I have a camping project to work on , making deposits | SouthernPaddler.com

I have a camping project to work on , making deposits

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Between killing spammers and some quiet time on the back porch things have entered my mind about camping. :shock:

We always discuss the stove to cook the chow with , the boats to get us there , the hammocks or tents to sleep in , the sleeping bags for warmth and all of the minor details. For some reason it escapes me why everyone forgets the one item that offers the most comfort , personal well being ,and is really a necessity when camping in the wilds and not near restaurants and all of the modern convinces , might even include laundry mats in that.

Only one person has thought of it and what he designed is a large package for the simple but necessary pleasures of life , I think I have come up with a better idea. The last trip started me thinking about having one that is for two tons and not a light weight one , especially when someone from Mississippi went to use it and it sunk in the sand and tossed him like a bucking bronc before he could make his mark. Not mentioning any names. :lol:

YEP...... The spammers made me do more thinking about ....CRAPPING.

The Commandos chair is something of enjoyment that all of us like when he has it along ...but it packs up really large. Without it .... Trees are nice if there are no splinters , tree sap , spiders or poison ivy or you don't lose your grip and your pants are out of the field/line of delivery. :oops:

Doing a take off on txriverrats chair for his boat I know I can make a all wood crapper that will fold up and pack away nice and compact ( all out of wood , epoxy and glass , have to think smooth for comfort ) without any problems , plus it would hold a two ton paddler that needs to deposit one ton to make the woods greener. With some reinforcement even Jack would be able to use it. :wink:

The wife said she did not want me to be out in the shop in this heat making another boat but she sure as heck did not say anything about what makes a trip a lot easier out in the woods.

I have a project to work on , in more ways then one , one here and one for anyone to use later when paddling/camping. It's a good place to sit and think about some folks wanting bigger pictures and others using the large print on here , so far my conclusion is that they need glasses but are to vein to get them. :lol: Or just get a bigger monitor. :roll:

Chuck.
Wise a$$ cracks will be flushed. :cry:
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Advertisement seen recently on a bill board:

Chuck's Portable Outhouse - you CAN take it with you!

Made of highest quality brick, no wolf will blow away THIS baby! Sears and Sawbuck catalogue (reproduction) available at slightly extra cost.

Corncobs are standard issue. Two reds, and one white.

Solar powered ventilation systems available. Actually mimic the sound of yellow jackets buzzing in the walls for olde timey sake
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
islandpiper said:

Close but ( pun intended) a little more on the wider side side for heavy loads and not as sharp angles , more rounded and less like an outhouse seat. Plus the legs will be further apart so there is not worry about them giving away , sinking , causing a cave in .... in soft sand. It will be more of a rectangle then a square but collapsible for packing in a boat and comfort in camp when the urge hits you. :lol:

The way theirs folds up and the price they want for it , not a bad deal. :D

Chuck.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Brazos River sand sparked this quest. A heap of river campin' iz done on a sandbar. On the Brazos the sandbar wuz so danged long, yer eyes caint see frum one end ta the other. Too far ta walk back inta the trees ta make a dirt hole, so I dug a hole in the sand 'n set the High Sheriff's plastic potty over it. Rite off I seen hiz potty wuz too small......'n bound ta fall in the hole I had dug, so I dug anuther hole.....smaller this time, but deep enuff fer the Master of Flow Bizness. Hiz boat science will fill a reglar hole mitey fast. I dug the second hole smaller, but deep. I put the little plastic potty over the second hole 'n it looked liked a job well done.....til I set on it. The sides caved off 'n I jumped off jest in time. I left that plastic potty where it lay 'n headed off ta find myself a tree.

Ole Sparkler hit on a idea to build the perfect paddlin' potty.......made outta some fine teak wood with some ivory inlaid, mebbe some lion legs with claws that bite the sand 'n keep ya steady az it goes? I bet a nice stain ta bring out the fine grain, with a good soak of epoxy 'er tung oil. Nuthin' iz too good fer an official Paddlin' Geezer Canoe Clud latrine. I hope this time we git some high brow readin' in the side rack. Mebbe Field & Stream? Superman in Bizarro World? The Audacity of Dopes?

regards
bearridge

ps I wonder what kinda outhouse Keith 'n seedtick would build?

