Kudos – you’re my inspiration and hero for paring down as well as dealing with the important stuff in life. ღ

Yeah, I’m normally really frugal and hate spending money on anything if I can make do with what I already have. But believe me, if we could have fit it? I would have been happy to spend $1200 on a composting toilet. 🙂

One of the reasons I was drawn to boat life is the same reason I’m drawn to camping. I like the idea of paring down and concentrating more on doing the necessary things of life.

Having to work just a little harder to take care of necessities reminds me of how lucky I am to have access to clean water, enough to eat, and fuel to prepare it. Sadly, so many people don’t.

We started training Honey to use an astroturf square by putting it under the snow before we moved out of our house so she would leave her scent on it. Despite that, she has gone as long as 20 hours without a potty break and without so much as a whimper rather than use the turf on the deck.

I’m preparing a post on why I think it’s much harder to train a large dog to potty on a boat than a small dog.

Sorry to hear about your neighbors. They’re definitely doing something wrong if you’re smelling feces. The key is to separate dry and liquid waste. With a drying medium, like peat or coir, the only smell should be peat-y. Not feces-y. Ugh.

I’ve met one vegan (apparently eating a lot of meat can cause greater smell) who kept his composting toilet in a cabinet next to his bed. No smell at all.

May you want to print off an instruction page from a human-ure composting website and stick it in their mailbox.

Speaking as someone who once cleaned human feces out of a crack house, I know exactly what you’re dealing with. It’s one of the most memorable smells I’ve ever experienced.

Many months later, even I can laugh about the leaky holding tank. But probably not if it ever happened again. 🙂

Yep, that’s what we tell ourselves when we’re managing the gross things: at least it will make somebody laugh. 🙂

All of life is complicated and icky at times. I think if you ask most people who live on boats, they’d tell you that spotting a dolphin off your bow or enjoying beautiful sunsets every day makes it all worth it. 🙂

Believe me, Carolyn, that is our future wish. We began working on it several months before moving on board by placing an astroturf mat under the snow so Honey would “christen” it with her scent.

But we have never gotten her to use it on board. Honey has already gone more than 20 hours without a break and without so much as a whimper. I have a feeling she can outlast me. Because I will inevitably cave and take her ashore if there’s any possibility of doing so.

I’m working on a post that will explain why I think it’s so much harder to teach a large dog to toilet on a boat than a small one. I’d be interested to know from small dog people if my speculation agrees with your experience.