let's talk about the elephant in the room. When we started looking for a boat to liveaboard there was always one thing that stood out amongst everything when we went to look at it. That would be the unmistakable smell of liquid poo lofting in the air as soon as you walked in. As some of my friends know, (and if you don't you will know now) I am a bit of a poo-a-phobic and the sheer thought of having to pump out poop and risk some of it dripping on me would be traumatic. Also unclogging and ripping apart a head changing hoses, diaphragm and vents is something I did not look forward to doing at all. I have been around boating for a long time having spending 10 full summers on my parents’ boat one thing always came to mind, my parents never let us poo in the head. You ran down the dock like your life depended on it before ever dropping a deuce in the head. Why? Because no matter how many times you rinsed the tanks that smell lingered for months reminding everyone of what you did along with the constant complaining of my mother to our father to do something about the smell. While searching for a boat the last thing I wanted was our new home to smell like a shit factory. After finding a boat in 2015 one of the first tasks to do was to remove the black water tank and drop in a compost. It was one of the worst jobs I had to do on our boat even though it was months since someone dropped one in the tank the smell was unbearable. So why a compost? Other than installing a uber expensive sanitation system like a hold and treat system I felt I had no other choice other than installing a compost head. As long as you have proper ventilation, a semi-dry compost medium (meaning separation of the pee from the poo) the head should stay relatively smell free. The good the bad and the ugly... So, over the past 3 years we have lived on our boat on the hook. (for you non-boaters that means that we were anchored out in Open Water away from everything). For the most part the composting head has been a godsend very, very little smell other than the smell of wet soil. I'm not going to mislead you don't think that a rainbow is going to come out of it every time you open the lid but for the most part as long as you stick to a certain amount of guidelines it is pretty darn close. So the stench associated with a black water tank comes from the fact that the urine and the poop mixed together in the tank making a sludgy stinky soup that when it breaks down gets even worse. A composting head (a good one that is) will separate the pee from the poo and allow the natural decomposition of the poo in the medium without any smell. Medium The medium we use is a Coco coir. Some folks use sawdust or peat moss as their medium. We chose Coco coir because that is what the Nature's head recommended we use and have had fantastic results with it. Whatever you use make sure that it is not treated with any chemicals and is bug free. This is very important. If the medium is treated with any chemicals it will keep the good bacteria and natural enzymes needed to break down the poo and it will stink and be a mess to clean up. Ventilation Ventilation is key to good composting and reducing smell. Our composting head has a built-in 12-volt fan that runs 24/7 we also have a Venturi Style vent on the outside of the boat to draw when the wind is blowing. When our fan is unplugged or the wind isn't blowing we notice a slight smell of damp wood or a forest smell. Our Nature's head also has screens on both sides of the ventilation one on the intake and the exhaust to keep flies and bugs out of the compost (more about that later). Aggregator Our composting head has a built-in tiller to turn over the compost. We turn the handle around once a day and after a poo to keep it all covered up which allows the composting to take root. Once again, I think this is one of the many benefits of owning a Nature's head composting toilet. There really isn't a need to adding anymore medium in once you place the initial Coco coir into the toilet. Paper Using the proper paper in a compost is very important as well. We use two different types. One for the ladies go to pee. That is regular toilet paper and gets thrown in a trash can. And then poo paper. The poo paper is marine or RV grade toilet paper. it is meant to break down easier than regular paper and that gets thrown into the potty. Now some folks don't throw any paper into their potty and throw it into the trash. We don't do that with a fear of the trash smelling. Changing compost About every 3rd day we change the pee tank out. We have 3 tanks now and makes a world of difference when you really have to go and don't have the time to go dump it before using it. Our Nature's head is very simple changing the Pee tank out there are two hinges on the side flip them open lift the lid pull the tank out drop a new tank in. it's as easy as that. We drop in a bit of Lemi Shine into our tanks. It keeps down the scale and smell if you let the tank sit to long without emptying. After about a month, month-and-a-half you will notice the handle for the aggregator to get stiff that is when we usually change out the compost. Any longer than that and it will get too full and you will start to get some smell. The Nature's head composting area is part of the base of the unit so in order to change out the compost you need to pull out the pee container remove the top part which is hinged on disconnect the two base holding screws. We then stretch a composting bag over the top and then flip the whole unit over emptying the contents into the bag. You can then dispose of it in the trash or on a flower garden. Also check to make sure that your fan is working by plugging it back in and look to see if it works properly. We usually just rinse it out with some water allowing it to air-dry. We don't use any chemicals to clean it because that can cause it to not properly compost if chemicals destroy the enzymes and natural bacteria. We then put it back together and add compost medium. The Coco coir that we get is usually a dehydrated block. We pull off pieces of that block and then rehydrate it slightly till it's only at the consistency of potting soil. Make sure that you place enough medium into the compost but don't overfill it. We usually put enough just to reach the bottom of the tiller. Now onto the bad and the ugly Over the past 3 years we ran into some snags with the compost that turned disgusting. Our compost has a sliding door for number two and if it fails to seal and allows pee to enter the compost it will destroy the balance within the compost. This has happened to us and created a stinky sludge stew in our compost with a horrific smell. I couldn't even be in the boat while my wife changed out the compost. It had basically turned into a holding tank. If this happens contact Nature's head they will send you a new sliding door to replace it at no cost. Make sure that no flies can get into your compost. That means a really good seal and some type of washable filter to put on the intake and exhaust of the composting bin. Last Summer we had one of the screens rip and fruit flies had gotten into our compost. It was a disaster they had laid eggs in there and we're spawning flies for days. The only way to get rid of them was we sprayed some natural permethrin around the inside rim to kill them. Just changing the compost didn't get rid of them. Don't let your pee buckets sit too long with urine in them. The urine will start to break down and bacteria will make the tanks smell really bad. They will also get a calcium buildup on the inside which will also add to the smell. We recommend adding some Lemi shine after each tank change to keep the bacteria from growing and the calcium from building up on the sides. It is made of 100% citric extract and is natural. It is biodegradable non-toxic and is phosphate free. Check the pee bucket before use. Our nature's head is designed so you can see the tank in the front but on one occasion in the middle of the night it was full and both Joan and I used it. A very stinky mess. Conclusion With the occasional Hiccup and disaster our nature's head composting toilet has been absolutely wonderful and should last us at least 10 years or more without any problems. The initial cost of the unit is very expensive but out of all the composting heads that I researched this one had the best rating and I believe it. To anyone thinking about switching over to a composting system I highly recommended it. Thanks, and smell ya later.
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AuthorJoan Stump |