Bath vs NO Bath?

[Kai in Seattle]

Originally Posted by floyd

If you are traveling alone, you would find a front bath Scamp13 to be ideal. With one simple mod you can have a permanent bed, a two person dinette with lounging room, a kitchen and a bath with a shower, all set up at once. Plus you get a BUNCH more storage space and a big front closet.
Using a dumpstation is easy with a quick learning curve (about on the level of pumping gas if done right, less smelly and usually less frequent.
It is so much more convenient from shower to bed or from shower to closet than it is taking luggage to a public shower in all weather conditions and dressing in a wet stall.

All that and the ability to boondock or overnight at WalMart or CrackerBarrel in route and save money and time while having all the comforts of home ,not mention the security.

Hi, can you describe that one simple mod? VERY interested!
Kai in Seattle

[LyleB]

Originally Posted by floyd

If you are traveling alone, you would find a front bath Scamp13 to be ideal. With one simple mod you can have a permanent bed, a two person dinette with lounging room, a kitchen and a bath with a shower, all set up at once. Plus you get a BUNCH more storage space and a big front closet.

Floyd, This sounds perfect. Can you elaborate/point to the simple mod? Would be VERY interested. Thanks.

[cmartin748]

Us older folks really like the bathroom. It makes those "middle of the night " trips so much more convenient hehehe. Also, I don't care for the public showers. As clean as they might seem my family and I have still managed to get things such as athletes foot even with all precautions you can possibly take. Being able to just pull off the highway and use the bathroom is very handy for me. Sometimes the rest areas aren't where they need to be lol..

[Johnny M]

Our 1971 Boler did not have a bath/shower, and being that we cook outside when we camp we really didn't need the kitchen just a fridge. So we ripped out the kitchenette, turned the front bunk/couch 90 degrees to where the kitchenette was, rebuilt the closet to a cabinet to hold our 1.7 cu ft fridge and built a bathroom in the front.

Unlike many bathrooms in 13' scamps & casitas our bath sits to the door side of the trailer to allow room for the bunks on the other side. We used an accordion door so we can leave it open when the bath is not in use without being in the way to keep the original open feeling as much as possible. We used a porta potty for the toilet and a large utility tub for the shower stall that fit perfectly in the center cut out of the frame. We have a Fastair instant hot water heater mounted on the trailer tongue with both city water connection and a 16 gallon fresh water tank.

For the drain we connected an outside water spigot with valve to our PVC drain coming out of the shower so all we have to do is connect a garden hose gray water line to it and the other end to the Camco gray water adapter which fits in the standard RV park sewer connection & open the valve on the spigot. I do also have a portable collapsible gray water tank (5 gallons) for when we are boondocking.

I included a picture of the camco fitting and a picture of the bath (have to get one taken of the finished product). I am glad we did this as now we can have a hot shower when/wherever which will come in handy when we make our way to the grand canyon in the spring.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Quote: "Unless you're never going to be washing dishes or brush your teeth in the trailer, you'll still need to deal with the grey water tank."


Actually, many 13' FGRVs don't have a gray water tank and depend on a simple bucket or a rolling tote to capture sink drainage.


That said, more and more campgrounds, both public and private, are requiring a closed drain system, meaning a fitting to fitting hose between the RV and an external holding tank.

Greywater tank is optional on layout one and in package on layout 2, it is rare to find a modern era 13 without one.

[Johnny M]

Here is the portable collapsible gray water tank, we used this in a campground the first weekend we actually camped in the Boler as I had not finished the plumbing project for the sewer line and it worked great no problems. It has a valve in the hose fitting to close it off to prevent spillage.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by LyleB

Floyd, This sounds perfect. Can you elaborate/point to the simple mod? Would be VERY interested. Thanks.

Here are a couple of pictures of my wraparound couch mod...
Contact me for more details when your ready...

[Uplander]

My 2 cents worth of observations based on many years of RV trailer ownership.
I tent camped when I was in the Boy Scouts over 50 years ago...fun for kids...not so much for adults.
Camping for me is about comfort and making things convenient.

Picture this...a cool night...stiff wind blowing...raining...it is 3 AM...gotta go..two options...use comfortable clean bathroom in travel trailer...then flush toilet...back in bed...warm and dry. Option two: Find flashlight and rain gear...wander around in the wind and rain, flashlight in hand looking for campground's bathhouse or perhaps a pit toilet...hope batteries in flashlight don't die on the trip...complete the task and trudge back to your FGRV while wishing it had a bathroom...back at the trailer take off your wet clothes...towel off and crawl into bed a little damp and cold.
The choice is yours....my travel trailer has a bathroom with flush toilet and shower with nice hot water. I wouldn't have it any other way.
The porta-potty thing is way more messy and stinky than a simple trip to the dump station as you depart the campground. If the campground has full hookups it is even easier.

Happy Camping!

[Johnny M]

I have tent camped also and this is our first camper and the reasons Uplander stated were our motivation for adding a bathroom. The porta potty duty is not that bad we just make sure we use plenty of the chemical treatment, however, I will probably add an RV toilet/black tank at some point in the future (the porta potty route fit our budget better for our restoration). It does take away some space as noted by other posters, however, IMHO the convenience of having the bath far out ways the space we gave up. We talked with a family who had a pop up camper on our last trip and they were using a tent for their porta potty and expressed to us how they wish they had bought a camper with a bathroom & shower.

