Getting ready to remove the existing electric head, holding tank, and all associated plumbing that goes with them in order to install an Air Head Composting head. Just wondering if anyone else has done this conversion or a similar one in the past. Any advise or pictures would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Composting Head
Moderator: KenKrawford
Composting Head
Jason
s/v Serenity
Hull #418
Richmond, VA
s/v Serenity
Hull #418
Richmond, VA
Re: Composting Head
Haven't done this on the 350 but did it on our previous boat, a Catalina 30. Not sure if that would help you. After a year of the composting toilet we decided it has its ups and downs. Will keep what we have on our new(to us) 350 (#412) but will keep the composting head in mind for other applications. We plan to convert a van to a camper in a few years and it will be perfect for that. If you think it would help I can send you the information when I get access to my home computer. Let me know. Please also join my Catalina 350 FB group if you are on FB!
Paula Mueller Brilliant #412
Installing a composting toilet on a Catalina 30 (Airhead brand)
We bought our 1987 Catalina 30 used in 2014. The boat was in great shape except for the marine head. We thought we solved any smell problems after we cleaned everything and flushed it and then switched to a new enzyme based chemical (‘KO”) for holding tank treatment. Last winter we redid all the inside cushions and the boat started out the 2015 summer looking pretty great and smelling like new vinyl cushions. As the season went on we started to notice that holding tank odor again. When we were on a two week cruise this summer and could not access pump outs in Hyannis (large boat docked there by the marina) or in Cotuit (“oh the person who does that is sick!”) and we had to travel two miles up river to a very precarious docking situation to pump out, we thought there must be a better way. We started researching and decided after much research that a composting toilet might be just the thing. In both the Airhead and the Nature’s Head the solids and urine are separated from each other. The urine is diverted into a 2 gallon jug that must be emptied periodically (often) but urine disposal is not too much of a problem on it’s own. Urine is technically sterile and contains no bacteria so it is not the biohazard of mixed waste. The urine jug is simple enough to bring in in our dinghy and dump every weekend when we are home and to put into a tote bag and dump in any public toilet when in a marina or town. Public toilets are far more available than pump out stations. The solids tank is supposed to go 6-8 weeks without emptying with daily use and far longer with sporadic use. We cruise for 2-3 weeks during the summer, some weekends and lots of daysailing: we plan that we might only have to empty at the end of the season. We chose the Airhead brand because of it’s size and some of the features but both brands have excellent reviews.
The next part of the process was tearing out the old head, hoses, macerater, etc. We prepared for this before the boat was out of the water by putting a gallon of white vinegar in the system, waiting a week for it to slosh around and then pumping the system and flushing with lots and lots of fresh water, and then flushing again. Removing all the old stuff was still pretty gross (best left for the captain!), but was done without any really awful disasters. We cleaned the area under the settee where the old holding tank was located with a bleach solution and let it air out for a week. We then painted the inside to match the rest of the storage areas and let it dry. We now have more nice dry storage for cruising next year.
We purchased the Airhead with the slanted back and when trying it in the spot it looked like it would fit perfectly (almost). We got a piece of varnished marine mahogany plywood from a friend that we cut in the shape of the bottom of the toilet and urine tank to properly support the whole thing. If not for this plywood the urine tank would be hanging off of the ledge that supported the old marine toilet and would likely leak.
The wood was screwed down onto the fiberglass platform that held the previous marine toilet (the fiberglass here is backed with wood) with 4 flathead screws to keep it flush. Then we installed the fasteners for the toilet and the urine tank and put in the new toilet.
The one problem we pondered a lot was how to vent the toilet. The solids tank on these types of composting toilets must be vented continuously by being hooked up to a fan. We (against the advice of the manufacturer) decided we would vent it using a Nicro Day/Night solar fan as we discovered in our research that many people had done. We already had an existing one in the ceiling of the head but we had to replace that one with a newer, better working one to keep up with the ventilation needs of the composting toilet. This saved us a lot of wiring. (If this plan does not work we still have the fan supplied by the manufacturer that we can hook up.) The venting spots on the toilet come are in the back on either side and can be decided during installation; our original plan was to go out the L side toward the stern of the boat, up the wall and over to the ceiling vent. Unfortunately the vent hose did not bend that much and we could not find a suitable elbow to put in the hose.
In addition, because of the compact (read:tiny) size of the Catalina 30 head we really did not have enough room on that side of the toilet to vent it in the way we thought. We ended up going out the side near the sink, through the sink cabinet, under the forward berth, and then back in through the wall near the door, up the wall by the head door and out the ceiling vent. This actually turned out well as the shower curtain hanging on that side conceals much of the vent pipe up the wall. Unfortunately we had to purchase an additional 8 feet of hose from the manufacturer to vent it this way.
