Things We Don’t Talk About
If you own a camper van, a converted vehicle like an ‘ambulance’, a small coastal sailboat or a cabin in the wilderness there are two things you need – water and a toilet!
It’s funny how the latter is rarely discussed on a proud owner’s tour of the vehicle or boat, but hey, it’s the basics of living.
It’s funny how no one wants to address our most basic bodily functions, doing number one and two. Yes, we don’t even like to use the words, pee and poop, but what a reality when you must do both when travelling on the road or sea.
The Dreaded Bucket
My wife and I were looking to buy a 45’ Prevost bus, but ended up with a unique 2013 ambulance we converted to an RV. It brings a lot of attention wherever we go, what with the Starlink satellite dish on top and the wood stove cap on the roof.
However, while I can pee standing up and my wife, a former nurse, has no inhibitions about going either #1 or 2 in a bucket. I fought the urge to do it in a bucket. Yes, a bucket! Yikes, there had to be a better alternative.
We sought advice from experienced YouTubers, RV suppliers and of course, Google, the toilet experts.
Alternatives
We upgraded from a bucket to one with a seat, while friends we know in our community hooked up black water tanks under their vans, etc. to hold waste and the water to flush it.
Hmm, interesting, but I don’t want holding tanks full of crap under my ambulance. I don’t want to waste the small supply of water (20 gallons) I carry onboard. It also seems to me that the smell is often overpowering without a small built in fan and/or a hose to the outdoors to discharge the smell. The tank and the fan both require new holes in my floor and a power/water source.
Back to Google, I sought comparisons for a new bucket. The hated bucket scenario allowed me the open mind to check out any and all alternatives. From price points of $100 to $2500 the decision had to be more analyzed.
Choices
What a dilemma!
From curious mechanical contraptions that macerated everything for easier flushing, to toilets that separated your urine and made your poop into garden fertilizer, there are way too many choices for the average RVer. When I say I researched them all, I didn’t, in fact, try any of them, but I read so many reviews and advertising I actually dreamed I was in a toilet showroom. Maybe a chat with a psychiatrist is in order?
So, there are many considerations when selecting a toilet. Firstly, some toilets smell, requiring outdoor venting. Some need constant emptying, i.e. our bucket, others require a lot of water to flush and still some are too large or too small (for the person) to find a space in a camper/van/ambulance or small sailboat.
Pricing
Prices vary as well, from $75 for a bucket (seriously), to $130 for an actual toilet to $2500 for one that makes you coffee while you sit – ok that’s a joke!
We settled on the OGO Toilet, an Ohio-based small manufacturer with a heart. Seriously, they have a sustainable philosophy of saving water, a good system of composting and putting the OGO in communities that have nothing in the way of toilet infrastructure (more to come).
The OGO is hefty, built to last, is a composting toilet that works with Coconut Coir (fiber) and creates a sustainable product that is a game changer for RV enthusiasts and full-timers.
With OGO’s many benefits to both the user and the environment, I partnered with them. It was too good a product to ignore. There is more content to come from me on OGO.
Stay tuned!