Date:         Tue, 6 Jun 1995 09:25:45 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Harry Yates" <hyates@bcit.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Camper Toilets


I second Tobin's recommendations... and yes, Tobin did talk me into 
it.  The Thetford fits nicely between the front seats in the 80+ 
Vanagon's behind the parking brake.  My wife just made a couple 
webbing straps so secure it in place while driving.  The unit is 
approx. 12X14 and 12 high.  My wife also made a cover for it complete 
with map pockets.  It works well in our van.

Harry.

> 
> Bathroom stuff:  Christa and I have and use (when we're camping, not all 
> the time!) a porta-potti, and it's great.  What we have is a Thetford 
> Porta-potti 235 and we got it on sale in Canada for about $100.00 CAN.  
> Highly recommended.  C and I are extremely enthusiastic about it, and we 
> even (kind of) talked Harry Yates into buying one.  Harry bought one, but 
> apparently they don't make the 235 anymore.  
> 
> What it is, how it works:
> The porta-potti (PP) is a 2-part unit.  The top part is the, um, sit-on 
> and temporary hold-it part.  A slide type valve keeps, uh, stuff in the 
> bowl until sliding the little door lets the stuff fall into the lower 
> part, which is the holding tank.  Slide it shut, and that's the last you 
> see/smell/etc. of it.  A little of the blue goop that airlines use is in 
> there (you put it in after emptying), and it nuetralizes everything, 
> turning it into a bluey-brown more-or-less odourless syrup.  (Enjoying 
> your lunch, people?).  When the holding tank gets full (and there's a 
> little indicator on the tank to tell you how full the tank is) just dump 
> it out in the nearest toilet/sanidump/etc.  It even has a little 
> swiveling pipe-thing you uncap that the yummies pour out of so that 
> emptying is controlled and mess-free.  
> 
> Using a PP in a VW bus:
> I built a box that fits just behind the passenger seat in our westy.  
> This box holds the PP, toilet paper and blue goop under the PP, and has 
> two deep bookshelves next to where I slide the PP in.  Just try to find 
> (non-sexist/racist/etc.) reading material in a gas station bathroom!
> 
> Because I built the box with very tight clearance for the PP, I have a 
> length of seatbelt strapping I tie around the PP to help me lift it in 
> and out of the box.  The box has a top lid, so we can use the box as a 
> seat when cooking inside the camper.  
> 
> We have NO smells from the PP, although the closed box may help in this 
> respect.  Having it in the box also keeps it from sliding around on tight 
> corners/rough roads/whenever you get air on the drive to pick up 
> grandma.  
> 
> The only problem we've experienced was the result of rapid air pressure 
> changes and hours of VERY hard cornering (I think).  In Mexico, we 
> dropped close to 10,000 feet in just a few hours on an absolutely insane 
> "road", accompanied by a 10-15 C temperature increase.  Perhaps the seal 
> between the holding tank and the upper 'bowl' part of the PP is too good, 
> 'cause shortly after reaching close to sea level it kind of... exploded 
> (in a minor way) when Christa tried to use it.  Interestingly, though, by 
> far the worst paret of the smell was the chemical smell of the blue goop, 
> not the, uh, other portion of the contents.  Moral: bleed pressure from 
> the holding tank occaisionally if you're driving up or down a steep high 
> mountain range.
> 
> Our holding tank is good for 3 - 5 days, depending.  We use regular 
> toilet paper.  The blue goop is cheap, don't need much, and is available 
> at any RV store.  I highly recommend the THetford brand of porta-pottis 
> (std. disclaimer, etc., etc.) and maybe other folks have their own 
> preferences.  Good RV stores seem to always have a good selection of 
> them, although these places tend towards the larger models which may not 
> be neccesary for us VW types.
> 
> We lived out of our camper for 3 months, 15,000 miles of driving in all 
> kinds of conditions, and I think a good quality porta-potti was one of 
> the best equipment investments we made.  You'll never want to take your 
> chances at a gas station again.  And the reading material is better, too!
> 
> Happy, uh, camping!
> 
> Tobin    
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Tobin T. Copley                  Currently               =============
> (604) 689-2660                    Occupationally        /_| |__||__| :| putta
> tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca      Challenged!         O|             | putta
>                                                         '-()-------()-'
> Circum-continental USA, Mexico, Canada 15,000 miles... '76 VW Camper! (Mango)
> 
> 
> 
> 
-------------------------------------------------------
Harry yates         Internet: hyates@bcit.bc.ca
'90 Syncro Westfalia          Burnaby, BC
'87 Golf Diesel