Most asked Question

When solids have left our bodies, we have no wish to ever view them again. Some people don't mind (most notably the Dutch), but we are not of that mindset. When we heard that some boaters have to slosh suitcases full of excrement down the towpath to a disposal point, we were utterly mortified. Hellenistic culture invented the flushing toilet several millenia ago, so that's the system we wanted.


(For our friends) No, they don't go straight into the water. The 1's and 2's are pumped down a tube, where they are shredded by whirring macerator blades and shunted off to a steel holding tank. we were thrilled that the stuff really does hit the fan. But not so thrilled that the whirled jobbies would be stored directly under our bed.

Naturally, we have been reading up a bit on the 'science of poo', and treated properly the black tank (euphenism for ton of shite) should not stink very much, if at all. Without nasty detergent chemicals, the live bacteria allegedly seal in the gunk which contains the smell. The paper and stuff is eaten by these friendly non smelling bugs, and reduced to a gloop, which then gets sucked out through a big (hermetically sealed) hose every six weeks. Depending on how much food we eat, and the amount of tea we drink.

It is a bit niffy at the moment. Sheena reported a noxious blowback waft on her first encounter with it. We suspect the previous owners used chemicals, and at the next pump out we'll flush it through thoroughly. 'Biomagic' is the stuff we need, apparently. And we hear that Lemon juice is good for masking any lingering bowl smell. We shall be buying a sack of them.