Harbor Freight creepers

[Zephod]

I didn't get a creeper when I was in Harbor Freight. I kicked myself afterwards though, as it would have been so useful. Not far from where my bus is parked, there's a school. The car park is vacant at weekends so I could take my bus there to install my cable conduit one weekend. With that in mind I considered a creeper.

So, today I went to Lowes and priced castors. I already had some leftover 7 ply from building my "earth closet". Two were on sale for $3 apiece. So $16 later and about 20 minutes labor later with my $20 Harbor Freight rechargeable drill....



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[muldoonman]

Had to google that one.

earth clos·et

noun
a basic type of toilet with dry earth used to cover excrement.

[Zephod]

Had to google that one.

earth clos·et

noun
a basic type of toilet with dry earth used to cover excrement.

Pretty close - I'm using cat lit as my dry earth.

As far as other stuff - I'm toying with the idea of a flush toilet but want to be able to port the contents in a wheeled container rather than have to drive to a dump station. That way, I can just find some remote area, dig a hole, empty my toilet and cover it over. Equally, I can take my portable container to the restroom and empty it down the toilet.


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[Lin]

Please don't camp in my neighborhood!

BTW, kitty litter or dirt should not be dumped down a toilet. If you do it in a rural area where there is a septic system, it's even worse.   

[TomC]

After using your creeper a couple of times, you'll find that it is better to have all 4 casters steerable.

[Zephod]

After using your creeper a couple of times, you'll find that it is better to have all 4 casters steerable.

I couldn't pass up 2 end of line $3 non steerable castors!

I almost had all 4 as non steerable. I figure if the head end isn't steerable, that'll be fine.

My only planned trips under the bus will be for weekends in the local school parking lot.
1. To install my end to end house wiring
2. To install my short end house wiring
3. To install my as yet unconstructed battery housings
4. To install a cold water inlet
5. To install a 120V line from my breaker panel to my planned instant hot water heater.

That's more than I thought but I'm not anticipating much more.


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[richard5933]

If I remember my Scout training, digging a hole and burying human waste is not recommended if there are any other options. You mention finding a 'remote' area and digging a hole, but in reality there are no remote areas. If you're there, odds are other people have been there before you or will be there after you. Buried waste has a great ability to infiltrate a water supply, even one hundreds of feet away.

There are quite a few tried and true methods of dealing with 'dry' toilets, and my suggestion would be to investigate this a bit more before digging that hole.

Richard

[J_E]

I think that maybe some of y'all mis-read what Zeph said.  His referencing digging a hole or dumping into a toilet were in regards to possible disposal methods with a portable septic tank setup that he would like to upgrade to.  He did not mention his current method for dealing with the kitty litter.

[Zephod]

I think that maybe some of y'all mis-read what Zeph said.  His referencing digging a hole or dumping into a toilet were in regards to possible disposal methods with a portable septic tank setup that he would like to upgrade to.  He did not mention his current method for dealing with the kitty litter.

My parents always tossed the kitty litter and contents into a pile in the back yard and it would just rot down.


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[kyle4501]

My parents always tossed the kitty litter and contents into a pile in the back yard and it would just rot down.

The key phrase here is "(their own) back yard", not someone else's. Very different when you know where the 'land mines' are.

I think that maybe some of y'all mis-read what Zeph said.  His referencing digging a hole or dumping into a toilet were in regards to possible disposal methods with a portable septic tank setup that he would like to upgrade to.  He did not mention his current method for dealing with the kitty litter.

No reference to a portable septic system, as written, it was in reference to a wheeled container of raw waste from a flush toilet.

I am interested in the proper methods of dealing with the by-products of the earth toilet. Improper disposal will cause problems for all of us.
There is a reason they don't let you dump waste tanks into the storm sewers & such.

I am hoping that every one here is courteous to others when it comes to ALL waste disposal.

[Iceni John]

See, it's happened again.   We start discussing something manly and mechanical, then the subject morphs into matters scatological.

Instead of faffing about with cat litter, holes in the ground, etc etc, why not just use a macerator pump to move the black tank's contents through a 3/4" hose to a toilet or into a sewer clean-out?   That sounds much easier to me.

John

[Zephod]

See, it's happened again.   We start discussing something manly and mechanical, then the subject morphs into matters scatological.

Instead of faffing about with cat litter, holes in the ground, etc etc, why not just use a macerator pump to move the black tank's contents through a 3/4" hose to a toilet or into a sewer clean-out?   That sounds much easier to me.

John

Simple... I've got what I can afford right now. Same reason I don't have $10,000 of solar panels, a brand new bus and $100,000 of lithium batteries.


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[kyle4501]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y4tPnZj6Ac

[Fred Mc]

"Instead of faffing about with cat litter, holes in the ground, etc etc, why not just use a macerator pump to move the black tank's contents through a 3/4" hose to a toilet or into a sewer clean-out?   That sounds much easier to me."

My VERY FIRST camper had a macerator toilet. The idea sounds really good UNTIL the macerator part goes south and you have to fix it. On the normal rv "flush toilet" if you have to work on it  the crap is usually in the tank. Not so much with a macerator. I promised myself I would NEVER have another macerator and I have kept that promise now for over 40 years. Some promises are real easy to keep.

As for the creeper with only 2 castors once your laying on your back under the bus with your chest barely clearing the bottom of the bus and your trying to maneuver the creeper just a "little" this way or that you'll soon discover why 4 castors are a must. On the other hand, although I have a "good" creeper I sometime just use a sheet of cardboard.

[Lin]

I have a macerator that I use if needed.  It fits the standard RV bayonet mount dump valve.  I do not prefer to use it, but it has come in handy many times.

It is fine to do things your own way in a method you can afford.  However, doing so in a manner that burdens others lives and health is not fine. Digging ditches and dumping sewage in is illegal.  If you do it on your own property or with the owner's permission, you could argue that it is more acceptable.  But doing it anywhere you think you can get away with it is not justifiable.

We recently had a guy purchase a 2.5 acre parcel across the road from us, pull at trailer onto it, and rent it our through Airbnb.  He was getting $125/night! Everything about it was illegal.  He told his guests they could have camp fires even though we are surrounded with dry grass and brush from last years rains (you may note the amount of wildfires presently burning in the West).  He told us he was carting the sewage to a campground to dump. That seemed unlikely since he only came here in his BMW!  Actually, he was digging holes and dumping.  Did I mention that property is in a wash?  Anyway, about a half dozen neighbors and the county confronted him.  When he realized that he was not going to able to continue to profit from degrading and endangering the area, he sold the property to the next door neighbor.  They did not really need it but wanted to be sure another idiot would not come in and do the same thing.

I suppose one could argue that he should be able to do what he wants on his property.  However, the brush fire would be unlikely to respect his property boundaries.  The rain water also would be unlikely to abstain from spreading contamination. I do not know if the water table would be positively affected either.