Everybody gather 'round
Loosen up your suspenders
Hunker down on the ground
I'm a cracker
And you are too
But don't I take good care of you

Randy Newman
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Actually I could make one that you would like ...Bear.

A buddy of mine gave me a 6 X 8 inches and by 10 feet long piece of some old Mahogany , that sliced up would make a grand one , just oil stain it but then you might fall/slide off. :roll: I will stay with Pine and Popular for this one just for your safety. :lol:

You are right that plastic and aluminum one is for the birds when out camping.

Chuck.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Danged if I see any need to stain a toilet seat before use. It'll get stained DURING use. Now, water proofing would be a good idea. Any salt in that wood and porcupines will gnaw it to pieces.

Chuck, for load bearing capacity, consider running a band of some kind, say nylon strapping, in between the feet along the side. Sand will continually squeeze away from normal camp stool feet. If these traveled from the bottom of the rear legs to the bottom of the front legs, it would add bearing surface. (This suggestion is serious, the rest aren't meant to be.)

Another thought is a portable dead man (a weight buried in the sand) with a 4' hank of knotted rope tied to it. That would give a guy something reliable to grab so's he didn't fall backwards at a nasty moment.

A plastic deflector shield to lay over downed britches to keep odds and ends from staining (or worse) britches and delicate underthings would be nice.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
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Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Kayak Jack said:


Chuck, for load bearing capacity, consider running a band of some kind, say nylon strapping, in between the feet along the side. Sand will continually squeeze away from normal camp stool feet. If these traveled from the bottom of the rear legs to the bottom of the front legs, it would add bearing surface. (This suggestion is serious, the rest aren't meant to be.)

I got rid of the humor ( for better terms ) section in the post. The load bearing section which is the whole item but mainly the legs when set up in sand will be on some 1 x 3's , other times it will be just the legs on the ground when off the sand and up in the woods like we always do when feasable.
Actually the way I am thinking of making it none of that extra stuff might be needed. Even if the legs would be strapped that sand will still move away unless you do one thing. :D I think that is it , the old K.I.S.S. principal. ( Keep It Simple Stupid) . Man , I do like watching ducks.

Chuck.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Mister High Sheriff,

Ya gotta come up with a dang good new idea ta beat the Commodore's throne. It dont weigh much, the legs spread way out over the hole 'n it haz a back.....comfortable. Hard ta beat that.

regards
bearridge

Women should be obscene and not heard. Groucho Marx
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Bear...
I think I have one and it will pack up a lot smaller , be lighter and only about 16 by 24 inches and a nice 2 1/2 inches thick. I have to agree , beating the Commandos chair is almost impossible for comfort but coming close is possible. :D

Jack had an idea about the straps and if he was suggesting them running between the legs of the stool/seats or even under the feet of the legs to help support it on the sand as a flotation item , Good idea , almost. If someone decided to sit there and read the paddling catalog then they might decide to scribble there initials in the sand which would wet that webbing down between the stools/seats legs... one bad idea. Or if they had the MRE Chili and a beer or two there might be an over shot on the back of the hole and the back strap would suffer , again not that swift. :oops:

It will take a while to get this together , especially since I am in no hurry and would/will not need it till late June or July for a scouting trip on a river.

Chuck.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Chuck,

If you ran the straps I suggest back and forth right to left - in between the two front legs and separately in between the rear legs, then you would get spray pattern vulnerability as you feared. But, that wasn't the configuration I suggested.
Run them from front to rear along each side. Then, they are off to the side, just like the wooden legs.

Another rig, better than straps but heavier, would be wooden slats. Say, 3" wide, running from front to rear on each side. Drill large holes in the ends of the slats where the ends of legs would intersect. Round the ends of the legs down to about 1" diameter, and drill the holes in the base slats at an angle to receive the leg ends. This would make a rigid structure with a LOT of load bearing area.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
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Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Kayak Jack said:
Chuck,
Round the ends of the legs down to about 1" diameter, and drill the holes in the base slats at an angle to receive the leg ends. This would make a rigid structure with a LOT of load bearing area.

