depends on hours and temps
While there are individual differences I think one reason some can manage fine and others not is we may not all be talking about the same kinds of trips. I think anything under two hours should be easy for most to manage without needing to pee (though better not have to care if you do need to). Four hours can be done, but not ideally. I think anyone that can manage to not need to pee for a six hour paddle is either amazing or is risking dehydration. I’ve had eight hour days without stepping on land so I’m glad to carry lots of water and pee as I travel.
When I get in a kayak, everything
below my waist goes numb. Not a particularly good thing. I switched to canoes.
My daughters & nieces use your product…
and they think you are the greatest for inventing it! I’m sure they thank you for it every time they go canoeing & camping.
Your invention makes it possible for them to spend a lot more time paddling without the hassle of always having to pull over. I’m thanking you too, for more time for them to be on the water & far less time with pit-stops.
Nope, you’ll definitely get no wisecracks me.
While rafting the saying is…
The solution to pollution is dilution. Or simply taking a “smile break” because everyone knows what you are doing in the water- you might as well smile.
Let It Go, Let It Flow!
rjh mentioned cystitis, I believe you can get that, which is a UTI, urinary tract infection, if you hold it all the time when you have to go.
-Capri
Good!
Keep the pee in the boat or either go well up the bank to pee. Most water conservationist believe it isn’t best to pee in the water. I agree.
Yep
My better half calls hers her “Porta Penis”. When she first tried it, she was all crazy about how liberating it was to pee standing up. Can’t say I’d disagree.
Someday, I’ll get her to write her name in the snow when we’re skiing 
The love of my life and I
have had many a pissing contest. I must say that with the Freshette I win hands down!!
But there are other reasons for wanting
to drink often. When I was young, I often got dehydrated because I didn’t feel a need to drink. Now in my upper 60s, well into the pro state, I like to drink quite often. No medical signs of diabetes whatsoever. Often the medications those of us in late advanced middle age take of necessity can cause thirst.
Good way to get kidney stones, too!
With the growing popularity of long
days in sea and touring kayaks, can we not expect that seats and shorts will be designed so that we can pee in place? There’s a lot of unused volume in the seat in my Necky Looksha, and that volume could be filled with a strongly absorbent pad. The pad could be pulled out, thrown out, and replaced later. And there are battery powered pumps that could spray the stuff out a blowhole in the stern deck. If you plan right, the wind may blow it onto your paddling companions.
Not entirely kidding.
Hydrate!!!
Lilly Dippers just keep on lily dipping and having fun, but if you are paddling in conditions or are a performance paddler you need to be well hydrated. F - modesty. Have you seen Into the Sea 4. Go Shawna!!!
Depends? Might as well piss in your pants, drysuit, wetsuit . . whatever.
Pee Freeely.
Better warn the fish . . .
The fish pee in the water. What makes them so special?
SHEWEE . . .
– Last Updated: Feb-12-09 2:35 AM EST –
Discovered the SHEWEE while shopping at Brasington's, called wife and she said to get it. She hasn't tried it yet. Check it out: http://www.shewee.com/ .
I have a disposable bed urinal that I took home with me after my last VA stay - good for passing back and forth (after being emptied and rinsed).
As for "conservationists" saying don't pee in nature, what do they think WE are? No wonder the dolphins laugh. Unless you are on a totally toxic diet, your pee will not be significantly any more polluting than fish or dolphin pee. Add nitrogen; the aquatic flora will appreciate it. I remember from my high school days, when sometimes going out as an assistant striker on a shrimp boat . . . I would arrive before dawn, at Port Canaveral, sometimes before the captain would walk aft with a roll of toilet paper and hang his ass over the stern. (Another reason not to swim in harbor water). Life was simple in those days.
thanks for the help
I ordered the freshette from campmor. It seems like it would fold up easy.
in response to some of the warnings:
I can control how fast I pee (love those kekle exercises). Also…I do get my blood checked regularly. My traveling companions don’t seem to mind stopping to let me pee. BUT sometimes in the alligator infested swamps of Florida, it just doesn’t feel quite safe. THANKS for all your help. There was a great article on paddling.net about how important it is to stay hydrated especially in the Florida heat.
P@C
soon you too will have your P @ C (Pee at Sea) merit badge!
good luck
steve
Good one…
Porta Penis…good one.
I have a Freshette and call it my ‘river dick’. Very handy gizmo. I have no qualms at all about “inspecting the outdoor facilities”, but the Freshette has saved me stops along the river.
A friend of mine gave it to me as a joke on my 50th birthday (along with a package of Depends). The 1st time I used it was on a river in WV. I just stood in the canoe and made a sparkling arc; my paddling companions were whooping and hollering because they saw the fisherman on the bank and I didn’t. I can’t imagine what the fisherman must have thought.
Kate,
I used my freshette in a women’s restroom stall once because it seemed a better idea than sitting. I was wearing hiking clothes and boots.
When I came out there was a woman standing by the door with her mouth open, ready to scream. She assumed there was a man in the wrong restroom. 
That’s really a good idea.
– Last Updated: Feb-12-09 4:45 PM EST –
I can't think of many things more disgusting to me than the toilet seat in most ladies' rooms.
It's a good thing that woman was close to the toilet. She was probably ready to pee her pants after seeing your boots pointing the wrong way!
just seems to me that there should be …
– Last Updated: Feb-12-09 10:30 PM EST –
...... a specially designed woman's brief that have the catcher thing built right in . They might have to be a little heavier duty and fit a little extra snug there , and I don't know what stretchy material would be best , but the catcher thing could have a tube that emptys into a disposable bag .
What I;m saying is if you can pee your pants , this special sports brief would prevent that ... of course I don't know much about all this and womens requirements , I'm a guy , but it just seems like someone could make these things I invision right on a sewing machine and a little imagination .
you might have to rough it a wee bit and dry off a little better later when that's more covenient ... but hey , don't they always say paddling is a wet sport , lol .