Astor, Florida Welcome to our new digs! C-Head has a new home.

. Still in Astor but we are now located on SR 40 directly across from the Dollar General. Our new facility has a showroom where I am displaying all the components of the BoonJon organic waste management system. This includes the composting tower, the black soldier fly larva harvesters and generators, and the dehydrators for the full system. As far as I know, we are the only production composting toilet system that shows you how to compost your waste, for boaters (even if you live in a residential subdivision) and homesteaders. The BoonJon system allows you to compost your waste from the toilet in an attractive and efficient manner. See the last newsletter for more details and in the spring, I will be updating how things went with the system during the winter. If you are in the area, stop by and see our showroom.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have had numerous requests to develop a system where the plastic gallon jug can be replaced with a catch system that drains the urine directly into a larger container. It has proven to be more difficult than you would think. The device must be small enough that it doesnt obstruct the removal of the solid waste collection container, and it must be high up enough that it allows gravity to do its thing, and it must be large enough that it allows the free flow of the urine without developing bubbles that might push the liquid back up the hose, and finally, it must be made of material that does not absorb the odor. But I am onto a design that I think will work very nicely and it can be used with a urinal deodorizer disk to keep it smelling nice. It can be removed so that a gallon jug can still be used if a change back to the original system needs to be made. I will be testing it soon and will include details in the next newsletter.

I would remind boaters that the C-Head as well as its competitors, gets its MSD III classification by dent of the fact it is portable, and portable toilets cannot use water or electric from the mother ship. I dont know if this pertains to waste plumbing or how rigorously that is enforced, but keep it in mind when you are designing your system. The jug replacement system, as I will call it, could be very useful in a cabin or bunker setting where the urine goes into a French drain outside the facility or into a larger collection container for use as fertilizer. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am adding two new designs (footprints) to the list; a bucket cutaway base model and a bucket angled back model. Both are now available where needed and I hope to have the website order page adjusted soon to include them in the line-up. They are the two most compact models of all the footprints.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I got a report from an owner that they had some issues with urine splashing up through the urine diverter when they were pounding in heavy seas. It is probably best to empty out the urine container if the weather is getting rough or replace it with an empty jug as a precaution. But often these things arent on your mind when the weather goes south and so you learn. If you are a fan of Vito Dumas and these rough conditions, may I suggest that you make a check valve on the nipple of the urine diverter. Take a nitrile glove and cut off one of the fingers on both ends to make a soft tube. Slide it over the end of the nipple allowing about an inch to hang below the end so that it will collapse and cover the hole if urine comes up against it. I think this should solve any problems. You will have to experiment with the optimum length as if it is too long it will probably get folded over when you close the housing lid, too short and it probably wont work. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have had people ask me what I think about coconut coir. To be frank, I only used it once and it seemed like a lot of work to break down. In fairness, I didnt work on finding a better way to get it broken down, so those of you that use and like it may have no problem with it at all. It is expensive. If you are looking for an alternative and one that is compact, look at equine pine wood pelletized bedding.

It is available at almost any horse tack store and Tractor Supply stores for about $7 for 40 pounds. It is very inexpensive and easy to store. Just add water and it turns to dry

pine sawdust. It doesnt really compost but desiccates, since it lacks bacteria, but if you are looking to use it as a storage and drying medium, which most of us are, it works great for covering and dehydrating the solid waste. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As most of you know, I believe that the urine diverting composting or moldering (precomposting) toilet offers one of the most responsible methods of managing your waste that exists today. While flipping a handle and having your poop magically swirl away to somewhere into the future is appealing, it is just one more way that we are passing on our problems to future generations to deal with. The cost of separating it back out of our drinking water and then finding a use for the community infected sludge isnt cheap and the process consumes energy and uses harmful chemicals. But managing your own waste is work and does have some issues that you must address that you wouldnt have to otherwise. Probably the most unappealing aspect of any composting toilet system is what are known as sewer gnats, or drain moths, or any of a dozen names for a group of small flies that are attracted to moist slimy areas such as composted fecal matter. These gnats are harmless and are not a disease vector but they are a nuisance and right or wrong they are perceived as a sign of unsanitary conditions. And, once established, they can be a bugger to get rid of. So how to deal with them? Emptying your solid waste collection container often is the best passive method. The most common advice offered is to mix diatomaceous earth with your composting medium, which has been an accepted method of controlling insects in crops for a long time. The problem here is that DE is bulky, heavy and dusty and does not break down, so it is around for a long time. Also, some insects that it kills are beneficial such as black soldier flies and their larva, which control the housefly population and break down the waste significantly. DE has also been known to kill earthworms. I will be doing an experiment this spring to see what the tolerances are for black soldier flies and diatomaceous earth and will report back. Another method of complete control is by using a Hot Shot No Pest Strip2 placed inside the housing of your C-Head or BoonJon toilet. It is not recommended that you leave the No Pest Strip inside the toilet longer than needed. You should also allow some ventilation in the toilet area (bathroom), as much as possible. The instructions state that it should not be used in an area where people will be present for more than four hours a day, but this is using the full evaporation rate of the strip inside a house where ventilation is restricted to the interior of the structure. If you live on a boat, chances are that you are getting a lot of ventilation from open hatches, so there should be little concern. The DOT hazard placard indicates 1-1-0-0 which is pretty benign. But here is how you do it.

