Composting Head

The best solution for us and maybe an option for others...

Article by Roy Schreyer

After many questions about how we handle “toileting” aboard Dianne’s Rose, our small shantyboat, it’s time to explain: We use a composting toilet, the best solution for us and maybe an option for others—not just for boats, but also for cabins, shops, barns, ice huts and other places where conventional plumbing doesn’t exist.

While composting toilets make total sense in these situations, people often need convincing. I understand the aversion to giving up the usual process, which is advanced, sanitary and allows us to simply tip the lever and forget about the whole thing. The “gross factor” with composting toilets is real for some people, but once you try the simple system we use, we think you’ll like it.

Here is the email that prompted my musings, from a gentleman who wanted to keep his bride comfortable aboard, should they build their own Dianne’s Rose. He wrote:

“As I review your plans and think about my use and needs, a lot comes down to one simple function that doesn’t get a lot of press—the toilet. If I expect to have my wife aboard for a week, the boat needs to have an elegant toilet, washing, showering arrangement. That is the pivotal element in the design. A holding tank might be necessary. But tell me a bit more on your experience with composting toilets.”

I’ll focus on just the toilet subject here, and save bathing for another story. This was my response, slightly expanded but close enough:

You may know by now, I also have a Princess to attend to (my dear wife Dianne Roselee) so I’ve gone to great lengths to come up with a satisfactory composting toilet. While there is room for a holding tank under the floorboards of our shanty boat, I don’t think it’s needed. Dianne did not like the idea of a composting toilet at first, seeing it as “just a bucket” and insisting we buy a good porta-potty. So, we purchased the porta-potty and it worked but had disadvantages, including a small seat, tiny bowl, low seat level, use of chemicals and the need for rinse water. It also needed to be dumped frequently and—most gross of all to Di—it sometimes built pressure and splashed up when flushing. Oh, yes, and it smelled!

So I finally asked Dianne to please try the composting toilet ‘for just one trip,’ promising that if she didn’t like it I’d never ask again. She is now a fan! Dianne did buy a battery operated scent/fan thing that we use when doing our business. We also open the porthole (window) for fresh air. Our simple homemade toilet works well, is cheap to make and does not smell if managed correctly.”

There are good composting toilets on the market and I encourage you to consider purchasing one, but if you’re on a budget, building your own can give excellent results. I used a large 5-gallon painter’s pail (yes, a bucket—don’t tell Di) with an added plywood box-like attachment at the back, which a full-sized toilet seat is fastened to. The plywood box makes a big difference, adding stability to the pail and allowing use of a normal seat. It has eye screws on each side, with a strapped-around bungee cord that secures the bucket to the box. I painted the bucket to look better, using brown (go figure!). I appreciate the 16-inch height of the toilet, versus the lower porta-potty that was hard on my bad hip. The composting toilet feels no different than our toilet at home. Instead of the “flush,” a 50/50 mixture of sawdust and peat moss is placed in the bottom to start things off. With each deposit, you cover with the same mix and that’s that! It soaks up the urine and ends up looking like damp garden soil, once layered over with the peat-sawdust combo. (Some manufactured composting toilets collect the urine in a separate container but our bucket system, with all in one, has not been a problem.) It is simple and that’s the beauty of it, especially for small spaces. It is also remarkable how well the mixture deals with the odor. (Dianne, with her sensitive nose, would not tolerate anything less!) We store the peat moss-sawdust mix in a small pail that lasts us 3-4 days, and bring extra for longer trips. We use an old toy sand shovel to distribute the mixture, but you could also employ a plastic soup ladle, flour scoop or measuring cup.

I only need to empty the composting toilet half as often as I did with the porta-potty. The bucket is also light to carry into the woods, where I dig a shallow hole and dump. No guilt, as this is how the planet has worked forever, and the earth actually likes the stuff. To clean the bucket, just grab a stick, throw in some leaves or whatever’s handy and dry scrub it. Wipe with toilet paper, and once in a while disinfect with a mild bleach solution. Add new peat moss and sawdust to start things off and you’re good to go.

Dianne’s Rose

On shorter trips, I wait to clean it until we get home and deposit the contents into our home composter. I experimented for a whole year, using the toilet regularly and dumping it there. Gross, right? Wrong! The composter looked and smelled just like garden soil. I should also mention that a composting toilet can be used all winter without worrying about freezing—important to us, as we’ve used our boat until the water freezes solid in the lake.

We’re really happy with our system, which is simple enough that anyone who is handy can make it. If you try it, you’ll like it, and so will your cruising mate. •SCA•

PDF plans are available, explaining the construction with exact measurements for anyone who wants to be 100% confident of the end results. ($12.50 U.S. funds.) All you’ll need is the 5-gallon bucket, a standard toilet seat and a bit of plywood. You can use PayPal and direct the payment to my email: royschreyer@gmail.com.

First appeared in issue #99