A couple of little problems concerning stewardship of the river solved :)

I was worried about storing trash on the boat.  After all, it was 48 years ago when I caused an article in the Knoxville News Sentinel about a trash dump and collecting the $25 reward from the state for convicting a litterer.  Yes, I've been adamant about the subject for a number of years!

A friend from the sailing community, Jeff Gegner,  lead me to this idea.  The brilliance is that everything on a boat is forced to do more than one task and has to have a  This solution fits both needs nicely.

http://fivegallonideas.com/trash-compactor/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trash-compactor

The bucket for the seat can serve as a storage container, a seat, a bailer, and a compactor.  How brilliant!  4 uses for one item.

My next issue was provisions for sanitation.  I have been interested in composting toilets for boats for some number of years.  At the risk of being too graphic, there is a concept that has to be understood.... urine is what makes outhouses stink.  '

On boats, there are two approaches to the smell issue of a composting head.  If one has a lot of electricity (think larger powerboats), then one may put a heater in the composting bin which dries it out after each use.  The moisture is vented into the air and the dry compost heap does its magic.

The second approach is to separate urine from the other waste.  This system uses a diverter plate under the seat to send the urine to a tank for disposal at a later time.  The compost pile is churned mechanically by hand to speed the composting action.  The compost can be sphagnum peat moss, or a variety of other products.  A year or two supply of peat moss is about $15, so why spend much time worrying about it?

I also need a head on my 32' sailboat and for environmental purposes, a composting head on that boat really appeals to me.  The heat of the composting process makes the compost inert and safe to dump ashore, or at sea without harming the environment.  Urine is sterile, so can be dumped overboard everywhere except no discharge zones.  Unfortunately, the Cumberland River is a no discharge zone, if I'm not mistaken, so this will be an issue.  I wonder if I could build a solar furnace to evaporate the urine.  Hmmm.  I need to talk to the Cumberland River Compact to get their ideas.

With recommendations from sailor acquaintances, I ended up ordering a C-Head from Florida.  http://www.c-head.com/C-Head.html  I can use it on this trip, then take it to my sailboat the next trip.