CAMPING THE KIWI WAY

I have been working on our 17 foot caravan to bring it up to the new requirements for freedom camping.

A big challenge was the toilet. We purchased a CHH toilet, all the accessories for it and the caravan compartment door for the cartridge removal.

A local vehicle inspector with Lifestyle Camping (who happens to be a flatmate) was advising and when the problem of cutting the hole in the side of the caravan came up he had a look, the spot would have been the location of an upright support for the caravan and possibly supporting the window as well.

We looked at options and came up with the idea of mounting the toilet on runners fixed to the floor. This allowed the toilet to be slid forward to access the cartridge without a hole in the body of the caravan.

I obtained a pair of 500mm triple action runners from the local Bunnings store, we sat the toilet on a piece of plywood, marked and cut out a profile piece matching the toilet base and screwed the ply to the top of the runners, then fitted the toilet onto the ply and the runners in place on the floor, we had to locate the runners 50mm from the wall to give the required space to access/remove the cartridge with ease.

I built a cabinet around the toilet and this folds back against the wall exposing the toilet when required and when closed, serves as either a table or a seat.

We had to cut down the sofa to allow room for the toilet. The squab was also cut down and the cover resized; also the back board was altered.

The setup works perfectly and the self-containment standard was achieved without compromising the side of the caravan. 🏕️