Date:         Fri, 31 Jul 1998 17:02:53 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: RV Toilet
Comments: To: ghamburg@VOM.COM, vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

>From:  ghamburg@VOM.COM (ghamburg)
>
>  I cant stand the idea of emptying  and traveling with a self contained
porta
>  pot!!!
>  So Will this alternate idea work? Has anyone tried it?
>
>  Drilling a hole in my Westy floor  (in back of the passenger seat)  placing
>  an RV toilet over it that drains to a holding tank under the van.
>
>  Any comments?

Sure, I think it would work, and it could be pretty spiffy.  But:
(1) That toilet is now with you forever.  The porta-potti can be left in the
    garage for more cargo space, or when you don't want it along for
    some other reason.  It can also be moved elsewhere in the van when
    necessary.  You can also put it on the driveway and hose it down -
    sure beats toilet cleaner and a brush.
(2) Your waste disposal problem has not been eliminated - it's merely been
    moved under the van for a while.  You're still going to have to empty the
    tank.  (I know, you knew that already.)  This involves carrying a long,
    yucky corragated hose somewhere, some gloves, possibly some
    splashing, definitely some clean-up, etc.  Having dumped both kinds of
    potties, I'd say one's about as messy as the other, but the porta-potti's
    maybe a bit less so.
(3) When the porta-potti gets full, you just need to find someplace with
    a toilet to dump it into.  When a permenant holding tank gets full,
    you need to find a dump station.  There's a fair number of those around -
    but not as many as there are toilets.  Note that this probably means you
    can't dump your holding tank at your own home - you'll have to drive the
    van somewhere.

So, I suggest going with the porta-potti, and perhaps putting a cover over it
to disguise it as a little seat.  (I keep meaning to make a cover for mine if
I ever
get around to it, plus a cushion to raise it to seat height).  A deluxe and
very expensive option is to get a regular seat, with a base you can store a
porta-potti in - I've seen one in the Reimo catalog.  Steve Lashley
(ThingGuy@aol.com) could help you out with that.

                                                        -Steven Sittser