The straight poop

[Tim Gardner]

Truth be told, a bag of kitty litter is the cheapest route.  use the clumping kind, and you can use a screening scoop.
Meeoow.

TG.  I'm done  gonna watch my Pats blow out the Chargers.

[curtisv]

I have a marine head with 11 gallon holding tank.  I ordered the boat (CP23) from Com-pac that way.  I modified the plumbing a bit.  There used to be a Y valve with direct head to overboard option.  That was very seldom useful (not much time spent 3 miles off shore, but some).  I added a manual waste pump and rearranged the hoses to always pump the head into the tank but have the option to either visit the pump out or manually pump the tank overboard (when 3 miles out or more).

I have a photo of that somewhere ... ... the pump handle is not as easy to use where it is, but that is the best mounting I could figure out.

Since then I haven't used the local pumpout at all.  If I go out well beyond 3 miles I add salt water to the tank by way of the head and then pump the tank out.  It doesn't take long.  At the end of the season I put a large outside garbage can under the thru hull and pump out, then add water and put out again.  I then hold my nose and bury the waste in the woods part of the yard.  Hint: dig the hole in advance and get rid of the stench quickly.

Sailing and sleeping aboard for a bit under a week requires a visit to the pumpout (or in some places a call on the VHS and a visit from the pumpout boat).  Some seasons where I've just done short day sails and didn't use the head much the tank lasts the whole season with no odor problem.

I don't think bringing a full porta-potty on a launch boat would be appreciated by the launch operator or others on the launch boat.  On my home mooring, rowing in with a porta-potty seems like another unattractive solution.  I often get on the launch boat with an empty cooler for groceries and its enough carrying that in empty and back with the groceries.  I can't imaging a week or two on a boat with wag bags.  Then again, not many CP sailors spend a week or two on their boat.

The marine head works for me.

Curtis

[MKBLK]

Lots of good info. It seems to me that much depends on the size of your boat and how you mostly use it. If you're sailing a 23 offshore, it makes sense to have a full-blown marine toilet. If you're an inland or coastal sailer, then I would think that a porta-potty would fill the bill. Smaller yachts, 19 & the 16 in particular, would probably be best served with wag-bags. Not that I'm looking forward to using the "head" (wag-bag) on my 16, but if nature insists, I could talk with more authority on the subject!

Marty K.

[Craig]

I am staying with the Porta-Potti. For a couple of days they are fine. I have never had an odor problem(use plenty of the blue stuff) and disposal is easy(empty into a toilet).

[Elk River]

     Lady Elk and myself spent four days over Labor Day weekend sailing our 19/2, never getting off the boat except to go swimming.  We lived on the hook each night.  We used a small porti-potti that the previous owner left with the boat and it worked fine with a less than five gallon capacity (I am not sure what it's total is as I haven't bothered to measure it yet).  A good argument for the wag bags is made by B. Frank Franklin in his article in the latest Small Craft Advisor when he successfully used them for self-defense. 

     Elk River

[MKBLK]

Wow! This thread has really made it to the toilet! Interesting though, about wag-bags being used for self-defense. When I was in the Army, we were encouraged to use whatever was at hand (no pun!), with or without wag-bag, to defend ones-self. Sure beats being stuck by a bayonet.

Hesitatingly signed,

MKBLK