.... no way of lifting out a 55 gallon turd bucket out of an 8 foot hole.
This reminds me of a fellow I shared housing with years ago. It was his turn to 'haul the honeybucket' and, to save a return trip to the house on his way out somewhere, he grabbed the bag lining the bucket and walked through the house carrying a 3-4 gallons of human waste - in an ordinary 13 gallon kitchen trash bag.
(No way would I want anything to do with 30 gallons or more of human slop in a thin, steel 'can'.
)
I'm leaning more and more towards the unlined method.
Our most recent version was simply located over an appropriate 'slot' on the edge of an ancient volvanic boulder field a couple hundred yards from the ocean. The occasional 'creek' disappears into the same boulder field some yards beyond, but runs only in the spring and during lengthy periods of wet weather. I don't think we benefit from any 'flushing' action, but the solids haven't built up over the past 10 years all that significantly either.