Thats what I had for the store bought one that did not work. there were boards on the sides for the legs to fit in and equal out the load bearing surface on the sand. Only problem is that when the hole is dug and the unit placed over it that sand caved in and down came everything. That hole was not that wide and sure looked like everything was set up correctly.
It would work really well on hard packed earth but not in this sand we have down south , there is a reason they call it sugar sand and not because it is sweet.
By elongating the structure the legs will be further away from the bole ( like the Commodore's chair is ) and less possibilities of any cave in's.
I like the set up on the one Piper posted the link for but 16 x 16 is asking for trouble in the sand 16 wide x 24 long would be a lot better. The legs would be a lot further away from the sides of the hole.
 

gbinga

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2008
736
2
Hoschton, GA
Question - What is the Commando chair (Jack stepping in here - it's the Commodore's Chair - Harry McDonald) that Bear and Sparkey are referring to? I didn't see a link so I don't know what ya'll are talking about.

Observation - The folding stool that IslandPiper linked to has the top (seat) in two pieces - a front section and a back section. Not having seen the stool in action, I would suspect that if you set it up on uneven, sandy soil, sat on it, and shifted your weight, those two sections would tend to shift around, slide past each other, maybe separate from each other and then come back together,,, OUCH! If the thing is really well designed and built that might not happen, but how you gonna build a folding wood chair that doesn't flex and shift with a persons weight?

I think I'd have more faith in a folding stool if it had a one-piece seat.

GBinGA
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I thought there was a hinge in the middle too. Like you, I said, "OUCH!" Been there, done that in a real two holer.]

The Commodore does have a very good solution to the problem. It can be improved upon, but that will be a difficult and worthy task. A simple box is what the Canadians use over their pits. No arms, or back, or roof. Just a wooden boom box with a toilet seat.

In any of these endeavors, I think the toilet sat is the primary component, and the starting place. Probably next is the support system. Sand with round corners (like, at the ocean beach) will not compact and hold shape as well as will sand with sharp or square corners, like inland sand where wave action has not worn it smooth. If designing for sugar sand, load bearing is much more important than if designing for use on a mineral soil.

Younger folk, those who can bend in the middle much easier and further than we geezers, and those who can recover from such contortions without undue effort and grunting and groaning accompanying the effort, can simply squat over a plastic bag that is lined with gel like is in diapers. If we geezers tried to squat over the bag - we'd be IN the bag. Or, if we didn't fall in, would go numb and be in that squatted position for an hour or so - or at least until help arrived. As I've aged, my "squat" has become taller and more upright. By now, it's a semi-squat at best. I look more like Yakus Appetiticus bending over to pick up his wallet.

Chuck, you may consider some plywood platforms upon which to place your extended legs? Maybe, jacked out legs like on a back hoe or a crane. Hydraulically extended legs with jack-pads for feet. A two cylinder engine can power a hydraulic pump, control levers (which we are NOT to play with whilst using this contraption) for lifting and setting legs into supportive positions. Hydraulic rams to recover said support legs. And a truck to carry the hole apparatus. Plus, of course, a trained operator replete with family housing and full medical benefits.

The Commodore's chair is sounding better all the time.
 

Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
Guys,
Mrs. B has the answer. Cut the bottom out of a plastic bucket. Cut a hole in a peice of plywood hinged (in the middle so it will stow easier) just a little smaller than the bucket bottom. Put a small lip around the hole in the base to keep the bucket from shifting off the hole. Anything beyond that is just for creature comforts, icing on the cake as it were. When its time to break camp take the base to the river and wash it. She is convinced (like women usually are) that that would work.
Bob
 

islandpiper

Well-Known Member
Years ago and before children we cruised in our sailboat. it was equipped with a rather rudimentary head, but more convenient in the long run was a galvanized bucket with a plywood lid. About the last thing i want to collect and carry along with me, in any fashion, is turds.

piper