" wrote in
ps.com:

How do we get rid of wastes that we leave in a potty? My boat is so
small that I cannot easily fit a porta potti into the existing
structure of the boat. I am thinking of using a 3-gal bucket and
lining it with layers of plastic bags, and use it as a potty. But I am
wondering what I am going to do with all these bags of human wastes:



Well, I believe it is STILL legal to dump the bucket over the side,
without the plastic bag, of course, last time I checked. It is illegal
to dump your holding tank or any MOUNTED toilet over the side, but not if
you use a bucket. Whales and other marine mammals do it all the time
without getting arrested.

The laws about marine sanitation devices is a long, arduous string of
legalese to make sure, as usual, that the appropriate palms get crossed
and the price is high.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ht...3_00001322----
000-.html

Local states and fiefdoms can make more stringent
laws/regulations/ordinances than this, of course. Your mileage (or is
that millage) may vary.

section 1322 (b)(1) says:

"(b) Federal standards of performance
(1) As soon as possible, after October 18, 1972, and subject to the
provisions of section 1254 (j) of this title, the Administrator, after
consultation with the Secretary of the department in which the Coast
Guard is operating, after giving appropriate consideration to the
economic costs involved, and within the limits of available technology,
shall promulgate Federal standards of performance for marine sanitation
devices (hereafter in this section referred to as “standards”) which
shall be designed to prevent the discharge of untreated or inadequately
treated sewage into or upon the navigable waters from new vessels and
existing vessels, except vessels not equipped with installed toilet
facilities. Such standards and standards established under subsection (c)
(1)(B) of this section shall be consistent with maritime safety and the
marine and navigation laws and regulations and shall be coordinated with
the regulations issued under this subsection by the Secretary of the
department in which the Coast Guard is operating. The Secretary of the
department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall promulgate
regulations, which are consistent with standards promulgated under this
subsection and subsection (c) of this section and with maritime safety
and the marine and navigation laws and regulations governing the design,
construction, installation, and operation of any marine sanitation device
on board such vessels."

The key buzzwords here a "except vessels not equipped with installed
toilet facilities." Your bucket isn't covered because it's not an
"installed toilet facility"....nor is hanging it over the stern and
letting fly, once you get used to the cat calling, cursing and screaming,
especially from the swimmers close by who are always downstream from the
event, it seems. The bucket is nice because you can wait until they are
all distracted, then dump it quickly and retreat before anyone notices
who did it. Just don't "install" the bucket with a hose....which makes
it an "installed" device.

The law recognizes there's no room for $5000 worth of sewage treatment
equipment aboard a 12' aluminum boat with a 9hp Honda, or your Fold-A-
Bote dingy, which I find refreshing after reading some other laws the
stupid idiots we elect to public office write.

Now you need to check all your state, regional and local load of nonsense
to see what these layers of bureaucracy have added to section 1322.

All this is now moot that the Federal Judge in Louisiana has declared
boating, mostly, a Federal felony. After you've robbed the bank, they
won't add any time because you stole beer from the 7-11 cooler.

The bucket is part of our "Dump and Run" scenario. Drunken fisherman
regularly **** all that beer over the side, mostly after the waterskiiers
have passed. This is one of the many reasons MEN are built as we are,
with built-in drainage equipment, hopefully longer than the distance to
the gunwales....to leeward is best, including dumping your bucket.