The bathroom

We’d not planned any major changes from the cross bathrooms we’ve had in Sanity and Sanity Again, but the thought of an incinerating toilet is intriguing. So first, the straightforward stuff – heated towel rail, standard washbasin, large shower enclosure, airing cupboard warmed by a bit of finrad in the engine coolant circuit at the bottom. Exactly where the entry/exit doors will be positioned we’ve yet to work out. Sometime in the next couple of months we need to sit down with a sheet of graph paper and sketch some layouts to discuss with Jam Attwood. 

The big question is the toilet. For us, both a composting toilet and a cassette are definitely out. Composters are an interesting idea for a country cottage or cabin in the woods, but we really don’t like the implications on a boat. It’s noticeable that some marinas are banning them because of the bags of partially “composted” (ie rotting) solids that end up in the rubbish skips. Cassettes are great for an occasional use boat, but not for extended cruising as far as we are concerned.

The new kid on the block is the incinerator toilet. These can be gas fired or electric. Used as designed, a gas fired one will work out quite expensive to run. It burns 100g of gas per incineration, so if you burn every time you use it, we reckon you would get through 13kg of propane, £35 at present prices, in less than a fortnight. There’s an interesting review in the May 2019 edition of Canal Boat of an Aqualine boat with such a loo. The owners plan on burning just two or three times per day, thus getting much more time out of the gas cylinder.

We are planning on a gas free boat this time as part of the low effort plan, but we’re going to explore the possibilities of the electric one (the original design) being powered from the lithium battery bank. The power draw is the same as a medium ring on the induction hob, but for 45 minutes. If it’s feasible, it has big possibilities. You need to buy the special paper liners for each use, but emptying the loo consists of removing an ash tray full of ash once a fortnight.

I’ll be reporting back on this after Crick. If it doesn’t look feasible, we’ll go pump out again, a tried and tested technology we’re very familiar with.

Next time, the bedroom.