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Poop tube


gyork

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Anyone had luck with this device, or variations thereof? http://www.fastq.com/~jrschroeder/poop.htm

Have tried zip-lock/newspaper in the past.

Gary

le boom tube.

my kit's all a big plastic bag holding the BIG ziploc for the ziploc/newspaper/"other" deposits.

...handi wipes, anti bacterial soap...maybe a scented candle. so far that's been the best we've come up with.

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Jonathan Richardson uses one of those, Gary, and he camps for days-on-end in Maine (he has several times given us talk/lectures on low-impact camping) If I remember correctly, though, I think he uses slightly-larger diameter tubing (three-and-a-half sounds less-than generous to me).

I had a (slightly amusing) thought while looking at the link you provided: it might be a prudent idea to attache the screw-in lids at each end with a piece of safety-line -- imagine opening up at the tube-emptying station and...oops! Goodbye, screw-in lid! Ummm...

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Should I add a Tablespoon of bleach to the cylinder, before leaving home?

I imagine there is some gas buildup over time, unless you kill the bacteria somehow. OTOH, septic systems (and maybe pump-out stations?) prefer NOT to have bacteriacidals added.

Do people vent these downwind, overnight?

Gary

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Should I add a Tablespoon of bleach to the cylinder, before leaving home?

I imagine there is some gas buildup over time,

Don't know, but suggest care be taken regarding which end pointing toward the cockpit if carried on top of deck.

Ed Lawson

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...suggest care be taken regarding which end pointing toward the cockpit if carried on top.....

Ed Lawson

Although I'd store the "torpedo" below decks, on top I'd have the ends pointing port and starboard, while we paddled SINGLE-FILE in the hot summer sun!

Gary

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For some reason I thought the name was "amazing poo powder" I guess it's just poo powder, maybe I'll just write "amazing" with a sharpie on the container for my benefit. Poo powder only comes in a lifetime supply size.

The kitty litter in the tube works well too.

btw. I have a screw cap on both ends of the tube, makes cleaning much easier.

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For some reason I thought the name was "amazing poo powder" I guess it's just poo powder, maybe I'll just write "amazing" with a sharpie on the container for my benefit. Poo powder only comes in a lifetime supply size.

The kitty litter in the tube works well too.

btw. I have a screw cap on both ends of the tube, makes cleaning much easier.

The downside to using kitty litter is that it is no longer possible to put the contents of the tube down the toilet and so makes the disposal of the "material" that much more difficult.

The poo powder, "amazing" or not allows disposal in a landfill which is easier to do - just toss the contents in the garbage.

I use the burrito method - wrap in newspaper and carry back in zip locks all packed into one DARK plastic garbage bag. Traditionally I camp in Maine and on the way home, I stop at the rest stop on the NH/MA border which has the toilets that decompose. I then empty my garbage bags with the plastic removed into one of the toilets. It only takes a minute. The newspaper will then decompose along with the rest. If I have been out for a week, I will use more than one of the toilets.

Suz

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Quote: The downside to using kitty litter is that it is no longer possible to put the contents of the tube down the toilet and so makes the disposal of the "material" that much more difficult.

BB: Waste coated with kitty litter can go into the nearest "handy house" or down a standard toilet. I'm not sure the clays would interfere with composting toilets but it would best to avoid them.

Quote: The poo powder, "amazing" or not allows disposal in a landfill which is easier to do - just toss the contents in the garbage.

BB: I'd rather put it in a toilet than the garbage.

Quote: ...wrap in newspaper and...[put in]...toilets that decompose.

BB: I'm wondering what Clivus would say about newspaper and/or kitty litter. Consider also that tubes, boxes, etc. are reusable items while baggies, etc. are plastic and trash.

Suz

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I've been in two situations requiring packed-out poop.

Paddling on Lake Powell, we used a boom tube much like your photos....I built it out of the standard white PVC plumbing fixtures from Home Depot. It worked great, but there was indeed a slight amount of seepage around the threads of the openable end (the sealed end stayed sealed). It was too gross to put belowdecks....we kept it wrapped in a garbage bag, and lashed decktop the whole trip. The seepage was too slight to notice that way - never smelled it, splashes kept it clean, etc etc.

Hiking the Paria Narrows (Utah) last spring, we used ziplocks with poo powder (some free kits that the BLM made available at the ranger station nearby). Nowhere near as gross as I thought it would be. The kit-ziplocks were metallized, so you didn't have to look at the, er, contents. In true paranoid middle-class fashion, these were packaged in two more successive layers of ziplocks, and then wrapped in a loose garbage bag also holding the TP. This was amazingly compact, and (if you don't mind the visual imagery) was squishy and conformal enough to loosly fill and pad the odd corners of the backpacks. No leakage outside the first ziplock was encountered. We did have a separate "kit" for each person....each carried his own poop out (more middle class paranoia, I guess....on Lake Powell, the two of us shared a boom tube).

Having done both, I am a complete convert to the ziplock technique. It is compact, lightweight, conformal, and (I think) more leakproof. I will use it again paddling or backpacking whenever needed, and it is so easy that my threshold for carrying out poop is now much lower than it was before.

A few hints. Don't pee in your kit...keep it dry. Also (in case this isn't obvious), don't "perform" into your kit either...do it on hard bare ground, then shovel/scoop the contents into the kit, with a little dirt to help absorb moisture.

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THE Pooh Powder, no amazing, as it is listed on the manufacturers web site does make the waste more environmentaly safe for disposal. It will gel the liquids and deoderize along with enzimes that start the decomposition process. The chemical make up is simmilar to what is in disposable diapers. I purchased a container a few years ago and have only used a small amount, I guess I am not as full of it as some people say. The tube I use, I call it a "shytubee" is in different leangths a short weekender to the longer weeklong model they are made fron the lighter PVC found at home centers the pipe is for drainage out side and not indoor plumping. Because I use The Pooh Powder is contain my waste in plastic bags, they are thin trash bags appropriatly called can liners, I can stuff 5 or 6 of these into the cardboard tube of the TP (I am always saveing partly used rolls of TP so that I do not have to take a full roll).

I have found that the "can liner" method is the easiest to use. I will roll the edges of the bag up (it is easier to grip) grab hold of the two sides hold and squat. ( if anyone needs more detailed instruction TOO BAD) In goes all the TP and a premeasured packet of The Pooh Powder. this is NOT tied but placed in the shytubee which is on the outside aft of my kayak (yes it does catch the wind a little). I have both screw caps and the rubber quick cap. I prefer the rubber cap. If there is and sand or dried salt on the threads of the screw cap a wrench will be needed to remove it, besides the rubber can expand with the gas build up. If only there was a way to use it as a light in the evening, small hole sparking device, who knows.

Newspapers are not all alike the MITA web site has good info on which ones are better for waste than others (it has nothing to do with content, but the ink that is used). Use the wrong one and the black ring in the bowl may be difficult to remove.

The web site for The Pooh Powder is www.thepett.com

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