1. Cut the end off the foil package and remove the strip, which is a plastic tower with holes in it running from top to bottom. 2. Slide the foil package back over the top exposing only the bottom area about a half of an inch, so that you are restricting the evaporation rate of the strip. Raise the cover to expose more of the strip if needed. 3. Tape the package covered strip to the inside wall of the housing if you are in a moving vehicle, or simply set it in the back corner of the toilet housing outside the solid waste collection container. Wash your hands. 4. You will see immediate results but after 10 days, the gnat egg population will have been completely eradicated, so remove the strip and reseal the package for reuse in the future. The active ingredient is Dichlorvos, an organophosphate. Organophosphates are chemicals commonly used in insect control but they are toxic and can be absorbed through the skin. In addition to killing flying insects, they also kill roaches and other invasive insects. Here are the MSDS and CDC links. Humidity found inside the collection container will quickly break down Dichlorvos and render it harmless. Restricting the evaporation by covering most of the strip should have a significant effect in limiting exposure to the chemical. The small space inside your C-Head or BoonJon housing will only require a very small amount of the chemical in order to be very effective and will contain the evaporation until the humidity breaks it down. The end result is an easy and inexpensive means of pest control. Read the directions. Use your own judgment. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We recently had an issue with some of the churn handles that I would like to bring to owners attention. I recently received a batch of plastic rods that we use in the construction of the churn handles that was ever so slightly smaller in diameter from what I had been using. Consequently, I didnt get a good bond at one joint, and I was notified by some customers that the handle was separating where the rod is inserted. A small number of them got out before I became aware of the problem. If you have had an issue with the key rod separating from the dog leg part of the churn handle, you can fix it easily by re-gluing it with common PVC pipe cement that you can get at any hardware store. That seems to solve the problem. If you want to secure it further, drill and insert a small screw into the handle. See the diagram. If you have this problem, contact me and I will either replace the

handle or walk you through repairing it. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We had a booth at the Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam in Eau Gallie, Florida and Peggy Hall (the Head Mistress) was there giving a seminar on MSDs. She is an expert on MSD plumbing systems, particularly MSD I and MSD IIs. I know that she is not a fan of composting toilets and many people listen to her advice. I wanted to listen to her take and reasoning so I sat in on part of her talk. Literally five minutes into the slide show of cracked and clogged hoses and broken valves and "this kind of toilet is legal here but not here" and I knew that she was selling my product for me. LectraSans are still legal almost everywhere except a few places like the Keys. What cruiser buys a boat that they can't take to the Keys? She came by our booth at the end and introduced herself. She is a very nice lady and she is opinionated. Nothing wrong with that, so am I! I could tell she was intrigued with the C-Head but was stuck in the old existing paradigm (If a car can go 50 mph, won't it run over the horse?) With talking to her, I soon realized that she had only a very rudimentary understanding of composting toilets, much of it not exactly correct. It is understandable that she would not like composting toilets because they are a direct threat to her area of expertise, however minimal that threat may be currently. I hope to give a seminar on composting toilets in general at the Gam in Eau Gallie (Melbourne) next year in November with an extended Q&A. It would be nice if Peggy and I could have a round table discussion and answer questions from the audience. If any of you have questions and can make it, I would be glad to see you there. The anchorage is just a couple of blocks from the Civic Center and you can dinghy to the adjacent park. Sadly, I won't be doing the Miami Boat Show this year. Unfortunately, it is just too expensive and for me, not cost effective just yet.
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That about wraps it up for this time. If you have any questions or comments that you would like me to address, please send them to me. I hope to get the next letter out in March or April. Stay tuned. Be safe and keep an eye on the horizon.

Sandy Graves

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