"Achieving Environmentally Friendly Luxury Toilets with SOG® Technology

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

Free camping - toilet question

Cupie · Guru

We don't free camp often but have used our ensuite for 1s & 2s for around 20 years. Never a problem. Our ensuite has an extraction fan & we use the normal airfreshener sprays.

We empty the cassette every 3 or 4 days and use commercial chemicals although for around 10 years we used the DIY nappy wash stuff with a few drops of eucalyptus successfully.

Why go to all the trouble of setting up an outdoor loo if you have already paid for a indoor toilet.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Welcome to the gang Baggy Bums, enjoy here and out in the playground.

I have a full ensuite at the rear in my aluminium teepee, toilet one side of van and shower the other side, vanity in middle. I wouldn't be without it now. I use the toilet for both reasons and empty as needed. I use a blue sachet product if sewage or dump points are available and a green liquid product if septic is only available to empty into. I usually know in advance.

I don't want to sound horrible or anything but I can't understand why you wouldn't use the vans toilet seeing it is there. It is there all the time and nothing to set up or blow over in winds.

I don't use public toilets or very little anyway, I use my own.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

We use ours and CLEAN IT !

PeterD · Guru

Baggy Bums wrote:
Hi, we have an ensuite van and do not use for No 2s.

Most chemicals do not work successfully with urine. Urine is a sterile product you need something like faeces to get the process working properly. If you get the chemical closet in the ensuite working properly you will not need the outside tent. If you are looking for a tent and external pottie to double the capacity of the system then I suggest you purchase a second cassette for the van.

Or in the Australian vernacular, have a good crap in your dunny and get it working proper. You won't have much stink that way.

memory maker · Member

if you decide to get an outside tent DONT get a pop-up, the guy in the store can fold one in 15 seconds but after listening to my hubby rant for 20 mins trying to fold it and it ended up in the tip spend a bit more and get one with poles, but like the others I dont see why you would bother.

Santa · Guru

As others have said BB, if you have a toilet use it, we do without problem, you get used to the process after a while.

Add some sodium per carbonate (Napisan) to assist with breakdown and a dash of Eucalyptus oil to combat odour.

Good luck with your travels. smile

Delta18 · Guru

Better still fit a SOG Kit to your cassette & do away with all smells in the van using the toilet for what it is designed to do.

No need for chemicals at all.

http://aussietraveller.com.au/sog-toilet-ventilation-system

PeterInSa · Guru

BB I suggest you use your onboard cassette toilet for both functions.

Use the chemicals as discussed above, this gets rid of smells in the cassette, especially when you empty the cassette in a dump point and their may be others lining up to use the dump point.

And fit a SOG system to remove body odors generated when using the cassette toilet. ( a friend designed his own SOG System with carbon crystals and extraction fan. The fan/carbon filter and exhaust is under his van so there is little noise and and smell is widely dispersed).

We do not use a SOG system and are happy to use the chemicals ( Nappiesan equivalent with little/no offensive smell) and use a dump point with others waiting to use.

Moonraker · Senior Member

Yes have a SOG unit and use sodium percarbonate. No smell at all and biodegradable the SPC breaks down the casette contents making for much less smell when discharging at a dump point.

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

Thanks everyone. We use Napisan already but did wonder about other options. Cheers.

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

Only buy the generic nappysan as the original seems to have other chemicals that aren't as effective as straight sodium percarbonate at 34% strength

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

I bought percarbonate of Soda online . Itâs used to clean beer lines . Itâs hydrogen peroxide in powder .

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Baggy Burns, I'm totally in agreement with memory maker - if you go for a separate toilet/shower tent NEVER, NEVER get one of those quick erect tents that once you release the cord on the bag, it will jump out, self erect & never go back in the back without a big fight! One thing good about having a large bed is that the #!**!! thing can rest there too until the next stop.
Our bird club members will not let me forget my episode at Moorrinya NP a few years ago!

There are plenty of U-Tube videos to satisfy your curiosity!

sandman55 · Guru

Pop up tents are good and quick only problem is make sure you know how to fold it up before you leave home (check out the you tube clips) I went to demonstrate ours to my sister and even though I had done it some time before I couldn't get it to fold so she said let me have a go and did it no worries then I saw the problem I have longer arms and longer reach than her so I tried it with my elbows bent (not so long a reach) this allowed the tent sag at the end and I folded it no problem so if you have long arms bring your grip closer to your body so that gravity lets the end that is further away from you sag and you will fold it no worries. I hope I have made myself clear but if you look at the You Tube vidieo for your tent you might see what I mean by griping it closer to your body.

EDIT: we haven't used our tent we use our ensuite but if in a caravan park then we use theirs during the day.

-- Edited by sandman55 on Saturday 14th of April 2018 11:07:11 PM

Desert Dweller · Guru

Why drag an en-suite around & not use it to crap in, doesn't make a lot of sense. confuse confuse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3mbB0Wr_00

Folding shower/toilet tents up can be a nightmare.

-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Sunday 15th of April 2018 06:37:09 AM

deverall11 · Guru

Baggy Bums, maybe a shovel may work better for you

TheHeaths · Guru

I am afraid I am lost.

