Raymond Charlton replied:

Hi Thommo
We have been using a Porta Potti for 20 years with the Caravan and camping trailer. We found it was much easier for the children to use at night. No problem lasting a long weekend. For the blokes the nearest tree can be a solution, but depending on how much the ladies are attuned to bush trips I found it was worth taking. Easy to clean and maintain. Same unit for over 20 yrs and no repairs yet
Ray

trikidiki replied:

Thommo, I've been using a Porta Potti on camping trips and caravan trips for about 2 years now, one of the best investments I've ever made.

Dick.

Member - AndrewPatrol replied:

We used ours for the first time on the Murray last xmas. We bought one of those pop up tent things to house it. went well. Just one thing though we have a toilet with a quite small tank (about 150 mm high) and we had to empty it about every three days. Two guys two girls. Guys generally used trees for standings. Its also a bit messy emptying them, make sure there's plenty of bog roll to clean up spills. other people in the toilet block don't appreciate the smell either, so you have to hide for a while!!!!!!

bruce replied:

If it is of any use to you Thommo and others ..here is a cheap to make toilet addative...or chemicals...1 cup of borax..dissolved , 1 cup of pinoclean , 1 cup of cloudy ammonia , mix alltogether in 5l of water.. works real well and should last for ages and a lot cheaper than the ones that you can buy in the shops...cheers

Member - Melissa replied:

Hi Thommo,

We have a Coleman porta-loo which is fantastic. So convenient I wonder now why we didn't get one sooner. Anyway, when shopping for one we found them all to be of similar style, quality etc. Deciding factor for us was finding one that was low enough to fit into the storage area of our campertrailer as we did not want to carry it in the car. Coleman one is about 12" high. Downside is smaller tank...

The chemical additive virtually eliminates any smell, but be aware that there is some dispute over waste disposal depending on the chemical you use. Basically there are 2 types - blue or green. Blue should only be disposed of in proper sewage systems. Green is supposed to be environmentally friendly and OK for disposal in septic systems. However, we have heard of some CVP's who will not allow even green to be disposed of in their septic system, claiming that is kills the natural bacteria present in the septic that are needed to break down the waste.

Following this, I made inquiries with the manufacturer of the chemical we use (can't recall the name off-hand but will post a follow-up later) as we have a septic at home. He posted out some techinical info and explained that the chemical, if used in the correct quantity, was "exhausted" and effectively made inactive by chemical process taking place in the waste tank.

Hope this helps.

:o) Melissa

PS: Might give the home-maid formula mentioned above a try.