Port-A- Potty

DutchmenSport wrote:
We've been using a port-a-potty for 30 years of camping. We started using one when tent camping, continued using it with the pop-up, and then with 3 different travel trailers.

Why a port-a-potty in a travel trailer with a perfectly good working bathroom?

Winter! When the trailer is winterized, we use, exclusively, the port-a-potty and absolutely no water anywhere in the camper, to even run the remote risk of putting any down the sink drains or toilet. Been doing this for 20 years or so now.

Our port-a-potty is a simple Wall Mart one, that's a white bucket that fits inside a black outer container with a plastic removable toilet seat and a lid that covers everything.

After use, simply lift the buck out, dump it (wherever) and put it back.

Of course we rinse ours every time, and put a few ounces of bleach in the bottom (when using it).

We dump the port-a-potty every day, never miss. And with just the 2 of us, there is never very much, and it never smells. It doesn't sit long enough, and with the bleach, it usually smells strong of bleach (thank goodness).

As we use the camper at home, in the drive way, pretty much all winter, I take it inside and dump down the inside toilet, flush, and use the bathtub to add a bit of water to rinse, dump down the toilet, and usually rinse a second time, then add a small amount of bleach, take it back to the camper, ready for the next 24 hours.

In the summer, when we travel with no water in the tanks, we take the port-a-potty with us and use it, instead of the on-board toilet. It doesn't take any water and when we reach our destination, we can dump it there.

Basically, if we are traveling 'dry' we use the port-a-potty. If we have water in the tanks, which we usually do not, we use the on-board toilet. 99% of the time, we have no water in the fresh tank.

The biggest problem you will encounter is to find a place to dump the contents of the port-a-potty. If you don't mind hauling it in your vehicle, it's a great alternative.

You can add chemicals to it also, but personally, I wouldn't want to use someone else's port-a-potty with "stuff" in it already. I don't like the commercial portable out-houses either. Looking down that hole is just ... well ... yuck!

I do something very similar to this after freezing season. I use the same wall mart porta-potti except I put a quality trash bag in mine then throw the bag in the garbage. That is probably not legal and I try not to pollute when I can. But, I am just a bachelor and I don't make much waste. Still, dumping it down a proper septic system if you can would be a better idea.