Porta-Potty

[86Scotty]

They are surprisingly pretty stable. I have a very old one but like most, it stores water in the top tank and the bottom tank is the waste tank. With the fresh water tank full and the bottom empty it still will not flip over. I have never strapped it in but have simply braced it with other van stuff when we're on the road. Lots of SMB floor plans have a tight cabinet that it fits in which is a great idea for offroading.

[AndrewInSeattle]

Originally Posted by LosAngeles

How do people keep the PortaPotty from falling over when it is in a bathroom? (Shower room)

When driving down the road.

For ours, which lives in the shower room, SMB installed 2 small vertical bars on the narrow side at shin-level and included a short bungie cord to keep it in place. Easily secured, easily removed. And just discovered this weekend that the bungie cord is convenient for holding the door open when you want to air things out.

[LosAngeles]

Originally Posted by AndrewInSeattle

For ours, which lives in the shower room, SMB installed 2 small vertical bars on the narrow side at shin-level and included a short bungie cord to keep it in place. Easily secured, easily removed. And just discovered this weekend that the bungie cord is convenient for holding the door open when you want to air things out.

Awesome, and perfect!!

:-)

Thanks Andrew.

John.

[rltilley]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

They are surprisingly pretty stable. I have a very old one but like most, it stores water in the top tank and the bottom tank is the waste tank. With the fresh water tank full and the bottom empty it still will not flip over. I have never strapped it in but have simply braced it with other van stuff when we're on the road. Lots of SMB floor plans have a tight cabinet that it fits in which is a great idea for offroading.

My wife has what I call an acorn bladder and seems to need to stop four times for my one time. I got in the habit of leaving the porta-potti out of its cubby in the middle of the floor of my RB50 build so I wouldn't need to drag it out every time it was needed.

Needless to say that the time came when an emergency stop sent the unit tumbling forward through the cab and it finally came to a stop where the Atlas shift levers stopped it's forward progress. It actually knocked the transfer case into neutral.

I was worried about the unit leaking so I gingerly set it back upright and opened it slowly but it didn't leak a drop. I'm glad I know the unit is solidly built but I no longer keep it out where it has the ability to go somewhere I don't want it to go. Another lesson that it doesn't pay to be lazy.

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

[LenS]

Our van layout is an isle design with a bathroom in the rear. Biggest nightmare is to get in a head on collision and have the toilet come screaming forward and explode on the windshield. There would not be a first responder who would want to touch us until the hazmat team came.



So ours is constrained as shown.

[Grampswrx]

When I was a teenager we had one of these strapped to the top of our VW camper. We were going 65 down the highway when the strap broke. The thing bounced and rolled into the median. Never broke, didn't leak and we used it for many years to come. It did have some nice gouges in the plastic though.

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by Grampswrx

When I was a teenager we had one of these strapped to the top of our VW camper. We were going 65 down the highway when the strap broke. The thing bounced and rolled into the median. Never broke, didn't leak and we used it for many years to come. It did have some nice gouges in the plastic though.

Didn’t you feel a little exposed using it up there on the roof? ;-)

[BACKRDS]

We also have a long isle design and generally have the toilet by the rear door. Since it can be top heavy, we use a strap attached to the handle on the back door to keep it in position while driving.

As far as making cleanup simple for each use, we use 4 to 5 TP squares to line the lower part of the bowl (with the trap door closed), and do our business, including using regular TP. We make sure there is enough flush water in the bowl to saturate all the TP before we open the trap door, and it all goes down, leaving all the surfaces clean. Once in awhile we need to shake the toilet to get it to go down.

[Drizzt]

Resurrecting this thread to ask about opinions on the composting toilets like the Natures Head. I like the (supposed) ability to just dump the compost anywhere and the separate chambers for solids and wizz, but they are bigger and require power for the fan. Anybody try one of these types and is it worth it over the cassette type?

[Cyrull]

I've used a natures head that is installed in an outhouse near our family's cabin. It works great, but not sure how it would be in a van. It's quite big and expensive compared to more traditional RV Toilets.