Last year after receiving our tax refund, the Admiral strongly suggested we should go ahead and purchase the AirHead composting toilet instead of replacing our main sail as intended. Now, the sail has definitely got some age to it since I am pretty sure it is original but is still servicable. The head on the other hand has been needing a new toilet since I brought Chameleon home three seasons ago. The original decrepit port-a-potty was the first thing to be removed from the boat since I was unable to separate the holding tank from the unit and had no intention of having to fight with it on a hot summer day. OK, so it was already a hot summer day when I tried taking it apart and it wasn't long before I was frustrated enough to chuck the whole thing on the bonfire. I really hate port-a-potties!
We did a lot of research on all options, including a standard marine toilet and what came up time after time was how happy people were with their composting toilets. There are basically three manufacturers out there all with slightly different designs who continuously get great reviews. I think any of these products would have worked, but after looking at the design particulars, we felt the AirHead was the best fit for our boat. We placed our order and in a couple weeks had our new toilet with a full sized seat delivered. Today, Jan. 16, 2015, after about nine months, I finally got it installed...It wasn't that it was difficult to install. It's just a whole lot more fun to be on the water sailing, so now that we have the boat winterized I have time to tackle these things. I think it turned out looking quite well.
We did a lot of research on all options, including a standard marine toilet and what came up time after time was how happy people were with their composting toilets. There are basically three manufacturers out there all with slightly different designs who continuously get great reviews. I think any of these products would have worked, but after looking at the design particulars, we felt the AirHead was the best fit for our boat. We placed our order and in a couple weeks had our new toilet with a full sized seat delivered. Today, Jan. 16, 2015, after about nine months, I finally got it installed...It wasn't that it was difficult to install. It's just a whole lot more fun to be on the water sailing, so now that we have the boat winterized I have time to tackle these things. I think it turned out looking quite well.
Installation was really pretty straight forward. After positioning the toilet where I wanted it, I marked the floor to indicate where to place the brackets. I then carefully drilled pilot holes through the fiberglass liner. While no reinforcement plate was used in securing the original port-a-potty, I thought the liner could use a little extra help so I added a 1/2" piece of scrap plywood I had laying around under the liner and ran the screws into this. The base is now rock solid! I ran the vent tube up the inside radius of the curved wall and connected it to an existing solar vent. The tube is secured to the wall with a 2" gray conduit clamp using one of the bolts that hold the dinette seat back to the wall. At the top of the tube where it bends to travel across to the vent I crimped a piece of aluminum wire to a ring terminal and connected that to the wall's panel bolt. This takes stress off the tube. Since these units need constant airflow, I wired the fan into the same feed that powers the light. We couldn't have a couple uncovered wires strung across the ceiling because that would just look tacky. I used an extra piece of shroud cover as a conduit for the wire, drilled holes in both the fan housing and the side of the light fixture and WALLAH! a nearly unnoticeable wiring job!
Now, AirHeads come with virtually everything you need to install them but they operate differently than any "normal" marine toilet. The one thing I felt should have been included with the kit was an instruction sticker on the proper use of the toilet. As a remedy to this problem I had VistaPrint create a window cling with a sailing background. |
I printed the directions directly from the AirHead manual onto the cling and placed my order. It did make me wonder if VistaPrint is completely automated or if someone actually reads the orders. I bet someone was shaking their head if it's the latter... A few days later it arrived in the mail and I placed it in that white vacant area that is so prevalent on the wall. Now I won't have to explain to people how to use the toilet.
On a side note: I took these photos with my Android smart phone. I have an app on there called Google Goggles which you can use to photograph something and have Google look it up for you. Shortly after snapping my photos I heard the alert noise indicating my phone wants something from me. When I looked, Goggles had discovered the MARPOL sticker that you can barely make out above my window cling instructions without being asked to. While impressed with it's discovery it makes me wonder just how much Google sees...
On a side note: I took these photos with my Android smart phone. I have an app on there called Google Goggles which you can use to photograph something and have Google look it up for you. Shortly after snapping my photos I heard the alert noise indicating my phone wants something from me. When I looked, Goggles had discovered the MARPOL sticker that you can barely make out above my window cling instructions without being asked to. While impressed with it's discovery it makes me wonder just how much Google sees...