One more change we needed to make: the handle for churning the solids tank was too long for our installation in this tight space. We needed to either purchase something different from the manufacturer or have it modified. We decided to take it to a local welder and have it modified so that it would work. We are looking forward to a non-smelly sailing season next year and we hope it works! We will evaluate our Airhead installation in our Catalina 30 at the end of next sailing season and report back.
On the left hand photo of the finished installation you can see the modified mixing handle and further up, just below the toilet seat (at the arrow) you can just see the venting hose.
Paula Mueller Brilliant #412
Installing a composting toilet on a Catalina 30 (Airhead brand)
We bought our 1987 Catalina 30 used in 2014. The boat was in great shape except for the marine head. We thought we solved any smell problems after we cleaned everything and flushed it and then switched to a new enzyme based chemical (‘KO”) for holding tank treatment. Last winter we redid all the inside cushions and the boat started out the 2015 summer looking pretty great and smelling like new vinyl cushions. As the season went on we started to notice that holding tank odor again. When we were on a two week cruise this summer and could not access pump outs in Hyannis (large boat docked there by the marina) or in Cotuit (“oh the person who does that is sick!”) and we had to travel two miles up river to a very precarious docking situation to pump out, we thought there must be a better way. We started researching and decided after much research that a composting toilet might be just the thing. In both the Airhead and the Nature’s Head the solids and urine are separated from each other. The urine is diverted into a 2 gallon jug that must be emptied periodically (often) but urine disposal is not too much of a problem on it’s own. Urine is technically sterile and contains no bacteria so it is not the biohazard of mixed waste. The urine jug is simple enough to bring in in our dinghy and dump every weekend when we are home and to put into a tote bag and dump in any public toilet when in a marina or town. Public toilets are far more available than pump out stations. The solids tank is supposed to go 6-8 weeks without emptying with daily use and far longer with sporadic use. We cruise for 2-3 weeks during the summer, some weekends and lots of daysailing: we plan that we might only have to empty at the end of the season. We chose the Airhead brand because of it’s size and some of the features but both brands have excellent reviews.
The next part of the process was tearing out the old head, hoses, macerater, etc. We prepared for this before the boat was out of the water by putting a gallon of white vinegar in the system, waiting a week for it to slosh around and then pumping the system and flushing with lots and lots of fresh water, and then flushing again. Removing all the old stuff was still pretty gross (best left for the captain!), but was done without any really awful disasters. We cleaned the area under the settee where the old holding tank was located with a bleach solution and let it air out for a week. We then painted the inside to match the rest of the storage areas and let it dry. We now have more nice dry storage for cruising next year.
- Airhead1.jpg (18.86 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
- Airhead2.jpg (14.95 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
- Airhead3.jpg (17.2 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
The one problem we pondered a lot was how to vent the toilet. The solids tank on these types of composting toilets must be vented continuously by being hooked up to a fan. We (against the advice of the manufacturer) decided we would vent it using a Nicro Day/Night solar fan as we discovered in our research that many people had done. We already had an existing one in the ceiling of the head but we had to replace that one with a newer, better working one to keep up with the ventilation needs of the composting toilet. This saved us a lot of wiring. (If this plan does not work we still have the fan supplied by the manufacturer that we can hook up.) The venting spots on the toilet come are in the back on either side and can be decided during installation; our original plan was to go out the L side toward the stern of the boat, up the wall and over to the ceiling vent. Unfortunately the vent hose did not bend that much and we could not find a suitable elbow to put in the hose.
In addition, because of the compact (read:tiny) size of the Catalina 30 head we really did not have enough room on that side of the toilet to vent it in the way we thought. We ended up going out the side near the sink, through the sink cabinet, under the forward berth, and then back in through the wall near the door, up the wall by the head door and out the ceiling vent. This actually turned out well as the shower curtain hanging on that side conceals much of the vent pipe up the wall. Unfortunately we had to purchase an additional 8 feet of hose from the manufacturer to vent it this way.
- Airhead4.jpg (13.35 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
- Airhead5.jpg (14.79 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
On the left hand photo of the finished installation you can see the modified mixing handle and further up, just below the toilet seat (at the arrow) you can just see the venting hose.
- Airhead6.jpg (19.25 KiB) Viewed 2217 times
- Airhead7.jpg (18.53 KiB) Viewed 2217 times