Port-a-potty stand

What a crappy thread!

 

I built a box that is 2x4s on sides and put plywood on top. Made it so I can easily remove top and use it to store electrical cords, always good to have spare but don't need often. This made it high enuf that a couple of older people can more easily use in the middle of the night.

 

Just ran across this since someone bumped the thread again. I think it's funny I write this on April 1, 2020. It's clear I had no idea what the pandemic was going to be like yet at that point. The reason I say this is that about a month after that I was shopping for potty tents on Amazon so we could move said potty outside and indeed use it for #2. I'm happy to report that my Thetford Curve was not overtaxed at all

 

Our friends make reproduction stoneware pottery and have a hard time keeping "bourdaloues" in stock. A bourdaloue was a lady's chamber pot that was shaped kind of like a gravy boat. https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/regency-hygiene-the-bourdaloue/

Since our friends started making them they have become popular with their female historical reenactor customers who are getting older and don't want to walk to the nearest portalet after dark, or for the merchants who are stuck in their tents with the public all day but have a private space in the back of their tent.

 

I have a bourdaloue that I use when camping. I originally bought it for mr reenactor camping. Nice piece of pottery.

 

Okay so here is my take on the subject.

#1. I make no excuses. I have a seriously messed up back. The small 2.5 gallon or so waste tank port o potty is just too short for me to be able to use. If you are talking about one of those. Why not make a stand out of plywood? Some wood screws, glue, a Skil Saw, drill, and sander would make quick work of it. Not sure if there is anything commercially available to boost them up though.

#2. A standard residential toilet is 18". At least with mine, my 5 gallon tank toilet is 17.75" seat height. A quarter inch isn't going to matter much, BUT.... I believe the ADA lifted toilet seats add an additional 3". Oddly enough I find this to be a GREAT height for me. So....

My plan is to basically make a box out of 1/2" plywood, that the toilet can sit in, that is 5" tall. Then add a suport shelf with a top that is 3" off the bottom, and braced with 2x2s. This way I am supporting the toilet boosted 3" and secured from sliding / wobbling around. To finish it I will sand it down, paint it, and add rubber feet to get that last 1/4".

So if the user has spinal / sciatica problems, this could be a real solution to a painful port o potty problem.

 

When my grandmother was still around, I remember her saying that they should make toilets higher, easier for adults anyway, most adults , to get up from, sort of like now for my dh and myself, getting up from kneeling down. Getting old is not for sissies, as someone once said.

 

Well getting old does suck. But the alternative leaves a LOT to be desired too...

I am having to do a LOT of camp related projects to ajust gear to my uses. I use old Cat Litter tubs as gear carriers so I can use them in the tent as night stands. They allow me to hold my CPAP up, AND give me a sturdy surface to drag my tail out of bed with. The double high air beds I use are 18" tall, but when compressed by my fluffy backside, the angle of my knee and my sciatica just won't allow me to stand. I can however boost off using the cat litter tub without fear of it tiping, squishing down, or breaking and basically making me crash to the floor.

The alternative would be a cane. I am in my 50s, not 80s, I am nowhere near ready for that yet.

 

I know. I usually say the same thing, I like being able to say that getting older is sort of a luxury. I'm sorry about you having to suffer with sciatica, my family knew 2 young people, brother and sister, they were twins, they both had sciatica. I didn't really know them, but sometimes i wonder how they're doing.

 

Thanks.

Yes, I have sciatica, and weight issues. The latter did not cause the former, rather the reverse.... I haven't been able to drive a manual transmission vehcile now for probably 10 years, much to my annoyance as I loved going through the gears driving through the mountains.

It's partially hereditary as my grandfather, my Dad, and I believe both of my brothers have back issues. Although one swears his was self induced...

I know to some I might seem obsessed with it, but camping helps me beyond words. I don't know why, it's probably psychological, but just walking the trails at a campground, sitting on a cooler and casting a line, and putting the miles on the feet on unpaved surfaces does 2 things for me. #1. EVERY SINGLE TIME I do it, I lose weight, no matter how badly I eat. And more importantly. #2. The constant pain in my back and legs goes down, to where without medication it is almost unnoticeable. I am pretty sure hard flooring, and pavement everywhere of the civilized world is trying to do me in!

So... for as long as I am physically able, I am going to be out camping whenever I can, just to try to be able to keep on moving...

 

Exactly! My husband has knee problems, and other issues, but we take breaks and sit down on logs, and whatever is available, I am positive that cement or any sort of paved trail, sidewalk is so horrible for legs, backs, it's a terrible thing. When I was a young girl, I remember walking on a dirt path along side the street. It was eventually replaced with a sidewalk. I suppose mud was to deciding factor. I'm always grateful to get out and go for a long walk . My favorite place is still in the woods.