Northstar campers

[Gary3]

I always said if someone made a large nonslide camper I might be interested. I see a 12fter on Northstars site that looked pretty good until it showed a 4.5 gal cassette toilet that I know nothing about. What is a cassette toilet why not a blackwater tank there is a good size gray tank already there.

[jaycocreek]

On edit: It’s all poot, I mean moot, there are NO outhouses where we camp mostly anyway.

That's where the cassette/Porta Potti shines..Just grab a shovel, just like the tent campers do and bury it...I should say, the good tent campers, as there are those that just drop there drawers and leave the toilet paper and the rest where ever they please.

Not all forest service toilets are the vault type,some are the old pit style into the earth it goes.

[whazoo]

on edit: deleted so as not to hijack the thread about Northstar campers.

[Camp_woof]

I read where a single woman traveler observes 2 weeks or more out of the cassette, only #2 and limit the TP that goes down, can burn or trash the rest.

Helpful thread, as the STC 12 is again back on top of my list for a TC to fulltime in next year (I seem to cycle through NL 10-2 and Cirrus 920). I'd go cassette based on my guess of lasting up to to 2 weeks!

almost 5 gallons, sure seems like a lot of cr_p! Two people, hmm, different set of problems!
dave

[jaycocreek]

There is very little differences in the cassette and modern porta potti's like the Tretford Curve.Myself,boondocking 100% in the mountains of Idaho I would/do prefer the Cassette/Porta potti over the black tank, that I have to go to town to dump...

It takes quite a while to fill up a 5.5 gallon porta potti when most all of Number 1's are done outside and a forest service outhouse is usually way closer than any town with a dump station.

I have even thought of pulling out my TC toilet and replacing it with a PP..

[whazoo]

I'm in the black tank camp for the same reason as others, we can "go" 10 days or so without dumping. Or is it we can dump 10 days without going...to the dump station. We love to winter camp also but find most outhouses locked up for the off season, a cassette would need to go elsewhere. That means a long drive to a town or gas station. Also, with heated basement I've never had the black tank freeze but understand not all campers have the same features. I'd like to try a cassette for sure but not outright buy a camper with one before knowing for sure. It would be a cr_p shoot...

[ardvark]

We approached this issue by adding a drain line on the P-trap from our shower which normally would drain into the black water tank in our Hallmark. Then we just run the shower into a 5 gallon jug and dump it appropriately when necessary. That gives us a 14 gallon black water tank and our sink has its own 17 gallon tank we also drain and dump as necessary. Works out pretty well and we dump the black water in regular RV dump stations. Not an original idea as it has appeared from time to time in various posts.

[bwc]

Bubtoofat wrote:
Love our cassette. I'll never go back to a black tank. Too bad cassette toilets aren't even an option from many TC manufacturers. It's a deal breaker for me.

Mike

My thoughts exactly. Love our cassette. Wouldn't go back. When we get home from a week end I empty in our sewer clean out and in 5 minutes the cassette is clean and ready to go. No fuss, no mess.

[realter]

jimh425 wrote:
I’m not a cassette or Northstar owner. Plenty of people like both, but I’d have neither.


My main problem with cassettes are the jerks who want to dump anywhere. Joking, but I would have a real problem with someone bringing gallons of their excrement to my work bathroom regularly. Luckily, I never had to deal with that. Seriously though, I find no issues with dumping a conventional black tank and like the ability to have much more capacity without having to dump.

I guess I’m the JERK who takes it to work, but I was moonlighting in the office of a rendering company for a while. With the powder treatment that smell so sweet, nobody except one guy seemed to mind, nobody else paid any attention. Now working in a bank or accounting firm , that might be a different story.

TC mag in their annual survey, I believe over half wanted a cassette in their next camper, and less than 40% wanted a regular toilet, and the rest didn’t care.

[Bubtoofat]

Love our cassette. I'll never go back to a black tank. Too bad cassette toilets aren't even an option from many TC manufacturers. It's a deal breaker for me.

Mike

[RobertRyan]

sbryan@vtbryans.com wrote:
Having a 5th wheel with a black tank and a Northstar with a cassette I am a huge fan of the cassette. We have dumped it in porta potties at construction sites, McDonalds, coffee shop toilets, any where there is a toilet or in a dump station. We can go a week or more without dumping, there is no odor, no slinky, just a clean cassette that is inocuous and efficient.

Very much the preferred option in Australia

[Area13]

4.5 gallons? I drink too much beer, water and coffee camping, not to mention food. Add the Wife and we would be dumping that #%^* box twice a day, IF we had a place to dump it! Sounds fun! I’ll take my big stinky black AND gray tanks (75 gallons) that last all week. Glad it works for some, not for me!

[kjenckes]

I had a Northstar 850 with a cassette. Now I have a Lance 820 with a black tank. This week I developed a horrible odor from the toilet. It appears that particulate matter doesn't always flush out. Pieces stick to the sides of the tank, dry out, stink up the place. I spent a good half hour filling, spraying, bleaching, emptying, etc to get it back under control. My cassette toilet never did this. Empty, rinse, repeat. Anyplace. Winter time just fill the reservoir with windshield washer fluid. If you are in a CG with septic, sure, it's easier to hook up and pull the lever a few times but in the long run the cassette is far easier and less work.

[JimK-NY]

jimh425 wrote:
...

My issue with the Northstar is they are far too basic for me....

For some that is a negative. For others, a positive. I like the simplicity. I don't want slides or lots of complexity.

[jimh406]

I’m not a cassette or Northstar owner. Plenty of people like both, but I’d have neither.

My issue with the Northstar is they are far too basic for me, and I don’t like their floorplans. That’s personal preference, for sure.

My main problem with cassettes are the jerks who want to dump anywhere. Joking, but I would have a real problem with someone bringing gallons of their excrement to my work bathroom regularly. Luckily, I never had to deal with that. Seriously though, I find no issues with dumping a conventional black tank and like the ability to have much more capacity without having to dump.

[DieselBurps]

Take a step up from the cassette toilet and just go composting toilet. I have a cassette toilet BTW.