Do You Use a Cassette Toilet

[Dave_Pete]

I am looking to sell my TT and get back into a truck camper. There are definite advantages to a toilet with a large black tank. And there are great advantages to a portable toilet (Porti-Potti).

For my circumstances, I'm seriously looking to combine advantages by getting a truck camper with a cassette toilet. But, I've never used one (sat on it so to speak). The dealer wouldn't allow me (just kidding). I've only seen one cassette in person at a recent RV show in a pop-up trailer and the door/shower curtain/shower hose, etc. really prevented getting a good feel for it.

For those of you with actual experience, and without getting too graphic, what comparisons are there to using (sitting on) a cassette toilet?

(Dave gets ready for some responders that just couldn't help themselves) 🙂

[JimK-NY]

I camped full time for 2 years in a truck camper with a cassette toilet. On a few occasions I wished I had a large black tank and could go a long time between dumps. On way more occasions I was happy I had the cassette toilet. On the downside I need to dump every 2-3 days, but dumping is easy. I try to avoid dumping at crowded public restrooms. I would never abuse the privilege of overnight Walmart parking by bringing the cassette into the store. I have dumped in outhouses pretty frequently. I have used side entrance gas station toilets on rare occasions. In some States I have found rest stops with free dump stations. Most often I just use campground dump stations. Only once was I in the middle of nowhere and had to improvise by digging a hole.

Whether cassette or black tank, dumping is no fun. At least with the cassette it is quick. Also no disgusting contaminated dump hose to deal with.

[ryanallie1]

Hi All.

Is it Legalor Not,?? I really don't care. For one thing, if you never say anything to anyone, who is going to know what you dumping in the Trash Container.

People get bent out of shape so easily these days. I would think that digging a so called Cat-Hole like hiker and Back-Packers do. They just dig a hole and do their business and cover it up. It hurt nothing at all.

Yea, we all know over the years, that there been some pretty nasty stuff dumped into our Dumps all over the country. I also don't see anything wrong with dumping a small 5 or 6 gallon small Black Tank down an out-house Toilet, or a Campground Bathroom.

Do what ever you think is right for yourself. Same story about Carring a Fire-Arm. Don't tell, and nobody will ever know. And know we don't use a Cassette Toilet.

We have seen plenty of some pretty funny stuff in our 46+ years as "Travlers", "RV'ers" and "Boon-Dockers". "Time to Lighten-Up People".

Good Luck. Happy Travels. Dan & Jill & our two "Small Yorkie Kids", who love to travel as much as we do.

[Dave_Pete]

You cassette toilet users are describing exactly the benefits we felt with our porti-potti in our non self contained pop up TC. Of course the cassette and wet bath simply add benefits to our previous equation. Indeed black tanks, especially those which are large enough, do have benefits, but in the smaller environment of a smaller non slide camper, I really do believe the cassette is a great answer.

[Jgwoods]

We have a Northstar Igloo 9.5 with a cassette toilet. We spent 75 days going up to Alaska and all over with it and found it to be very workable. I got in the habit of trying to dump every day. We could go two days but never three.

Any campground with a dump station we dumped there. On most 2 lane roads in the west there are outhouse style rest areas and I dumped there. I could remove the tank and dump it, reinstall and be gone in about 1 minute, it was quick and clean as using any outhouse. I keep a bottle of anti bacterial hand soap in the drivers door pocket for washups.

As for dumping in a modern toilet you have to be a bit careful or you can wind up making the place messier for having been there. You can get blackwater splashing around if you aren't careful. I learned to be careful and only use the regular flush toilets as a dump site when it was the only choice, then made sure and dump slow enough to keep it neat. Not hard and only takes 30 seconds to do it right

[RobertRyan]

DarthMuffin wrote:
I was very happy with the built-in cassette on our popup. Easy to deal with, no odor, and held more than a weekend worth. It gives you a lot of extra dumping options like at home, in campgrounds with no RV dump, or just simply lets you carry it to the head of the dump line when there's an unused sewer connection. I bleached ours out once a year and hit the seals and moving parts with olive oil.

A lot of the reasons cassettes took over from tanks in Australia.

[RobertRyan]

Dave Pete wrote:


These cassettes are quite common I hear in Europe and New Zealand. Or at leaat the toteable blue tanks. One article I read talked about the European morning RV ritual of the men toting the blue tanks to the dump location. Gives a whole new meaning to hanging out at the water fountain huh? LOL

Australia as well. We used to have holding tanks, but cassettes have taken over over from tanks.

[DarthMuffin]

I was very happy with the built-in cassette on our popup. Easy to deal with, no odor, and held more than a weekend worth. It gives you a lot of extra dumping options like at home, in campgrounds with no RV dump, or just simply lets you carry it to the head of the dump line when there's an unused sewer connection. I bleached ours out once a year and hit the seals and moving parts with olive oil.

[suprz]

We have the shower/potti combo in our popup, and my wife.uses it more than I ever have. (no midnight bathroom runs for her...) Just be warned that if you ever go camping with 2 women, that tank is only 6 gallons (mine is anyways) and you will be taking that cassette to the dump station daily! So be sure to bring any toilet chemicals along with you camping

[Dave_Pete]

Thanks Larry.

[larrybluhm]

Hi Dave. The Laredo replaced a Pilgrim 834 that lasted almost 25 years and lived on 3 different trucks. Width is the same for both units with the Laredo being a bit heavier given greater amenities aboard. The focus has always been towards a compact, lighter weight TC for one or two adults that would also serve as a daily driver with benefits. I would not wish to go wider or higher and driving feel would be a tough call given all of the above. The rig sees very little off road use - boots or a bicycle are the preferred mode.

Yes, H2OT takes a while to arrive in the shower - its a long journey. Also I get some cold after turning on the pause button on the shower head and I'm looking into adding a check valve or two to the system.

I ordered the east/west cabover to match my standard cab truck and shave a little weight - no TV stand.

[Dave_Pete]

LOL Larry. And we even have one of those steps! Good suggestion.

Incidentally, I notice you have the 7' wide Laredo and a Dodge cummins. Mine is an extended cab but otherwise would be very a similar package.

Couple questions for you.

How is your "driving feel" experience with the height, width and weight of your camper on that truck? Do you do mostly highway or is there a good deal of off-road you do? Do you think the lower height and width make a difference over a larger camper? (taller and wider)

How is the shower hot water. Does it take some time for the hot water to reach an opposite corner from the water heater or is it not noticeable?

Do you find you like the TV stand or would you have preferred a storage cabinet such as shelves or a wardrobe?

Thanks so much.

[larrybluhm]

Footrest for post-coffee morning meditation for those of us with shorter legs. Quite useful elsewhere around the RV as well.

[ependydad]

I had a pop-up that had a cassette toilet much like Roy pictured. Honestly, we never used it for the poops, just pee.. I don't think I ever sat on it.

My wife and daughter, however, were frequent flyers. I never heard complaints.

As for dumping it, we just use the dump stations at the campgrounds that we were at. The external access to the cassette made it easy work to pull and put it into the back of our SUV. Plenty of water and we were off. I did use a fair amount of orange liquid from Walmart to keep down smells.

Knowing what I now know- I'd likely use it for poop, but we're long past our pop-up days.

[Fredzo]

Ah, memories!

We went camping in AZ in our new '76 Blazer. Had one of those porta-pots that looks like a cheap lawn chair. It sunk in the mud while I was reading about the local Original Habitants, while I was sitting on it.

The feet of the d**n thing were about 3/4", and I weighed around 210-Lbs.!

Didn't work! Should I have bought "Pads"?