rafting toilet - odor minimization
 

Maybe I should ask this on Boatertalk's rafting section,
but here goes.

Are any products useful to reduce portapotty odor?

I know of powdered Clorox (causes pressure build-up)
Blue Goo (never tried it, but some rafters swear by it)
and now Odorlos/Od=F8rl=F8s, a dry powder.

What about the stuff they add to an RV's holding tank? Not sure what
it is, deep blue in color, if that helps. Coleman sells it, or most
RV stores have something like it.

Formaldahide maybe?

-Dan V.


On 19 Apr 2005 11:00:19 -0700, Bill Tuthill wrote:

Maybe I should ask this on Boatertalk's rafting section,
but here goes.

Are any products useful to reduce portapotty odor?

I know of powdered Clorox (causes pressure build-up)
Blue Goo (never tried it, but some rafters swear by it)
and now Odorlos/Odørløs, a dry powder.

Dan Valleskey valleskey at comcast dot net wrote:

What about the stuff they add to an RV's holding tank? Not sure what
it is, deep blue in color, if that helps. Coleman sells it, or most
RV stores have something like it.=20=20=20

That sounds like Blue Goo. It works but promoted sloshing-around.
Whereas Odorlos (Od=F8rl=F8s) is a dry powder.

Google brings up lots of hits for it, so I'll investigate.

Many of the rafting supply stores sell a product call Knockout that is
made for this purpose. It is a liquid and you put in a very small
amount. It is a concentrated deodorant, and has worked pretty well on
our week long trips. It is fairly expensive, but lasts a long time
since you only use a little splash at a time.

Bill Tuthill wrote:
Maybe I should ask this on Boatertalk's rafting section,
but here goes.

Are any products useful to reduce portapotty odor?

I know of powdered Clorox (causes pressure build-up)
Blue Goo (never tried it, but some rafters swear by it)
and now Odorlos/Odørløs, a dry powder.

Kent Fletcher wrote:
Many of the rafting supply stores sell a product call Knockout that is
made for this purpose. It is a liquid and you put in a very small
amount. It is a concentrated deodorant, and has worked pretty well on
our week long trips. It is fairly expensive, but lasts a long time
since you only use a little splash at a time.

Found it, thanks. NRS used to sell it but apparently gave up doing so.
http://www.greatoutdoors.com/nrs/sho...treatment.html

The Odorlos is less expensive, and a dry powder (liquids are difficult
to carry on kayak trips) so I'm going to try it out on our next trip.

Hey Bill,
Here's what they did in old outhouses.
In the outhouse, you'd find a box or bag of fireplace ash, with a cup in it.
After doing your thing, one would scoop a small amount of ash down the hole
to keep the smell down.
I tried this in my uncles old mining claim outhouse and it worked quite
well.
I admit, I had to ask my uncle what the ash was for in the outhouse the
first time.
The price is right, especially if you have a camp fire.


--
Bob Noble
www.sonic.net/bnoble
"Bill Tuthill" wrote in message ...
Kent Fletcher wrote:
Many of the rafting supply stores sell a product call Knockout that is
made for this purpose. It is a liquid and you put in a very small
amount. It is a concentrated deodorant, and has worked pretty well on
our week long trips. It is fairly expensive, but lasts a long time
since you only use a little splash at a time.

Found it, thanks. NRS used to sell it but apparently gave up doing so.
http://www.greatoutdoors.com/nrs/sho...treatment.html

The Odorlos is less expensive, and a dry powder (liquids are difficult
to carry on kayak trips) so I'm going to try it out on our next trip.

Its worth noting that airfresheners and deodorizers only work three
ways. Some have an oil base that coat the particles with oil so they
cannot get airborne. Others have a strong deoderant that overpowers the
offensive odor with a different one. And a third kind have an
anesthetic that numbs your nose.

If you don't mind your raft smelling like a locker room or new car,
then use the second type: knockout is this type. If you don't mind your
entire sense of smell going by the wayside, then some Lysol or Bloo Goo
would do it. The problem with the first type is that, in a moving raft,
its VERY hard to keep the particles down...all that sloshing stirs it
up pretty well. First of all, never pee in the groover...that solves
some of the sloshing problem (as well as the fermentation bomb
problem). Ashes work well, but you have to toss in enough to coat the
top, each time, and eventually that adds up to several additional ammo
cans because of the bulk.

I haven't tried it, but I'd bet anything that a simple hand-pumped
pesticide sprayer with vegetable oil in it, mist-sprayed over the top
just before you box it up for the day would do it quite well.

But for the record, the anasthetic ones are the ones that work the
best. You know that's whats being used when someone gets on the groover
boat and says 'pyew! How can you stand this stench?" and then a minute
later says "hmmm, its actually not so noticable once you get used to
it."

--riverman

Regarding products, I couldn't say. I stopped using digestive
enzyme/bacteria products because the results of the digestion
(fermentation?) seemed to stink twice as much. The potty seems to wash
clean with a hose anyway, without the digesters.

Regarding odor minimization, I have found the single most important
trick is to convince all my potty users to never pee in the toilet.
Urine in the potty seems to degrade into a particularly foul brew.
(Ammonia?) On our large western rivers, the gov't-sanctioned protocol
is to urinate in the river anyway, so my request is in accord. HTH.

--Dave

Bill Tuthill wrote:

Maybe I should ask this on Boatertalk's rafting section,
but here goes.

Are any products useful to reduce portapotty odor?

I know of powdered Clorox (causes pressure build-up)
Blue Goo (never tried it, but some rafters swear by it)
and now Odorlos/Odørløs, a dry powder.

Bill,

I go to the RV store and buy the blue stuff they use for the RV toilets.
It does a very good job. You have to experiment a little to get the
dosage right but it works pretty well and is biodegradable.

s,

zip

Bill Tuthill wrote:
Maybe I should ask this on Boatertalk's rafting section,
but here goes.

Are any products useful to reduce portapotty odor?

I know of powdered Clorox (causes pressure build-up)
Blue Goo (never tried it, but some rafters swear by it)
and now Odorlos/Odørløs, a dry powder.