brunnhilde's cassette toilet

I am starting this series of post to  chronicle of my project in restoring the toilet in Brunnhilde's bathroom back to as Westfalia designers intended.


Westfalia James Cook is a very well executed compact motor home. Everything is well thought out with tradeoffs carefully deliberated in achieving a well balance whole.

For the North American (referred to as NAFTA) version a number of changes were made for the adaptation for the US market. While some are necessities for regulatory reasons many are ill-conceived and poorly executed. The following is my personal gripe:

• addition of rooftop air conditioner for the cabin; this necessitate a generator
• the crude propane-fueled fixed-rpm generator installed in the spare tire storage space
• addition of a roof top TV antenna and the LCD TV inside
• replacement of the European cassette toilet with one more suited for a large RV that requires a black water tank and associated plumbing
• badging of the Mercedes Benz logos with Dodge and service by Dodge
• addition of cheesy graphic decals on the exterior
• replacement of the on-demand water heater with a crude tank-type water heater that is designed to fail catastrophically when you are least prepared for; worst it added an ugly cutout to the right rear of the vehicle
• addition of cable TV and land line telephone hookup (yes, unbelievable) on the exterior utility hookup area
• the extra cutouts on the cabinetry and the body panel due to the NAFTA "convenience"
• there are other less egregious "fashion-victim" changes in the build series which mine fortunately escaped - e.g. exterior running board, grip handle on the kitchen cabinet

I know it sound petty for me to complain without listing the problems these changes caused, which is beyond the scope of this post.

Shortly after acquiring my pre-owned Westfalia James Cook I was convinced that the original cassette toilet as in the European James Cook better suited for a compact motorhome. I did a lot of research to determine the viability of converting it back. Very little information is available for someone outside of Europe who wants to tackle this project. As time elapse the situation and sources of needed parts have changed. Having owning the vehicle for a year give me a lot of time to dwell over such a drastic alteration. I don't take major modification in this a big investment lightly, especially one that is not reversible. I have weighted the pros and cons and I am ready to embark.

Pros:

• Self-contained flush water storage, meaning you don't use the water from the fresh water tank to flush the toilet. The toilet has an integral water pump too.
• Self-contained black water storage cassette. You regain the storage space lost to the black water tank under the bath floor
• Can dispose of black water more frequently (anywhere you can find a toilet) meaning no more driving to the dump sites. Also more frequent disposition would lessor the potential nasty sewer gas odor in the cabin
• Slight gain of floor space for showing in the bathroom. The depth of the cassette toilet is less than the NAFTA one.
• Easier to clean shower floor. The cassette toilet would eliminate the two narrow strips of the shower pan in the NAFTA one. There is also much less crevices in the cassette toilet surface (especially it has no foot paddle and the gapping hole)

Cons:

• It is an a non-reversible alteration and a rather big undertaking. If planned or execute not well it would ruin the value of the camper.
• Why mess with something that works?
• Why would one want to drag a luggage of nasty sewer though the house?
• Another tank to fill when filling the fresh water tank.
• Smaller toilet seat size.

the north american domestic size toilet in NAFTA version of the James Cook

I would have no misgiving with the NAFTA toilet if it is in a larger RV with a big storage tank. The one we have holds 9.6 gallons and on a trip you itinerary often is diverted to find a place to empty the tank. I had driven 30 mile round trip once to empty the tank. With the cassette toilet you can empty it in any public bathrooms. You can also use the cassette as the disposal caddy for the grey water tank in a pinch.

the tiny black water tank under the bath floor - look at the storage space to be gained after the conversion

a much more compact european cassette toilet (left in photo) with built in flush water storage, pump, and removable black water storage cassette; the large toilet on the right is a Neorest 600 for my home wait to be installed

here i set it against a well to check what it is like sitting on it; note that the depth at the base measures only 12.5 inch versus 15 inch on the NAFTA version; for someone who has stayed in many tiny hotel rooms in japan i find it quite comfortable

the cassette insert inserted into the toilet (this is a left hand version)

 this is the swing out inlet spout for filling the flush water - note that the one in the European James Cook does not have the built-in flush water storage; i made the choice when ordering from Thetford

the black water cassette pulled out; on the bottom of the cassette cavity there is even a storage space for a container of waste water additive if you choose to use it; the business port of the cassette is open and closed with the lever on top of the toilet

BTW. I gather these cassette toilet recently begun to gain sale in North America due to the proliferation of mobile command centers by goverment emergency and law enforement agencies.

