Camping Toilet

Mine is nearly 20 years old and still works fine. Hasn't had a lot of use in that time. Got it out of storage two weeks ago and it worked like new. Carried it home half full of "contents" and the water tank half full, in the front box of the camper. No leaks.

They are one of the best camping accessories you can buy. Women love them. Got to say I find the comfort of being able to sit privately like you would at home far preferable to heading off into the scrub with a shovel.

Emptying them is a simple task. That blue chemical that you put in dissolves the contents and gets rid of the smell. Simply unclip it, tip the contents down the toilet at home (or dig a hole in the bush), rinse it out and she's ready to go again.

The make camping civilised.

Cheers,

Jim.

buy one of these jimmys thunderbox and get a roll of gabage bags to line it up over the steel sides, and close the lid.

Then bury the bag in the hole when finished and pack it up.

Fair points Darren. The porta dunny is a heavy, space taking unit.

Had those in the UK and Europe some years ago and they were fine - no spillage in the caravan but (from embarrassment factor alone :) I would hesitate to put one on a roof rack.

My bush loo comprises a black plastic box from Bunnings ($13 IIRC) about 18" by 15" by 12" deep and a Big W $5 plastic loo seat (complete with cover! :) The box is turned upside down and a jigsaw used to cut an oval hole out of the base of the box approximately corresponding to the hole in the loo seat. In use: a hole is dug and the box placed upside down over the hole with the loo seat placed on top of the upside down box. Earth from the hole is used to cover the results each time the loo is used until it gets time to dig another hole. The loo seat lid helps to keep flies at bay and I check for snakes and spider each time before I use it :) Loo paper is kept in a plastic bag by the side and I try to keep a recent newspaper there too :). The whole thing is transported inside a large garbage bag and also houses my camping "dirties" - kerosene, oil, etc. Even those strange creatures, females, seem to like it!? :)

Mike Harding

I've also got trouble with burying the plastic bags, however is it worse than the chemical toilets?? All you've got to do is read the label on the chemical container, it's not that flash. They really only should be disposed of as per specified. Not sure which way I'll eventually go but for now it's just a deep hole.

Thanks for the replies. It appears that there is good and bad points for both variety of loo. We will have to do a little more reasearch.

I use a Jimmy's Thunderbox and it find it great - so does my wife. She does not see the need for a portable toilet. It folds down nice and flat, taking up very little room, and weighs very little. We do not use a plastic bag or anything else to line it and don't find it a problem. If you do happen to spray paint it after a night on the red wine, it wouldn't take much water to clean up.