What do you intend to use in the ensuite tent?

What is the difference between using the toilet you have in the van, and carting an extra toilet and tent around to use, apart from creating a lot more work for yourself, and using up limited storage available in the van or vehicle?

Of course it is your choice, but I would seriously reconsider your idea.

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

Ha ha this is what we were afraid of

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

This is what we were thinking off too

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

It was to go over a deep hole.

Dickodownunder · Guru

We have had two vans with bathrooms in them.
We did a bit of free camping in the old one and quite often dug a hole.
Before we had the ensuite vans we just went in the bush with a shovel and a good look around.
We never carried a tent just generally found a secluded spot.
If seclusion isn't available then we used the dunny as it was meant to be used.
You will work it out in the end, especially when folding one of those dunny tents biggrin biggrin

Dont get bitten on the bum by a snake.... biggrin biggrin

-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Sunday 15th of April 2018 12:21:36 PM

Tony Bev · Guru

Baggy Bums wrote:
It was to go over a deep hole.

Welcome to the forum Baggy Bums

If you require a toilet tent to go over a deep hole, then the pop up ones will be OK to use

The secret is to ask the salesman (I purchased mine from BCF), to show you how to get it back into its bag, and then practice before you pay for it

On the other hand although the pole type toilet tent is bulkier and heavier, it will last longer, and be cooler inside, if you intend to stay in the same remote camp for long periods

In a normal free camp, (without drop toilet), which is frequently used by others, it will be a no, no, to dig a deep hole inside the camp area

I used a pop up toilet tent, and a porta pottie, when I had my caravan, which did not have a built in toilet
I carried a shovel in case the porta pottie had to be emptied, and there was no dump point in the area
I never had to use that shovel, as I always travelled on the bitumen roads, and always found a dump point

Have you given any thoughts while free camping in the remote areas, to use the ensuit, and dig your hole, (away from the camp, to empty your cassette toilet

Meredith · Senior Member

If the tent was intended to go over a deep hole I would say its a no no from the start. If its an area where people normally camp then digging a hole in the campground area is a no no, if its a really out of the way area where nobody else goes then why would you need a tent.

I would just use the ensuite toilet for what it was made for.

madcart · Senior Member

Okay I give up what's a SOG ???

Long Weekend · Guru

Yes, and why would what looks like a simple ventilation extraction system cost so much?

Murray

Baggy Bums · Veteran Member

Oh yes, w would absolutely only ever dig holes well, well away from anywhere.

PeterD · Guru

madcart wrote:
Okay I give up what's a SOG ???

Delta18 gave you the link to the system up near the top of this thread. Unfortunately he does not insert links properly. Here is the page he got his link from. The description on that page states:-

"Achieving Environmentally Friendly Luxury Toilets with SOG® Technology

"Experiencing unpleasant odours in the limited space available in a motorhome or caravan is a taboo topic for many users, despite the fact that such stenches have significantly dampened the holiday mood of virtually every camper at least once.

"The company SOG®-Entlüftungssysteme Dahmann, which was founded in 1994, uses its many years of development experience to offer a variety of different ventilation systems for the optimisation of camping toilets. The main objective of the companys patented systems is to enable caravan and motorhome toilets to be used without chemicals whilst also increasing the comfort of using such toilets by eliminating odours. SOG®-Entlüftungssysteme Dahmann produces all of its environmentally friendly systems at its own manufacturing facilities in Germany and on the basis of high quality standards."

Happy hunting on that page.

Hylife · Guru

Why would you NOT use your ensuite toilet for both 1's and 2's?
If you only do No. 1's in your loo the chemicals don't work.
The chemicals these days are both cheap and safe for the environment.
Thetford green is safe for septics and composting toilets and less than $10 a bottle for approx. a dozen 25L cassettefuls. At one cassette every 4 days that's one $10 bottle a month.
There is no smells in your van or when emptying.
Depending on the size of your cassette, you can just dig a hole every 4 or 5 days (at least 50 meters from any water way) and empty your cassette in.
Within a minute or two the liquid will have drained away and you are left with a stiff slurry not unlike a cow pat. Then you just cover it up.
Thetford claim on their Green bottle that it is even safe to simply poor onto the ground surface without burying at all, but I think it is not much effort to dig a shallow trench to avoid someone accidentally standing in your waste.

If you have access to a creek or waterhole you can scoop up a bucket of water to swill out your cassette if you really feel you must but it isn't necessary.

If using a small spade is too much for you and if you are not staying to free camp in one place for more than 4 days, then nearly every town these days has a public dump point. They are listed on Wikicamps.

hako · Guru

Unless you carry a jackhammer and some sticks of gelignite you will find it virtually impossible to dig a hole in most outback areas - scrape a shallow depression possibly but to dig a hole at least a foot deep to take 20 litres of black water is just not possible. My experience only.
We just use a porta potti and a popup ensuite tent which is easy to fold as long as you learn in the first place and don't lose your cool. Takes about 4 days to fill and if you plan ahead to be near a dump point you will have no worries.

Good Luck.