Gallivanting around on a sailboat or a powerboat for extended periods of time presents many challenges to the captain and crew. The primary ones are probably water conservation, electrical generation, trash management, and the dreaded human waste disposal. It was once pointed out to me that if one is on a boat, they can stand on the gunwale and pee over the side in front of a Zodiac full of US Coast Guardsman and this act of elimination is perfectly legal, but if one cycles that same whizz through an installed marine head and deposits the same untreated peepee in coastal waters, they are in trouble and can be fined or worse. Probably none of us have an issue with depositing one way or another untreated, beer diluted whizz over the side. The problem is what to do with you know what...#2..?? This is a big problem for all of us boaters unless you have a treatment system on board. We probably all agree that holding tanks are nasty and stink and full of who knows what kinda chemicals and the thought of that tank sloshing around under our v-berth as we sleep is ...is....is...disgusting! Just going for it and flushing the untreated poo into the water and telling ourselves that one whale deposits more into the water in one single crap than we could possibly do in a lifetime is not right either unless you are really offshore. Porta-potties.....NO WAY-JOSEPH. Holding it for a day on the bay is a possibility. Holding it for a weekend on the bay....highly unlikely without serious repercussions to your colon. Holding it for days on end while meandering thru some tropical paradise.....you know thats crazy.....so what do we do??
As some of you know and some may not, right now as we speak, I am in the process of trying to get my Westsail 28, Zosha, ready to go cruising in those tropical paradises that we all drool over on the Travel Channel and in the mags......and one thing is for certain....no despoiling paradise by the captain and crew of SVZOSHA...period! OK...what about #2 ?? you ask.....Composting heads are a real viable option.The cruising blogs have many references to the remarkable, odor free, ease of operation, benefits of these devices.....Their concept and science personally appeals to me....one problem though for me is....they are expensive - a thousand bucks!! ....and as the veteran reader of this blog already knows or new visitors might not know is that the captain of this magic carpet to paradise, Zosha, is, at the moment,...."sparse of purse." What to do???
The greatest invention of all time has got to be the Internet-Google...........just screwin' around one day and came across a company that seemingly has the answer for this serious problem. They manufacture a human waste disposal system in a bag which contains a proprietary powder that neutralizes the obvious problems with #2 and transforms it into a benign gel that is along with the bag and toilet paper totally biodegradable and OK for deposit in landfills. This product seems to be endorsed by many Eco friendly organizations and is widely used by alpine climbers and adventurer types in ecologically sensitive areas. So...what the hey.....you can drop the bag into the dry head, put the lid down and use the head in a normal fashion.. like always...when the bag is done...seal it up, stow it, the affluent is in a totally benign state, until you can throw it in the trash which is PERFECTLY LEGAL....the system is relatively inexpensive....$250 for 100 bags that each can be used 3 or four times... so under normal conditions on my boat...one bag every other day or so for the two of us......Montezuma disregarded....I'm gonna try it....and will let you know the outcome....if you want the contact info for this company, email me and I will be happy to forward this to you.
Take care my friends............
No comments:
Post a Comment