Life Afloat
How do you go to the toilet on a narrowboat?
Narrowboats use one of three toilet systems — a cassette toilet, a pump-out tank, or a composting toilet — and which one a boat has shapes how often it needs emptying and where.
Three systems cover almost every narrowboat. A cassette toilet uses a small removable tank that lifts out through a hatch and empties at an Elsan disposal point found at most marinas and many canalside services — the most common setup on smaller and older boats. A pump-out toilet flushes into a larger fixed holding tank, emptied less often via a pump-out point, usually for a fee. A composting toilet separates liquid from solid waste, needs no chemicals, and is emptied less frequently again, appealing to boaters minimising both cost and environmental impact. Which one suits a boat depends on tank size, mooring pattern and how often you're near an emptying point — worth weighing up alongside the rest of what it costs to run a narrowboat. The plumbing changes from boat to boat; the name on the side doesn't — see our first year afloat gifts.
Written by Craig Fearn, Narrowboat Gifts.