Sometimes you just got to Vent

 

Day 217: the dreaded toilette vent installation.  Which requires yet another hole in the van. The compostable toilet which came highly recommended, Natures Head, requires some kind of venting.  This is clearly the wrong vent for our build but its what we have so I am going with it.  By using the composting toilet we eliminate the black water tank and all that hook up hose mess.  This toilet makes a different kind of mess and different is better. 

Day 225:  Then we had a massive ice storm that knocked out power for days and blocked roads.  Winter in North Carolina is like Ice, Ice baby!  So we lost a full weekend of working on the van build, running errands and checking in on family.

Day 226:  Thanks to a new hole saw that made quick work of cutting the hole in the roof the vent was installed in no time.  This is a significant milestone, cause now we can actually use the Nature’s Head toilette! No more finding camp sites next to the bath house.

This is the vent from the outside.  One problem discovered is that the vent extends above the 80/20 aluminum bar that makes up the roof rack.  Which will make installing the decking a problem.  No choice for now as rain is in the near future.  But eventually I will need to replace this with the shorter home designed version.  Turns out the fan is a tiny little muffin fan that moves like 0.00002 CFM.  So this huge vent is way over kill anyway.

The toilet's muffin fan exposed.

The vent's hose will be visible in the back of the overhead cabinet.  But we will store boxes and cans here so mostly it will be covered up with stores. 

And with the vent all hosed up that completes the vent installation.  Some time later we will bolt the toilet to the floor and connect the vent hose to it.  The 12 volt electrical wire that powers the muffin fan is already there waiting patiently for us to get around to it.  

The toilet will be installed in a cabinet with a swing up lid made of counter top butcher block. It will be enclosed with a swing out fan fold door from the front which hides the toilet when not in use.

But all that will have to wait until we design the details.  Right now it is more of a concept.