Sara Baird investigates a transportable different in composting bathrooms with the Compo Closet Cuddy.
This summer time I wrote about testing out a composting bathroom and the liberty it offered once we went tent tenting. I cherished having the identical freedom from utilizing an outhouse or ready in line for the loos we had when tenting in a Camper with a toilet with out the effort of hauling a camper.
The valuable composting bathroom I reviewed was small and designed for portability, it labored completely for tenting for a couple of days and as a backup when a full rest room was not accessible. I had thought of utilizing it in our camper rework however once we journey in our camper we regularly keep locations the place we utterly depend on our camper rest room and whereas it could work I didn’t assume it could be excellent.
When Compo Closet reached out to see if I wished to check out their Cuddy Composting bathroom, I believed it might be the answer that we had been searching for.
Compo Closet
Richard Peter dreamed up Compo Closet throughout his time as a traveler. As he explored choices for bathrooms of their self-converted van he fell in love with composting bathrooms and located all the present fashions left him wanting. He then designed the Cuddy Composting Rest room and Compo Closet was fashioned. Compo Closet strives to help its prospects in dwelling a sustainable and adventurous life-style.
The Cuddy Composting Rest room
Compo Closet sells two variations of the Cuddy Composting Rest room, the Cuddy, which comes with an agitator, and the Cuddy Mild which has all of the options of the Cuddy with out an agitator. The Cuddy Composting Rest room. The Cuddy is constructed to be compact and transportable. It’s 16.3 inches excessive, 15.1 inches vast, and 16.8 inches deep and has chrome steel hinges that permit you to place the bathroom flush with a wall. It weighs 21 kilos.
The Cuddy is filled with options. It has a 1.7-gallon liquid container with an LED liquid degree indicator to point when the liquid container is full. The solids container is 3.9 gallons and has an agitator to combine waste together with your chosen medium to begin the composting course of and scale back any scent. It additionally has a carbon filter to eradicate scent and a fan that enables it to be vented outdoors.
The Cuddy is designed for straightforward set up: “Put it down, plug within the energy, and achieved!” The one energy sources wanted are a 9-volt battery for the liquid indicator and an 11 volt for the fan. Each of those aren’t required to make use of the bathroom.
How Composting Bogs Work
Composting bathrooms separate urine and strong waste to forestall scent and make disposal simpler. To get rid of the waste you possibly can both dump the urine into a rest room or outhouse or dilute it and put it in your backyard. The strong waste could be composted or thrown right into a rubbish can.
Composting bathrooms don’t require any chemical compounds, making them environmentally pleasant. The solids container could be stuffed with fill of your alternative. Decisions embody wooden shavings, peat moss, coco peat, or litter. The Cuddy has an agitator so you’d merely add your fill after which combine it after every use to start the composting course of. The Cuddy Mild doesn’t have the agitator so you’d add some fill after which add extra fill after every use.
Some great benefits of a composting bathroom are that you do not want to take care of a black tank in a camper, portability because it doesn’t have to be plumbed in, and it doesn’t require chemical compounds like different transportable bathroom choices.
The way it Works
To put in the cuddy you merely set up the batteries, add medium to the solids bin, and make sure that the proper valve is on the liquids container. Then you possibly can merely place it the place you prefer to it and start to make use of it. You should utilize it in a cabin, a camper, or perhaps a tent. Relying on the place you utilize it you could select to vent the bathroom outdoors or not, directions are offered on how to do that.
Testing It Out
The Cuddy arrived in October and I hoped to get in a fall tenting journey to check it out however unhealthy climate and sickness foiled our plans. As a substitute, I performed round with it at residence to determine all of the options. I discovered the batteries and filter straightforward to put in and wanted to take away the cardboard from the agitator for the Cuddy to be absolutely arrange. Compo Closet was even good sufficient to ship some Coco Noir for me to make use of as a medium within the solids container. It was tremendous easy to hydrate the coco noir and add it to the solids container.
The seat of the Cuddy was very snug and felt very very like sitting on a daily bathroom. The peak is decrease than an ordinary bathroom however not extraordinarily low. I poured in water to check out the liquid container. I seen that it was in no way arduous to ship the liquids into the liquid container. The diverter is deep sufficient that it might probably tolerate some quantity of unlevel floor and nonetheless divert the liquid into the proper container.
I used to be intimidated by the concept of dumping the solids container right into a bag reasonably than simply having it bagged up. I made a decision to offer it a dry run and see how tough it was to empty the coco noir right into a bag. It’s good that the container pulls proper out and is simple to deal with. There is no such thing as a want to maneuver the bathroom. It was not tough to place a bag over the container and empty it.
My Suggestion
My important curiosity in a composting bathroom was to find out if it could be a very good match for our Fifth-wheel camper rework. We frequently camp in locations the place we depend on the toilet in our camper and sometimes it may be difficult to discover a dump station. There are additionally occasions when the black tank is full and we don’t need to transfer. I might be proud of the Cuddy in our camper. I discovered it was snug and straightforward to make use of. Since I didn’t get to check it out on the street, I learn evaluations of others who’ve them and located that individuals didn’t have points with scent and had been proud of the Cuddy.
I appreciated that’s it snug to make use of and that it’s compact and could be positioned flush with the wall. The diverter was designed properly and works because it ought to. The scale of the Cuddy is massive sufficient that it may be used usually with out continuously needing to empty it however not so massive that it might probably’t be transportable. It would slot in a cabin, camper, van, and even an choice when tent tenting in a automobile.
I used to be very impressed by the customer support supplied by Compo Closet after I picked out the mannequin. They even supplied to ship me to “potty coaching” to make sure I knew the best way to use the bathroom accurately. There may be additionally a Fb group for Cuddy house owners to debate experiences and Compo Closet employees are lively on the positioning offering help as wanted.
My solely reservation concerning the Cuddy is that I’m undecided I would like an agitator. I might really feel higher about utilizing a compostable bag to line the solids container. I feel that is solely one thing that I will determine with use. I feel whereas touring I would like a liner however may see how an agitator could be useful when utilizing it in a cabin or when stationary. The cool factor is that I should purchase a solids container with out the agitator for less than $35 from Cuddy and use that rather than the agitator. That method I can use both choice because it suits my consolation degree.
Have you ever used a composting bathroom or would you contemplate one to your van, camper, or rustic cabin? I might love to listen to your ideas. You possibly can take a look at the Cuddy at https://compocloset.com/product/cuddy/