very sleek design like a suitcase with wheels; wonder what the TSA agent would say if i try to board a plane with it; i can image the consequence of saying what it's for - storing natural fertilizer

 i want to test how well it holds the nasty liquid content so i fill it with water

obviously the big round port of the business end is the likely seepage - not a drop of water breach the doubly-sealed opening

Brunnhilde still have a half tank of black water from the last trip and the stinch in the cabin is quite bad. I was agonizing over the thought of having to drive 70 miles (140 miles round trip) to empty the black water in Brunnhilde. I spent an hour to no avail trying to find a sewer cleanout in front of my house. I even looked at the neighbors I befriend and none have one. Staring a the cassette, I realize the size appears to be big enough to fit the elbow of the RV sewer hose. A major problem solved. I would just use the cassette to transport the waste water to my toilet in the house. There is no better way to experience what it is like to live with the cassette toilet.

the north american RV sewer discharge elbow fits the opening perfectly - the green twist knob by the opening rotates the internal flap open; it is actuated by the lever on the toilet when the cassette is inserted into the toilet

i filled it with the black water from Brunnhilde - i took care to not overfill it; the odor is so pungent no wonder the sewer gas odor is so persistent in the cabin

Emptying the content into a domestic toilet turned out to be a rather civilized act. The swing out spout release the discharge cleanly into the domestic toilet. It would be much later that I noticed the purpose of the small green button. It is for letting in air as you empty the tank so it does not gurgle and splash and make a smelly mess. It is ergonomically placed at the grip end of your other (right for most people) hand so you use the thumb of the right hand to operate it as you grip this end. I am so impressed with this little toilet.

Onto the plan of how to carry out the conversion. When I decided to begin buying the needed components for the project last year. I did the needed research including the procurement of the major components. These being the cassette toilet and the different (European version) shower pan from Westfalia. Unfortunately when I contacted Westfalia in Germany wanting to buy the shower pan. They never get back to me despite my numerous attempt to contact. I later gather that since purchased by MB the suits in MB somehow instruct Westfalia to only sell parts through MB dealer network in Europe. In the the NAFTA JC owners source of Westfalia parts is though Airstream only. I contacted Airstream and found out they would only procure parts that comes in the NAFTA. This put a major kink in my planned project.
 
If you are a James Cook owner in Europe and are willing to help me purchase the shower pan (duschwanne) I greatly appreciate it.

The two following parts diagram show the difference of the shower pans to accommodate the different toilets.
european version is smaller (a square shape instead of rectangle)

 the NAFTA version is larger (a rectangle shape covering the whole bathroom floor

By the way. In the above parts diagrams you can see the plumbing system differences of the two James Cook version. The NAFTA one is plumbed like a North America residential home, with ABS pipes and fitting ill-suited for a very small home on wheels. The European system has no drain traps. They can do this because the waste water vent does not comingle with the sewer gas.

the NAFTA shower pan has the raised platform in which the big toilet sits on

to accommodate the cassette toilet which is only 12.5 inch deep at the base the raised platform of the shower pan is in the way

Necessity is mother of all inventions. Even from the beginning I was planning on the possibility to fabricate a shower pan myself as the contingency in case procuring one from Europe proves to be too difficult or costly. Over the last few months I begun to solidify the rough plan. I made a number of changes to refine the plan.

1) I would keep the NAFTA shower pan by modifying it. I will need to cut out the raise platform as well as the lip along the walls from where the cassette toilet sits. Doing this avoid the major task of removing the shower pan and having to deal with breaking it into pieces due to the adhesive securing it to the bath floor.
2) One advantage of keeping the old shower pan is not having to mess with the floor drain and the plumbing connecting to it. While the drain location of the European pan appears to be at roughly the same place even the drain hole interface may be different for the European version. The other advantage is not having to fabricate the raised lip/shoulder along the wall
3) The critical challenge is how to cover the void left from the raised platform. I plan to lay fiberglass mat over the entire shower pan area covered by the European pan. The fiberglass buildup would cover up the void to make it invisible.
4) At where the shower pan meet the front edge of the toilet base I need to fabricate a dam. This dam prevents water from entering under the toilet. This dam would be fabricated from the fiberglass mat.
5) To not risk the fiberglass resin attacking the bathroom wall or the shower pan epoxy would be used instead of polyester. I would need to test the bonding strength epoxy resin make with the shower pan material. I plan on doing the test on a hidden area of the pan after removing the toilet.

6) To make the fiberglass opaque I would either add white pigment or paint with a durable topcoat (like those where birds falls from the sky when you spray paint the car).
7) Once the challenge of the shower pan is overcame the other is cutting an accessing hole on the rear wall for the removable cassette.

More to follow. Please stay tuned for the progress.