higher. The Natures Head is a little nicer in appearance (opinion), however, it has a couple deficiencies. The vent fan is placed at the lower end of the vent hose, instead of at the top, and that supposedly reduces its efficiency by comparison. Airhead has rubber gasketing for the toilet seat and lid, to prevent bugs from entering. I'm told that bugs can more readily enter the Natures Head. I'm not sure how the dimensions compare, and how they would fit in the M's head, but the concept is sound, and I think they are an excellent choise for MacGregors. I always hated emptying the porta potty tank, which needed to be done about once a week. I also struggled to keep odors under control with the old porta potty. I think we will be able to get about a month's use, with 2 aboard, between emptyings.
- Chinook
- Admiral
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- Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:20 pm
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Re: Composting toilets
To clarify on the Airhead ventilation system, it has two holes for ventilation, on either side of the unit. This allows the exhaust vent hose to be installed on whichever side works best. The hole on the other side is plugged with a fine screen, which admits ventilation air into the waste chamber. The rubber gasket does seal the chamber, and the two openings allow for ventilation without the possibility of small insects getting in.
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- Just Enlisted
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Re: Composting toilets
Hello TomB. Can you elaborate on why you think this?Both are great toilets, and both are in my opinion superior to the other less expensive brand one reads about.