Heads as headache

A boat's toilet/"rest room" is known as a head. With heavy fines levied for dumping sewage – feces and urine – in public waterways, heads can create headaches for liveaboards. Moreover, head options are limited.
A liveaboard can trot up and down from boat to marina land-lubber toilet facilities but that's not a long-term solution. (I'd done that for a year in a former life. I was not interested in a do-over.)

The pump out available symbol.

On-board holding tanks - something like septic tanks - are the norm. They require regular pump outs at marina pump out stations. Most marinas offer that service, advertised by the symbol shown left.
Problem was, the head on my elderly houseboat wasn't hooked up to its holding tank.
While most would agree a pump out every 3 to 4 months is a better option than daily carrying a “chamber pot” to the marina's landlubber drop-off point, I hoped for a more elegant yet financially feasible solution.
I consulted with fellow liveaboards for other practical solutions and discovered there just aren't that many. As I contemplated my options, I heard about the trendiest "waste management" solution: the composting toilet.

Compost anyone?

Diligent research revealed a range of composting toilets that all work on the same principles: pee and poop in a box of some sort, agitate occasionally to encourage breakdown, and, depending on use, empty when required. In other words, a liveaboard sidesteps the marina's electric-powered pump out station by becoming a human-powered pump out station.
Both solutions require hands-on. The composting toilet appealed to me more than the holding tank and pump out. Additionally, composting heads are sold online. I hate shopping so shopping online cut out driving in heavy traffic to find stores that sell them and judging various models while fending off pushy sales people.
While  a discreet head composting quietly aboard implied only a slight reduction of effort, it afforded a reduction of resources (no fossil fuel spent sidling to and from slip to pump out station, no electricity used for pump out) it put control of the process in my hands. I liked that. I also liked that I wouldn't need to hire someone to repair and reconnect my boat's aging holding tank, or buy an expensive hose, or ensure I had enough fuel mixed with the correct formula to move my boat from its slip to the pump out station and back to its slip. Finally, I would not risk spraying myself with sewage connecting and disconnecting the hose during pump out as many others have reported.

Composting head evangelist 

I settled on and purchased the Nature’s Head. It’s at a higher price point than some so after online research I examined my slip neighbor's sturdy Nature's Head head. Six years after he installed it, it still looks good. Most importantly, it exudes not a hint, not a whiff, of its purpose.
I ordered mine. (Neither he nor I have any financial, political, or social connection to Nature’s Head Inc, the company. Our interest is pooping in private and dealing with the consequences ourselves.)

The old head on my boat was still in good shape and I pondered selling it online. I decided the ROI - scheduling appointments with potential buyers, haggling with those who kept their appointment, all for a net gain of about $30 - wasn’t worth it. Instead, I wished it luck and recycled it at the marina's dump.

Out with the old...

… Waiting at the dump for a rescuer to provide a new life

Welcome aboard, Nature's Head!

A small box with five bricks of coconut coir arrived before my new Nature’s Head composter. Coir is one variety of medium for the composting chamber. Natural sphagnum moss is another.
The box itself - shown above - was bulky and well-packed. Inside, a User Guide and Installation Manual, an air filter hose, assorted hardware, and the elements of a composting toilet:

Left: The composting chamber (rear) with holder (front) for the urine bottle.
Middle, foreground: the urine bottle with easy-to-carry strap
Right: lid and seat (still under plastic wrap).

A closer look 

The lid and seat is designed to separate “numbers one and two”:

Pooper hole - open

Open the pooper hole (for "number 2") using the handle visible on the left.
The two holes in the front manage urine ("number 1").

Pooper hole - closed. And pee holes.

Aerial view into the composter showing the stirrer or agitator that's controlled manually with a choice of crank or spider style handle. I chose spider style as my head is in a tight space.

View into the chamber showing agitator to turn over compost.

Installing the system was a breeze.
In his boat, my slip neighbor hadn't connected the air hose that comes with the head. There was a handy hole in the floor of my boat's head so I connected the hose, opting for the passive system. (A user has the choice of air system, passive or active - a small electric fan.)

I’m a weekends-only liveaboard so I expect to empty the composter every four to six months. I’m told compost will have little to no smell and can be emptied into a bag and placed into regular waste bins, or even sprinkled as compost on non-edible plants.

Above photo shows it installed.
Three caveats: 1) ensure placement of the unit allows you to open and swivel the seat and lid section to empty receptacles. Placing your head too close to a wall will require repositioning;
2) display this sign to encourage manly men to sit down to pee (or to clean up urine splashes themselves; good luck with that);
 3) decide how you'll handle toilet paper. As "a girl", I generate more shards of toilet paper than I want to dump into the composter. I've lived in several countries where used toilet paper is not dumped down the toilet and I've opted for that method.
I empty both the wastepaper basket of used toilet paper and the urine bottle at the end of each weekend then rinse both with a white vinegar/water solution.
Hands-on works like a charm.

Happy ever after 

My original head found a lovely new home. The person I’d considered hiring to reconnect my boat’s holding tank saw it at the dump and adopted it.
I’m pleased with my composting toilet. He’s pleased with his newer, more stylish head.
All’s well that ends well.

Two months later...

Well, perhaps quite as well as expected. Gnats moved into my head.  Read all about it.