AIRHEAD

If you thought living on a boat was crazy enough, wait till you read about what we are working on to pass the time. We figured we'd dive head first into our number one system refit.

When we read Ad Astra’s equipment list we realized that the tankage was quite a bit smaller than we had hoped for in regard to the holding tank…the shit can, if you will.  With future turn of events, we knew we were going to have to make some big changes.

A little history on marine toilets:

Most marine toilets empty either into open water or into a holding tank. Some systems exit the holding tank into a macerator that treats the poo before you dump it overboard. Unfortunately, this adds nutrients to the water and can feed algae blooms even if it is devoid of pathogens.  Standard marine heads frequently develope a condition known as "the stinkies." There are many products for sale in marine stores who’s sole purpose is to reduce odors from marine heads (toilets) and holding tanks. In biological terms, there are bacteria at work that make the stinkies (anaerobic) and others that help break the poo-pees down (arobic). The arobic bacteria help to eliminate le odeur.

The trick is to keep these arobic guys busy while chasing the stinkies away. Standard holding tanks don’t perform this job well and also have limited space on most boats. Owners typically drive their vessels over to the nearest pump out station and suck out the junk. There is a clear tube at the end of the hose so you can observe previous meals and make sure you got it all. You get used to it, I’m sure. Hoses are also another source of odors as the plastic material they are made from is slightly permeable and need to be replaced from time to time.

Since we purchased Ad Astra in the winter, we could not check out the plumbing. It wasn’t until our twelve-hour flail to get the boat ready for delivery that we discovered we had a problem. Luckily we were launching from Lockwoods Boat Works and they had a well equipped marine store that had a refurbishment kit for the Japsco toilet. Let the fun begin! With encouragement from our delivery captain we replaced key o-rings and gaskets and the toilet seemed to do the job. A day later on the Atlantic we were happy we grabbed a discarded bucket that was laying around the boatyard because the toilet completely broke down.  After we arrived in Solomons, MD, we realized the problem was calcification. When you suck in seawater, the inner plumbing gets coated with calcium over time and our system was about 50% occluded. This kept the joker valve from functioning. The whole system was sick and the solution required lots of vinegar or acid and patience.  Fortunately for me, I broke a plastic nipple on the valve cover and decided to purchase a whole new toilet from Jabsco. We still had a problem; our little ten gallon holding tank wasn't going to cut it for living aboard use. Plus, we also wanted to install a tank that pumps downhill instead of uphill -  like our current configuration (bad). Since I had no idea where said tank would fit except under the aft bed (sloshing effluence to rock you to sleep?), I began trying to find an alternative.

About three years ago I read about a composting toilet called Airhead on http://www.sailsarana.com/FAQ.php. We decided to investigate a bit more on this option.  Airheads do not require water for flushing. They don't need to be emptied nearly as often (hopefully). And there is no holding tank required. The genius in the design is how the head separates #1 from #2. The #1 gets emptied every few days but the #2 can stay and churn in there for up to a year for weekend use or 6 weeks for liveaboards. Hopefully frequenting the bathhouse can extend our (my) emptying tasks. There is a container under the toilet top that holds peat moss and solids and there is a separate liquid container. There is a small fan that constantly runs to keep humidity down in the container so anarobic bacteria don't become a problem. The composting toilet seemed to solve all of our issues and seemed environmentally friendly too. Airheads are nearly a boat unit ($1000) in price so we decided to check out Craigslist on a whim. There were two for sale; one gently used for $690 and one never installed for $500. It was a tough choice. We bought it from out of state and had it shipped. In the meantime I worked on removing the old toilet, hoses, and holding tank. The tank is still in the back of my truck if you need one (don’t ask why…it’s a pickup).

The install took way too long, which seems to be right on par for me. The unit works by drawing a constant airflow (hence the name) from the bucket (yeah, we are back to using a bucket). I had to fabricate a special plenum to marry up to the fan unit.  We used the existing pump out port in the deck so I wouldn’t have to drill a new whole. A little bit of tacky PVC pipe on the port pump-out receptical is the only obvious alteration. We’ll let you know how it goes…it’s a new movement in sanitation (no pun intended!) Gotta run.

Above is the plenumn with electric fan installed. It is recomended to just have just one hose so air leaks are not an issue but I could not figure out how to flush mount the silver fan housing to the deck under the pumpout port because of curvy countours. I hate drilling into decks anyway becuase of water damage potential.

Hopefully no water goes up. Thankfully Sara kept me from making this a tall pipe. I may install an insect screen at this end instead of down by the fan unit.

The Airhead installed. #1 tank in front.