We Take A Closer Look At Boat Toilets – Without a Hitch (2024)

FAQs

What happens when you go to the toilet on a boat? ›

Toilets on board cruise ships are connected to vacuum suction lines that direct the waste to marine sanitation farms onboard the ship. This siphons out the water from the waste, treats it until it's drinkable, then pumps it into the ocean.

The first option for using the bathroom on a boat is through the use of a marine toilet: Marine toilets are specially designed for use on boats and yachts, and they function much like a regular toilet.

Boats that are equipped with a head (toilet) are required by law to have a holding tank. This tank is pumped out when in Port into a shore based sewage system. If the boat is not equipped with a head , a deck bucket is used and the waste is dumped overboard.

Treated sewage passes through a Type I or Type II Marine Sanitation Devise, or MSD. Depending on the boat set up, the treated waste is then stored in a Type III MSD (holding tank) or discharged directly overboard. Untreated boat sewage may be stored in a Type III MSD or discharge directly overboard.

“The bathroom of a maritime vessel is known as the head because of its location aboard vessels in the bow or fore of the ship, as explained by the Naval Heritage and History Command. The term first appears in 1708 in Woodes Rogers' book, “A Cruising Voyage Around the World.” Source Ask.com.

Instead, most boats will have a dedicated shower pump the turns on and evacuates the water collecting at the bottom of the shower. Some boats will have an automatic pump with a sensor while others may have a manual switch. It's good to keep in mind that everything you put down the drain leads directly to the ocean.

Proper Waste Disposal:

If one is within 3 miles of shore or in any lakes, rivers, or inland waters one may not dump any garbage overboard. In some areas, one may dump grey water or fresh fish parts, but never plastics or other forms of trash. Finally, one may never dump untreated human waste in any inland waters.

What do cruise ships do with their trash and sewage? They incinerate or compress the trash and offload it at the next port of call. At one time they just dumped it overboard, but they don't do that any more. If they are over three miles from shore they may dump raw or semi-processed sewage into the ocean.

Common causes of falls overboard and boat capsizing include: being caught off guard by a wave or sharp turn when moving around in the boat, carrying too much weight in the boat or unevenly distributing weight in the boat; and bad weather conditions.

What happens when you flush a toilet on a cruise ship? ›

When a toilet is flushed on a cruise ship, the sewage travels to the onboard treatment plant. Here the waste is filtered before it enters an aeration chamber. The aeration chamber cleans the waste. It is then sterilized using UV light and released into the ocean when clean enough to do so.

The absence of a sewerage system on a boat means that waste needs storing until you are able to take it ashore. Every traditional boat toilet therefore functions by flushing (or dropping) the waste from the bowl into some form of holding tank.

Ferries (and other boats) have a tank on board to hold all of the waste from the toilets. They regularly go to a pumping station where the waste is pumped out and into a sewer system for treatment. This prevents untreated waste from getting into the waterways.