The most comprehensive survey of all thing (Inland Waterways) boating toilets! Follow the page for updates and to see the results as they are published.
(4)
16/12/2019
The analysis and reporting of the survey has been woefully slow. My apologies - this is all in my spare time and the day job got in the way (although it has been great to get two grants - one for a project researching the stories of women involved in canal restoration 'I Dig Canals' and one to develop a musical for children 'Midsummer Milly') but now the time has come. So watch this space for short reports and summaries and, eventually lots of detail from the 1700 responses and several thousand comments!
04/03/2019
And it's closed - 1712 responses which is great but another 100 would have had a certain ring to it! I'd like to wade in and see what the results might look like but I've agreed to join the local crib team for the evening so it will have to wait :-)
02/03/2019
Well, this is it, the very last few days to complete The Great Big Boating Bog survey. It is set to close at midday on Monday, when I can start the analysis. If you haven’t already done it, this is your chance to chip in and say something about facilities if nothing else! I'll be working on the analysis over the next few weeks and the results will be published here. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BoatingLoos
For all UK Inland Waterway boaters. You've discussed them in the pub, argued the relative merits of pump out v cassette on Facebook, now you can do the survey! Every boater's favourite topic.
28/02/2019
1592 responses to date and set to close at midnight on Sun Mar 3rd. Can we get it to 2000 before then... :-)
18/02/2019
I have finally managed to delve far enough into the system to switch off the progress counter - it was causing some confusion as it implied everyone had to answer every question!
15/02/2019
Just a couple more weeks to respond to the survey - it's got a bit quiet with only a handful coming each day, so please feel to share in your favourite boating group!
10/02/2019
The survey now has 1,330 responses. I had a very interesting chat today with a boater who is also a CRT employee. Sanitary facilities aren't his responsibility but he did say that managing the increasing pressure on facilities is a huge challenge and they are interested in exploring ways to address this - and it isn't just a case of providing more elsan points. They still feed into, often Victorian, sewage systems that are also struggling. So the more info we can present about boat loos and the disposal needs the better the chance we can all work together on improvements.So, please spread the survey link as far and wide as you can. Thank you :-)
31/01/2019
The current state of the survey is that it has been open 14 days and has just over 1000 responses. The goal is 10% of the current 35,000 boats on the Inland Waterways so 3,500. However, not everyone is a boater yet, so my goal is 4000, to give a bit of leeway.
31/01/2019
This is the most comprehensive survey of loos on boats on the Inland Waterways, ever. It’s open to complete until the end of February and here is the place to ask any questions you have, see updates and where the results will be published first.
The survey is carefully designed so that you only get questions relevant to your loo. If you have a cassette or pump out it will take around 15 min, if you have a compost loo a little longer because that’s new and the survey is aiming to find out how that is all working in more detail, so 25 min+. If you don’t have a boat yet but are thinking about it will only take you 5-10 minutes.
It’s also an opportunity to add your experiences and views of sanitary facilities on the waterways. The survey won’t magically create more facilities but a good response will provide some evidence to support campaigners and planners.
It’s an entirely personal self funded project, independent of Canal & River Trust, the Environment Agency, any boating organisation and any manufacturer or supplier of any kind of boating toilet. It has taken four months to develop and been through three rounds of testing by a volunteer panel of 65 boaters. They helped at each stage to challenge bits that weren't clear, spot errors and add further options; it's a much better survey for their kind efforts and I am very grateful to them. I do hope you would like to join in – the bigger the response the more useful the results will be.
If you have any questions or queries, message here or email: [email protected].
For all UK Inland Waterway boaters. You've discussed them in the pub, argued the relative merits of pump out v cassette on Facebook, now you can do the survey! Every boater's favourite topic.
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Why survey boaters loos?
The Great Big Boating Bog Survey is the most comprehensive survey of loos on boats ever! It’s an entirely personal, self funded project, independent of CRT, the EA, any boating organisation and any manufacturer or supplier of any kind of boating toilet.
It started with my interest in composting and wanting to find out more about how that's going but then I realised it would a great opportunity to get a an overview of all matters boating toilets, including other recent innovations like incinerating loos. It’s also an opportunity to comment on disposal facilities and nominate places that you feel need more. It won’t magically create more facilities but a good response will provide useful evidence to help campaigners and planners alike. By good I mean around 4,000 – that will represent roughly 10% of the 35,000 boats on the inland waterways + around 500 people who are thinking about boating in the future.
It’s open to all boaters (UK Inland Waterways) and anyone planning to buy/build a boat in the future. And I want to hear from every kind of boater – you might cruise extensively, you might not leave your mooring; you might live on your boat or only spend a few weekends aboard; you might have a narrowboat, a Dutch barge, a widebeam, a converted lifeboat, or something you built yourself! It doesn’t matter, as long as you need to p*e sometimes your contribution is important.
It is designed so that you only get questions relevant to your loo. If you have a cassette or pump out it will take around 15 min, if you have a compost loo a little longer because I wanted to explore how that is all working in more detail, so perhaps 25+ min. And if you’re just at the thinking about a boat stage, it will only take 5-10 minutes.
I do hope you would like to join in – the bigger the response the more interesting and useful the results will be. The final report will be available in the summer.
