brunnhilde's cassette toilet - part 10

A not so small progress in the cassette toilet conversion project.

Laminating fiberglass is not a fun job unless it is your first time. It is something I would prefer to avoid. When the job requires building up of layers or dealing with uneven contours it is the stuff nightmares is made of. At least I am wiser now not to get bits of glass fibers all over my skin. There is a lot of waiting for the layers of resin to cure before you can come close to be able to sand it. Sanding is a nasty business and very hard on the tools and wasteful on sandpaper as the resin clog them up fast. Just one or two more top coats and I am done with the shower pan.

just a few days ago

now

I got around to tackle the opening for the waste storage caddy. I did a final go/no-go decision if I want to use the optional access door. One thing that goes against using it s it only serve cosmetic purpose but actually get into the way of functions.

The door comes with a template. Yet there is no template for the toilet if you don't use the door. Last year when I was investigating the cassette toilet I made a number of phone calls to Thetford USA. These people has no clues about their products. All I was getting were wrong answers to what I was looking for. The irony is Thetford now has the global head quarter in the US and I had to go to the European site to find the installation manual.

If you are considering in installing a Thetford cassette toilet don't waste your time with the Thetford Global Site because you would find next to little useful information. Instead use the Thetford European Site. This is still true as of time of this post.

the .eu url should explain my experience

the not so useful install illustrations - i asked Thetford's technical support about the two hanging brackets in (18) and (19) and they said there is no bracket available despite what is shown in the manual

I have to made my own template for the toilet which requires a much smaller opening than the optional door kit. The choice of not to use the door kit is clear as a bell now.

the paper cutting template i made myself which has a much smaller opening than the door kit

All the home improvement show hosts would tell you rule number one when it comes to home renovation work, no wall is plumb and no corner is square. Well that applies to most homes built on-site but not to this James Cook Westfalia built. Just for giggles I decided to take my framer's square and check.

every corner is within 1/8 inch at the end of the long side

 

using my home made template i marked the outline of the opening and started cutting from inside the bathroom; the fein multimaster is a wise investment i made for this project; no other power tool would allow me to cut at 1/2 inch next to the wall and flush against the steel angle at the bottom

with surgical precision it cut the opening with just a thin kerf - i had to be careful to not get the blade binded by the stress and friction of the plywood

 shown here is the spout for adding flush water

while the cut lines are as straight as one can hope for a freehand work, my plan is to add a thin trim to cover the unevenness; alternately I can hand file the edge straight and that will require a lot of patience and careful work

 the width of the opening barely affords the flush spout to swing out unimpeded

 the sewer vent hose stinks bad - a beer bottle is good for something

All the difficult work is now behind me and the remaining should be smooth sailing. I am leaving the option open to connect the sewer vent to the removable water water caddy. The 12V electric supply hookup should be pretty easy with the challenge of feeding a line from the cabin fuse box. As for the old flush water supply and wiring I am leaving it open to using it to transfer water from the central fresh water tank to the toilet flush water storage when it runs out. However that will require adding a small faucet to the hose end.