1966 Islander - Anyone had success installing a porta potty or other toilet solution in the bow/cabin area?

[jimmwaller]

Hi all,
I have an older ('66) islander 22 and I'm looking to add a small emergency toilet on board. Plan B is to just get a porta potty and keep it on board somewhere, and that's totally a fine way to go. But I'm also realizing that I have a really nice, mostly empty storage area up in the cabin/bow... I'm thinking specifically about under the very, very front bow cushion, with the little flap.

Would be nice to fit a little porta potty in there. Has anyone managed to do this in a good way? Is there an ideal porta potty for this? Everything I'm seeing is just a tad too big or has a handle that needs to slide out of the front, which is a no-go in that little space. Would be greatly appreciative if anyone knows of a good porta potty that would fit in the space!

Barring this, how have you all installed porta potties or other toilet setups in your older islanders? Very curious to see how others have done it and get some inspiration!

Thanks

 

[dingbat]

Barring this, how have you all installed porta potties or other toilet setups in your older islanders? Very curious to see how others have done it and get some inspiration!

My boat came with a Porta Potty. A selling point when you have three young daughters and a wife to convince.

Cleaned the potty three times and said no more. Bought a 5 gallon bucket. Doubles as tote to carry ice to the boat.

Funny thing… that was 15 years ago. Have not used the potty since.

Moral of the story… if you install they will come. If you don’t, they will go elsewhere and you don’t have a toilet to clean every trip

 

[alldodge]

Guys can get by but the ladies want one. My rinker cuddy came with one mounted under a cushion. Maybe @tpenfield has an idea

 

[tpenfield]

Guys can get by but the ladies want one. My rinker cuddy came with one mounted under a cushion. Maybe @tpenfield has an idea

I don't have any specific ideas, but some pictures would be nice. My 24 Cuddy had the porta-poop under a section of v-berth cushion. Maybe similar to what @jimmwaller is describing.

 

[jimmwaller]

@tpenfield yep, that's exactly what I was describing. Was your under the very bow cushion, or under one of the longer port/starboard cushions? If it was under the very bow cushion, what porta potty was it that fit under there?

Thanks all!

 

[tpenfield]

@tpenfield yep, that's exactly what I was describing. Was your under the very bow cushion, or under one of the longer port/starboard cushions? If it was under the very bow cushion, what porta potty was it that fit under there?

Thanks all!

It was in the center. Not sure what size it was . . . fairly long time ago.

 

[Emerger]

Hi all,
I have an older ('66) islander 22 and I'm looking to add a small emergency toilet on board. Plan B is to just get a porta potty and keep it on board somewhere, and that's totally a fine way to go. But I'm also realizing that I have a really nice, mostly empty storage area up in the cabin/bow... I'm thinking specifically about under the very, very front bow cushion, with the little flap.

Would be nice to fit a little porta potty in there. Has anyone managed to do this in a good way? Is there an ideal porta potty for this? Everything I'm seeing is just a tad too big or has a handle that needs to slide out of the front, which is a no-go in that little space. Would be greatly appreciative if anyone knows of a good porta potty that would fit in the space!

Barring this, how have you all installed porta potties or other toilet setups in your older islanders? Very curious to see how others have done it and get some inspiration!

Thanks

I second dingbat above. Cleaning a porta potty once is enough to make you get rid of it entirely. Five gallon bucket lined with a plastic trash bag is the way to go. It does sometimes take a bit of convincing to get women to use it. For example:

 

[ShoestringMariner]

Thetford makes a large and small version. The small version might be perfect. It comes with a small water reservoir for flushing.
I don’t get the cleaning concerns. Maybe the previous ones mentioned don’t have a flush feature?

 

[dingbat]

I don’t get the cleaning concerns. Maybe the previous ones mentioned don’t have a flush feature?

Flush or not your left with a tank of "Kool-aid", Baby Ruth's and "Clingons" to clean out at the end of the day.

Not my thing....lol

 

[jimmwaller]

Just a high-level question: I've heard really good things about porta potties that use that biodegrading liquid stuff in the tank. I can imagine that it's pretty awful to clean out just a straight tank of whatever gets flushed, but if there's some liquid and chemicals that are designed to break things down, help it not smell bad, and keep things sanitary, I've heard it's not terrible and those chemicals work really well. Like, a lot of people say (I mean... a "lot" of people on the internet, so who really knows) that if you use biodegrading chemicals, at the end of the day, no matter what gets flushed, you are basically just pouring out a bucket of blue water because everything (including toilet paper and "Baby Ruths and Clingons") gets dissolved into the water pretty thoroughly.

Is there any truth to this? Maybe I'm being optimistic about how well these chemicals work... : /

 

[dingbat]

Just a high-level question: I've heard really good things about porta potties that use that biodegrading liquid stuff in the tank. I can imagine that it's pretty awful to clean out just a straight tank of whatever gets flushed, but if there's some liquid and chemicals that are designed to break things down, help it not smell bad, and keep things sanitary, I've heard it's not terrible and those chemicals work really well. Like, a lot of people say (I mean... a "lot" of people on the internet, so who really knows) that if you use biodegrading chemicals, at the end of the day, no matter what gets flushed, you are basically just pouring out a bucket of blue water because everything (including toilet paper and "Baby Ruths and Clingons") gets dissolved into the water pretty thoroughly.

Is there any truth to this? Maybe I'm being optimistic about how well these chemicals work... : /

I think what you are talking about are the chemicals that you put in a on-board holding tank.

Not the 4 oz. of chemicals you add to the holding tank (4 gallons) of porta potty.
Smell wise, think porta John.

No idea about breaking things down. Potty was emptied immediately upon arrival back to the dock

 

[alldodge]

Chems are just to reduce smell, they do not diodegrade

 

[roscoe]

me on guys, really, takes about 30 seconds to empty, and smells less than you taking a dump after a night out drinking, then throw an extra gallon of water in and dump again, put a dose of the sweet smelling blue liquid in and its all ready to go for next time.

just remember, it may be illegal in your waters to have a portapotty onboard.
and in some waters, a permanent install must have the dump line permanently sealed, so you are stuck hauling it around till you can get it pumped out somewhere.