DIY Camping Toilet Bucket

How to build your own portable toilet to use while camping...

Alternate title - How to poop like a superstar in the woods...

To build your own DIY camping toilet you will need the following items:

- 5 gallon bucket with a tight snap on lid (more on this later),

- A piece of plywood (big enough to cover the toilet seat),

- A toilet seat from your favorite hardware store.

- some glue, fasteners (staples, nails, or screws), caulk, and paint.

First take your perfectly good toilet seat and remove the lid screws and hinges and the bumpers. I have found that the wooden toilet seats work best (they also happen to be the cheapest ones you can buy). When you are done, your toilet seat should look like this.

Take your piece of plywood and turn your bucket upside down on the plywood and trace the bucket outline onto your plywood. Make sure to leave enough room on the plywood to cover the seat (in a future step). Drill a hole inside your pattern circle big enough for a scroll saw blade to fit thru.

Carefully cut out the circle you traced from the bucket with a scroll saw. Cut on the OUTSIDE of the line.When you are done, you should have a piece of wood that looks like this.Check to make sure you are happy with the fit of the bucket in the circle hole.Next place your toilet seat over the plywood. Center the hole in the plywood with the hole in the toilet seat, when you are happy with the placement, trace the toilet seat onto the plywood.

Carefully cut out the outside of the pattern you just traced using a scroll saw or band saw.Make sure to cut on the OUTSIDE of the seat pattern you traced.

Apply a layer of glue to the plywood and place the plywood on the bottom of the toilet seat.Making sure the plywood is lined up with the toilet seat the way you want, fasten the plywood to the toilet seat. I use an air stapler to fasten the plywood to the seat.Whatever you decide to use as fasteners is fine, however MAKE SURE THE FASTENERS DO NOT GO ALL THE WAY THRU THE TOILET SEAT.

When you are finished you should have something like the seat in this picture.

You could say you are finished at this point, but ultimately you want to impress your fellow campers, so a little finish work will really give you some bragging rights...

Caulk and paint your plywood to match your seat and you will be the envy of all the other campers...

When you have finished your seat and the paint has dried, you should end up with a pretty nice place to sit...Beats squatting or sitting over a tree branch any day!!!

You can choose any bucket you like, but what better bucket than an empty chocolate frosting bucket...

Although the idea of doing your 'business' in a bucket may seem a little unpleasant, the fact is, if you camp long enough, eventually you will need to do it somewhere... To make the experience more pleasant, before you use the bucket for the first time, place a layer of sawdust in the bottom of the bucket. After each use, sprinkle a layer of sawdust over your 'creation' this will help to eliminate odor and moisture. When you are done camping you will have to decide what to do with your bucket contents. You can dispose of the contents in a bag somewhere or bury it. Do not bury plastic bags...

Remember that part about a tight fitting lid for your bucket? If you are going to transport this bucket and contents anywhere, you will now realize the importance of the tight fitting lid...

That about wraps it up... Good luck & have fun...