Should I install a composting toilet on my sailboat?

Lately, I’ve had an opportunity to talk to a few sailors about changing out conventional heads for a composting toilet. There are many factors to consider when making this choice; the cost, the labor to install and the mystery that surrounds composting to unveil. If those factors are addressed then composting toilets are an excellent decision that in the long run can dramatically reduce polluting our waters, accidental spills, expense of maintenance and the horror of having to maintain the conventional marine toilet.

Additional benefits include reduction of water use, end product recycled and maintenance costs all but eliminated. No Y valve, no black water entering our waters, no macerators, no hoses to burst and replace, no thru-hulls, plus, you get to use the space from the holding tank for another purpose.

The costs runs under $900 retail. This does not include the vent or piping to the vent. Not so bad when you consider many traditional heads cost this much when you add in the tank and hoses. Now the install is not nearly as complicated as a traditional head, however first you need to get that traditional head out, along with it’s tank and hoses and messiness.
The composting process is simple. Marine varieties of composting toilets work a little differently than land based models and there are only a few varieties of composting heads available for marine environments. I’ll speak to the Nature’s Head Marine models which are self-contained and need minimal electricity and a small vent. No water except for a spray down of the bowl! There is a door for #1 and a door for #2 in the bowl. It works out, believe me. The urine goes into a small tank that is removable and can be dumped in land based toilet or overboard and the feces go into a composting bin that along with some composting material such as coconut fiber or peat moss and a fan breaks down the matter into a benign dark matter called humus. Not stuff you’d want to add to your tomato garden but it can be added to the garbage, or allowed to compost further and dispose anywhere. The time between emptying depends upon the number of people using the marine toilet; 15 days on average. Which is darn good!

The draw backs are few. The composting toilet needs a vent, so a hole for the vent must be made thru the deck. The electrical needs are about 1 amp per hour for 6 hours a day to run the fan the size of a computer fan. The worst part is removal of the old system. On my next boat, I’ll be paying someone to do that job and worry about the installation myself.
If you add up the benefits of the composting toilet; reduction of water usage, minimal maintenance costs and hardly any probability of a break down, installing a composting toilet on a boat balances out the work necessary to rid yourself of the conventional system.

The larger picture of initial costs and installation of a composting toilet versus the maintenance costs and annoyance factor of conventional marine toilets creates a clear winner. You won’t have to worry about showing your crew how to use your head and crossing your fingers that you are not woken up in middle of the night with a clogged toilet. Composting toilets are a great alternative to conventional marine heads due to their simplicity not only their environmental friendliness.

Here’s a link to a good summary of an install on a sailboat.
http://sailboatfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/composting-marine-toilet-conversion.html