Easy Disguise for a Luggable Loo

If you have a camper or trailer without a built-in toilet, you may be familiar with the Luggable Loo. It's a 5-gallon bucket, fitted with a toilet seat and disposable liner, and you use it for those 'discreet personal moments' that sometimes occur in the middle of the night.

Highly practical, inexpensive, but not something you want to look at all the time inside your trailer.

Here's a fast, easy way to disguise it.

Step 1:
Find a vanity stool that will fit over the top of the Loo. I got this one at  Ross store for about $12. (I set the bucket and stool up off the floor in order to take a clear picture.)

Step 2:
Slip a short petticoat or slip with elastic waistband over the top of the vanity stool. An XL waistband fits the circumference of the stool well. Secure with a fashion belt that matches your style--you may have one already in your closet, but if not, a thrift-store trip should fix you right up.

Step 3:

Place the disguised Loo wherever it needs to be--outside for daytime, perhaps. To use, simply lift the dressed-up stool and set aside. Nobody needs to know what's under it!

PS. The best absorbent material I have found for inside the Loo is to use 2-3 cups of wood stove pellets. (Find them at WalMart, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.) I buy a 40-lb. bag of these compressed pine pellets for $5; I store it in the garage, and take out as much as I need for each camping trip. I camp often, and a 40-lb. bag lasts 2 or 3 years' worth of camping.

Though designed to be burned, wood stove pellets absorb many times their weight in liquid and give off a nice pine scent. They're also far more economical to use for this purpose than commercial RV absorbents, kitty litter, or disposable diapers.

What to Pack in Your Trailer for: Parking & Hooking Up

Parking. Whether you're camping solo or attending a group event, you'll need a number of items to safely park your trailer and be comfortable living in it. Be sure you have:

* Two chocks for each trailer tire (see above). You can get by with rocks or chunks of wood, but a set of heavy-duty plastic wheel chocks isn't that expensive, doesn't weigh much, and is kinder to your tires.
* A tongue-jack stabilizer--blocks of wood if your trailer jack has no wheel, or a wheel holder if it does. The latter prevents your jack wheel from sinking into soft ground or from rolling on a hard surface. (Tip: Always turn the jack wheel sideways before unhooking, to prevent rolling.)
* Corner jacks--one for each corner of the trailer. These will stabilize the trailer and keep the floor steady as you or guests are moving from end to end/corner to corner.
* Several short pieces of scrap lumber. These come in handy for such purposes as raising a trailer tire on uneven ground or for making corner-jack platforms on soft ground.
* A level. Invaluable for getting your trailer level enough for a good night's sleep!
* Step, for getting in and out of the trailer.

Hooking up. When camping at a site with power and water available, you'll have an easier time using them if you have the following:
* Heavy-duty outdoor extension cord. I carry a selection of lengths; if I only need a few feet to get to the power outlet, there's no need to use a 50-footer. There also are times when a longer cord is necessary.
* 30-amp adapter. Most vintage trailers are wired for 110 power; however, many modern campgrounds only offer 30- or 50-amp receivers for today's big rigs. The adapter will allow you to get power into your smaller trailer.

30-amp adapter--you plug this end into the power pole, and your trailer's power cord into the other end.

* Hose with valve shut-off. You'll need this to get water into your trailer's tanks, if you intend to use them instead of bottled water. A hose also comes in handy in general. A coil hose, toted in a small bucket (also useful for lots of things), is a good way to go.