Has anyone installed a composting head on a 26u? If so would you mind sharing what head you used and posting a few pics. Thanks
Ed
I purchased a joolca for allegro but haven’t installed it yet. It’s quite compact and emptying seems straight forward. I had/have an air head on my Ericson 35 (still for sale!!!, come on folks, this is a great boat) that works as advertised. It’s quite tall and emptying is… not pretty. But! No smell, ever. Composting head with urine separation are great.
I have a Nature’s Head. Good match for our needs.
For the selection and install I think the thinks to watch are :
- Height - Some folks find that Soave’s head site too high. It’s the standard model and is sits on a platform that provides a level mount surface. I think the platform was designed to accommodate a shorter toilet.
- Size of the urine bottle and spare bottles. In addition to the one in use Soave has two spare bottles… they hold about 2 gal but fill up surprisingly fast. The spares are strapped in place.
- Surrounding space… seems like composting heads are larger and more boxy than standard marine heads. It’s tricky balancing the exact location so they are both easy to use and easy to service.
- It’s a bit of work to remove the old stuff tank, thru-hull, plumbing… but worth the effort.
I’m not sure pictures of our install would help because Soave is a 33. But happy to snap a few next time I’m aboard.
Rob…
Ron, when you get the joolca installed let me know how it went and if it meets your expectations. Pictures are always nice.
Rob, thanks for the pointers. We installed an air head on our previous boat and really liked it but I’m concerned about space requirements on the 26u and wondering if anyone has already made the conversion. Our next step is to make some mock ups if no one has done this conversion.
Ed
WE had a Airhead composting toilet on or previous boat, a Cape Dory 27, and we loved it. When we bought White O’morn our 26U we wanted to install an Airhead, but they are way too tall to sit on that platform. We had seen an Airhead installed on a 26C and it looked great, but the layout on the 26U just doesn’t seem to work. We kept the electric head that was installed by the previous owner and have learned to deal with it. Our harbor does provide free pumpouts at our slip so that helps a lot.
Good luck, I would love to see photos if you do get it to work.
I’ll definitely post pics of the project if we can find a solution. Thanks all for your suggestions.
This discussion has been around and around the block here and I have added my opinions before but I would seriously encourage you to look into building your own. I just had a look at the Joolca and while I’m sure it works and certainly will fit better than the bigger name brands it isn’t as simple or easy as something you make to fit your space. There is a seller on ETSY (Johnny Compost) who 3D prints all the parts you need and has lots of plans, explanations, and ideas. Simple is best IMHO and if it fits perfectly, even better.
I’ll look into Johnny Compost. You may be right and homemade may be my best option.
PM me if I can help. I’ve built a few.
Did on a 30U. Will never ever go back. Love it.
Will do. Thanks for the offer.
Venting to the engine area up by the vent works well
In addition to this discussion, and the “Related Topics” suggested below it, there have been a number of articles in the online magazine Practical Sailor e-magazine. To see them (only good if you’re a subscriber, though), go there and do a search on “composting”. Various articles discuss design and installation, odor control, disposal options, desiccation approaches, and various pros and cons.
-- Bob
I saw in my search of the forum where someone had done that, maybe you Thor. That’s easy enough to do on a 26U. Thanks
Unfortunately I haven’t subscribed to Practical Sailor for quite some time but it might be time to sign up again. Thanks Bob
It’s not what it used to be, but now and then they add a good new article. Meanwhile you can get to all the old articles from back when they were better.