When we are camping we spend most of our time outside the trailer anyway, it mainly serves as a comfortable place to sleep with air & a restroom/shower but our family of 3 can be reasonably comfortable in it if we need to retreat inside if the weather is bad outside. Also note we use an screen tent/add a room for our kitchen and lounging area which helps makeup for any lost space inside. But to each his own.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Potty vs no potty.
I'm of the no potty variety as is my wife. Camping for over 60 years without a pack around potty you get used to not having one. Our trailer is approaching 10 years old and we've probably slept it in it over 1000 nights. Pulled it around the country to the tune of around 40,000 miles. It's 13' Scamp.

Some people MUST have their potty, others don't want anything to do with them.

One thing that stops me is that all portable potties, built in or not, will leak at some point in time. Both of us don't like the smell, they all will produce an odor. All campgrounds have at least potties. Some have showers, and most National Parks either have showers or showers close by, at least the ones we've been in do.

I would rather spend the money on gas to get someplace nice than on a potty.

[OneOleMan]

Originally Posted by cmartin748

Us older folks really like the bathroom. It makes those "middle of the night " trips so much more convenient hehehe.

Being able to just pull off the highway and use the bathroom is very handy for me. Sometimes the rest areas aren't where they need to be lol..

Ain't it th' truth?

[OneOleMan]

Originally Posted by Uplander

Picture this...a cool night...stiff wind blowing...raining...it is 3 AM...gotta go..two options...use comfortable clean bathroom in travel trailer...then flush toilet...back in bed...warm and dry. Option two: Find flashlight and rain gear...wander around in the wind and rain, flashlight in hand looking for campground's bathhouse or perhaps a pit toilet...hope batteries in flashlight don't die on the trip...complete the task and trudge back to your FGRV while wishing it had a bathroom...back at the trailer take off your wet clothes...towel off and crawl into bed a little damp and cold.
The choice is yours....my travel trailer has a bathroom with flush toilet and shower with nice hot water. I wouldn't have it any other way.
The porta-potty thing is way more messy and stinky than a simple trip to the dump station as you depart the campground. If the campground has full hookups it is even easier.

Happy Camping!

I did option #2 enough times when bicycle and motorcycle camping to
really appreciate option #1

[Darral T.]

If NO bathroom? NO camper.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by cmartin748

Us older folks really like the bathroom. It makes those "middle of the night " trips so much more convenient hehehe. Also, I don't care for the public showers. As clean as they might seem my family and I have still managed to get things such as athletes foot even with all precautions you can possibly take. Being able to just pull off the highway and use the bathroom is very handy for me. Sometimes the rest areas aren't where they need to be lol..

What's older. I'm 73 and don't need no stinking bathroom in my trailer. Does that make an older folk?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

Potty vs no potty.
I'm of the no potty variety as is my wife. Camping for over 60 years without a pack around potty you get used to not having one. Our trailer is approaching 10 years old and we've probably slept it in it over 1000 nights. Pulled it around the country to the tune of around 40,000 miles. It's 13' Scamp.

Some people MUST have their potty, others don't want anything to do with them.

One thing that stops me is that all portable potties, built in or not, will leak at some point in time. Both of us don't like the smell, they all will produce an odor. All campgrounds have at least potties. Some have showers, and most National Parks either have showers or showers close by, at least the ones we've been in do.

I would rather spend the money on gas to get someplace nice than on a potty.

While I agree that EVERYTHING put together sooner or later falls apart,
I also know that you know that... so I must contend that your leak argument is facitious .
I might argue (more sarcastically than facetiously) That all PEOPLE, determined or not, will leak at some point in time, nobody likes the smell and they all will produce an odor if they can not avail themselves of the the aforementioned convenience.

[LyleB]

Thanks Floyd,

This looks like it would work with the 16 ft Layouts for one person as well, giving tons of potential storage, plus the greater counter space in kitchen.

I will keep you in mind if and when I attain one of these options or something similar.

[David B.]

Good one Floyd! How true.
Dave & Paula

[Bob Miller]

How about option #3 for middle of the night relief:


Get put of bed
Slide the full height (just like home) porta-potty out (on it's tracks in our case)
Use it just like home
Flush, almost like home, uses air pressure
Slide it back in
Go back to bed.


With even the most modest of care and cleaning a modern porta-potty will not have any more odor than a black tank system. We have used both.


BUTT..... I have had to wait in line at dump stations for almost an hour to use a dump basin that was so contaminated, dirty and smelly that a full haz-mat suit was uniform of the day. With a dump station you have to depend on the 10-12 users before you to not spill effluent and clean up when they finish dumping, not so when emptying a porta-potty base in a bathroom.

[Darral T.]

Have you ever stopped to look at some of the bathroom floors in these public facilities??? It's enough to make you gag.... At least at the dump stations I've used, you have a water hose to spray the area around where you're working...cant do that in a bathroom!

Gee... makes you wonder how our ancestors survived with OUTHOUSES!

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

.................................

BUTT..... I have had to wait in line at dump stations for almost an hour to use a dump basin that was so contaminated, dirty and smelly that a full haz-mat suit was uniform of the day. With a dump station you have to depend on the 10-12 users before you to not spill effluent and clean up when they finish dumping, not so when emptying a porta-potty base in a bathroom.

[Carl Pa]

I use to have a cabin and while it was being built we used a Thetford potty. No smell at all, never leaked. Used in the winter when we went up and did not want to turn on the water for just the weekend. Must be at least 20 years old. Still in use. When we camp and we are on our way home we have been known to pull in somewhere and do #1, Get home and empty in porta potty, then dump down hopper. We have a full bath/potty in our 16`. Nothing moncho about this 70 year old. I need my full bath in my camper. Carl