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Toy Homes are Like Boats


YoungSage

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Been promoting the "Cozy Cabins" heaters for RV use for years despite what some might say 6 to 9 thousand btu heaters are plenty enough heat, kept my boat warm in freezing weather they don't burn a lot of propane and vent outside biggest drawback they are pricy . However no one will convince me a composting toilet in a small space is a good  ideal!

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Ok, I have something to offer here.  I have lived on a 30' sailboat for 10 years.  It's for sale by the way.  cynxing.com has pictures.  But I digress.  Living in ANY small space means you have to get air circulating.  I recommend mounting solar fans.  Two should be more than enough.  You can put them in the hatch that opens and not go through the "hull" of the RV.  Nicro fans are excellent.  You can turn them on or off from inside, have the fan pull air in or out, and there are no messy wires to clutter and bundle.  If there's no breeze to come into your hatch, the Nicro vent is a great way to do it. 

I HAD a composting toilet on the boat.  True, no smell. BUT you have to do something with the product.  What are you going to do with that "diverted" pee?  You have to pour it somewhere.  Overboard?  I think not.  Carry it into the restroom and pour it into the toilet?  Messy and annoying.  Then there's the so-called crumbly bits.  Do you know how long it takes to compost poo into reasonable dirt?  Longer than it takes for one person to fill a 5 gallon compost poo bucket.  So you have to get a second poo bucket and let the first one "mature" somewhere.  There is NO ROOM on a boat or an RV for a maturing 5 gallon poo bucket. 

As far as other comparisons:  In an RV, particularly an older model, you are the slowest thing on the road.  Like a sailboat.  If you live more than vacation in the RV you are viewed with some serious suspicion by the dirt dwellers.  Like a sailboat Liveaboard.  You have to be really clear about who you are so you don't shlep too much un-needed junk along.  Like on a sailboat.  Lots of continuous maintenance and attention to the rig.  Like a sailboat. 

So, lucky me.  Now that I own a 30 year old RV and a 50 year old sailboat, I am doubly marginalized in a society (SoCal) that views anyone making less than 75K a year as wanting in all categories. 

Yes, check out West Marine.  They have terrific products to solve your RV problems.  A very informative How To website.  And they are everywhere YOU want to be. 

Disclosure:  WM did not pay me for this, but I have worked for them before.

Cheers!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The thing about owning an RV is its yours and what ever outrageous thing (paint, bordello interiors, etc) you want to do to it, its yours to do.

P.S. "Fresh" toilet compost is NOT suitable for Food, human or animal, production. It needs to age for at least 2 years to insure all the bugs are dead.   So off to the landfill.

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After 28 years living aboard sailboats, I have similar boat=RV thoughts. Moved ashore in 2004 and now have so much "stuff" I literally am wedged in a corner of my shop. What happened?  As for  toilets and 28 years of rebuilding them, followed by 12 years of being the " head mechanic" in a boat yard, the Kiss principle wins out over everything, except possibly a cork. Hope to finish the Dolphin rebuild this spring and start having yard sales. Currently  negative  2 degrees Fahrenheit  with snow flurries. Mr Buddy heater worked overtime today.

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So as a non dirt dweller where is your compost pile??:P

As an old military fa*t I have lived in tents for 90 days at a time in places ranging from winter time in Hokkaido Japan and near the DMZ in Korea, to the jungles in the Philippines and Thailand in the summer time and rainy season.  SOP was to pee in a pipe driven into the ground and to poop in a 55 gal drum and weekly drag it off to a corner, pour diesel on it and burn it. Thus the expression "the sh*t detail". I would have been delighted to have a composting toilet back then.

There several folks here who do extended bare camping and they would do well to have a composting toilet. But I've grown fond of a flushing toilet and hot showers. There is such a marvelous infrastructure built that I can use on a weekly basis when I travel.

So good luck with your life style and I'll wave when I pass by.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just met a guy living FT in a Toy Home who has a composting toilet and he thinks it's the bees knees.  Of course, we didn't discuss what he does with the refuse...

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