Want to hear some interesting about the portable toilet and its advantage? According to the Portable Sanitation Association, portable restrooms save 125 million gallons of freshwater each day, or 45 billion gallons each year. Americans use 100 gallons of water every day, and flushing the toilet uses more water than any other activity, including showering.
I don’t need to emphasize the fact of the necessity of a lavatory while we travel or go camping. You don’t have to worry about it if you have an RV or a camper with you. Some campsites do have a WC facility in the restricted areas, but what if you decided to go boondocking and in a tent?
Where there is a will, there is a way. Well, in this situation you would not require much encouragement, to DIY your lavatory facilities.
There are multiple portable toilets available in the market but why would go around and hunt for portable toilets when you can make one for yourself and at a much less price than the market one.
Let’s get started, shall we?
How To DIY Portable Toilet For Camping?
It might sound to you that building your portable toilet is very difficult and requires a lot of skills. This article is here to prove that the previous sentence is wrong.
Some people think it’s disgusting and some also get amazed, but in case of emergency, a man has got to do what he is got to do. It is as much important as any other camping gear.
- These are not only convenient but very pocket friendly too. Here are some advantages of portable toilets:
- These costs literally under 20$ sometimes.
- Are very easy to make and need very few supplies.
- These can be used in severe emergencies like natural calamity and hence these are also called Emergency Relief System (ERS).
- Are very convenient due to its portability and ease to use.
- Conservation of water is a factor that is important to be looked forward to and also a necessity because there is not much water available while camping. Check out our article on how to refill your RV tanks.
1. Toilet In A Bucket
We will tell you how can use just a bucket to your loo advantage. This is very easy to use, carry, and requires very little material to build.
- Material required
- Empty 5-gallon bucket with lid
- 10-13 gallon trash bags
- Extra plastic grocery store trash bags
- Big trash can with a tight-fitting lid (optional: if you have excess to a nearby dumpster or some sewage disposal system near your campsite, then you don’t need to carry this)
- Absorption medium- sawdust, pine chips, peat moss, or newspaper torn into thin strips also works
- Pool noodle or pipe insulation- ( for pool noodle, cut a slit through one side of the noodle down. pipe insulation comes with a slit in place)
- Toilet paper ( of course)
Instruction to build the portable toilet:
- Lay the 10-gallon trash bag in the 5-gallon bucket
- Put a handful of absorption medium in the bottom of the trash bag.
- Insert the plastic grocery store bag over the absorption material, and fold it over the rim of the bucket.
- Slide the pool noodle or pipe insulation over and along the rim.
- Add some absorbing material to the bag.
- Your portable toilet is ready to go.
How to use a portable bucket toilet?
- After using the toilet, close the plastic bag by closing it and drop it in the bottom of the 5-gallon bucket.
- When the bucket is full, transfer all content to the large dumpster with a lid. The lid is important to control the smell of the excretion.
- Sanitize the 5-gallon bucket and you can repeat it’s used.
Yes, they have ERP in markets. Here is the amazon link to the bucket style portable toilet.
If you just want the comfort of a commode and fine with the bucket then, here is the amazon link to a comfortable makeshift toilet seat.
2. Recycle An Old Chair Or Stool
This method is also straightforward to make, you may also see this as an alternative for the bucket, and it is good for short camping trips. You can finally get some use out of the old plastic chair/stool kept in the garage.
Steps:
- Cut out a hole from the base of the chair/stool.
- Insert a large trash bag into the hole and fold its end along the rim of the hole.
- You can fix the trash bag and the hole with temporary clay.
- Or you may also buy a toilet seat from a hardware store and fix it around the hole of the chair.
- The trash bag will easily be fixed with the toilet seat on.
- Fill 1/4th of the trash bag with absorptive material, and voila you are ready.
- Don’t forget to change the trash bag and absorptive material after every use.
- Dispose of the bags with poop in them far away in a sewage drain or a large dumpster with a lid.
- Here is a simple guide to fix the toilet seat on a bucket or chair.
How To Dump A Portable Toilet?
- Make sure the excretion/trash bag is not in contact with water.
- Do not store these bags for too long in your accommodation, this will create a stinky atmosphere around.
- Remove the trash bag after every use and tie the top of the trash. The intention is it close the mouth of the bag so that no smell can escape.
- Dispose of these off in a dumpster or a sewage drain system, if you have access to it.’
- If you do not have a dumpster around, then carry a large dumping bin/bucket to store these used trash bags in a separate place. Make sure these bins should have lids on them.
- You do not have to worry about clogged toilets anymore.
Tips And Tricks For Portable Toilets
- Your RV toilet will also be considered as a portable toilet and it comes with a flush.
- But to avoid wastage of water try spraying water or cleansing liquid after you pee. The cleansing liquid will also take care of the smell.
- Never leave the lid of your portable toilet open. It attracts insects and flies and they will attract other wildlife like spiders and snakes. Check our article on how to get rid of spiders and snakes while camping.
- Leaving the lid open will also be the reason behind the foul smell around your campsite.
- Use a toilet liner for your toilet.
- Try to cut down on water wastes as much as possible.
- You can also clean/ sanitize the bucket with baby wipes and a disinfectant.
- In an RV toilet cleaning process also, baby wipes can be used.
- Don’t flush the wipes in the RV toilet, it will clog the drain.
Surprisingly, you can also rent portable toilets for outdoor trips. Here are some tips to keep in mind while renting a portable toilet, that will help you to save money and decide what type is best suited for you.
- On average, a portable toilet costs for renting will take you anywhere from $50- $175 for a single day.
- You should always know about the model and the type of toilet you need for your requirement.
- A basic portable toilet is equipped with a few sanitary amenities like tissue paper, seat cover, holding tank, dispenser, and door lock and with “In Use†and “Open†indicators.
- A deluxe flushing toilet has more sanitary amenities besides having the amenities of a basic restroom. It includes a hand soap dispenser, a mirror, and also a washing station. VIP self-contained porta potty has all the amenities that are listed above along with interior light.
- The deluxe ones are equipped in a cabin.
- More the facilities with the toilet more will be the price of it.
- You can get a discount if you are a regular customer at the rental agency.
- They will charge you more if you ask them to deliver it to you or deliver at a long distance.
- Avoid ordering extra or more than your use to control hidden costs.
FAQs
Conclusion
I hope this article helped you in deciding what type of toilet do you need? If you need it or not? Also, the DIY of portable toilets is very easy with these hacks.
You should always be prepared for whatever type of emergency you face. What if you ate bad food? Oh, now you are worried about your food going bad. We have the solution to that too. Read our articles on how to pack bread, milk, and fish for camping.
If you have any new innovative ideas for portable toilets, that we may have missed, just let us know in the comment section. We would love to hear from you.
Check out other guides on our websites on camping.
Until then happy camping!
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