Honest review of the Cuddy composting toilet š½š©
We went almost 2.5 years without a toilet in our van. And you couldnāt pay us to do it again.
In the early days, we chose the most budget friendly option out there: the tried and true āpee jugā. And for the price (less than $10), it served its purpose. Our biggest hangups with it were the fact that it would fill up quickly (24 hours or less), was a major eye sore and didnāt solve the issue of going #2. We eventually āupgradedā to a pee funnel that drained to a tank mounted under the vehicle. Not only was lugging around this much pee nasty, but if we couldnāt find a dump station fast enough, the smell would waft up from under the vehicle. It was as unpleasant as it sounds. 0/10 recommend.
Why choose a composting toilet over another type (dry flush, cassette, etc.)?
Composting toilets work by actually turning human waste into organic matter through a biological decomposition process, so itās incredibly natural, a lot less gross than youād imagine (it looks and smells like dirt) and is the most environmentally friendly option out there. By choosing a composting toilet, youāre reducing water usage and your reliance on chemical-based toilet systems. Simply put, itās the greener way to go.
So what led us to finally choosing the Cuddy and why did we hold out so long when there were other options?
Believe it or not, we were actually some of the first people to get our hands on a Cuddy. Before it was available to the public, the makers of Cuddy met up with us in a coffee shop in Seattle to hand deliver us a preproduction model. Over the next few months we provided the team with real world feedback on what we liked/disliked, what worked well/needed to be changed, etc. It was very cool to have a direct voice in the improvements that were made and see the product evolve over time.
We used to be of the opinion that you didnāt NEED a toilet to live/travel in a van. But now, weād say it should be something you should budget for at the very beginning of your build.
WHY THE CUDDY?
For us, there are 5 main reasons.
1. PRICE POINT.
The Cuddy retails at $780, which is the most affordable option compared to toilets with a similar function/holding capacity. Letās take a look at the numbers:
ā¢ Natureās head: $1,030
ā¢ Airhead: $1,095
ā¢ Separett $1,049
ā¢ OGO: $985
2. FORM FACTOR.
The Cuddy is one of the most compact toilets available, which when youāre building inside tight, cramped spaces allows you to get creative and do more with it. To put it into perspective, the cuddy is 16.3 high while the Natures head is 21 inches tall. Maybe youāve seen some of the vans weāve built with the hidden pop-up bench bathroom/shower? You couldnāt that with a natureās head because it would be too tall for the bench. Or take for example, the van we live in now. The Cuddy lives behind a small door and pulls out into our shower from a box underneath our fridge. Once again, the only reason we were able to make this work was because of how small the Cuddy is. If youāve ever used a cassette toilet, itās not much bigger than that.
3. CLEAN DESIGN.
The Cuddy looks like a white box. Itās square in shape, and in our opinion, is not nearly as ugly as the other toilets that look like wellā¦ toilets š and keep in mind, when youāre living in a small space, youāll be looking at whatever toilet you choose quite often.
We installed our Cuddy in a hidden slide out drawer which was only possible because of its incredible form factor!
4. INGENUITY.
One of the reasons we held out so long on a composting toilet was because at the time weād heard nothing but bad things about the current options available like the natureās head or the c-head. We had friends with both who never had a nice thing to say about either. When the Cuddy came out, it was revolutionary and solved some of the biggest issues/complaints people had. For example the Cuddy:
ā¢ Has a zero-clearance hinge that allows you to flat mount it against a wall.
ā¢ Has a light that illuminates when the pee jug is full so youāre not constantly playing a guessing game.
ā¢ Has a removable agitator that locks into the bin, so everything is easily removable and able to be cleaned.
ā¢ Doesnāt have to be vented to the exterior of your van, which means you have to drill one less hole. Not having to vent your toilet allows for more possibilities like when we put the Cuddy in a full-enclosed waterproof bench (had we needed to vent the Cuddy, we would have compromised the integrity of the waterproofing).
For us, these small things were big things!
5. COMMUNITY.
If youāre like us, you want to know WHO youāre supporting with your money. We know the team behind cuddy well and can tell you that above all else, they CARE. Not only about their product and constantly improving it, but also about investing back into the community with events like beach clean-ups and workshops.
Soā¦HOW DOES IT WORK?
The whole process is pretty straightforward and most of the work is done by the natural bacteria and fungi who live in the compost. That being said here are some products weād recommend you get before using your composting toilet!
ā¢ Coco-coir: this is our bulking agent of choice. We use one brick and it breaks down with water to create a very clean soil consistency.
ā¢ Diatomaceous earth: this helps with bugs. We pour one cup into every new round of compost and never deal with flies or other creepy crawlers.
ā¢ Compostable bags: it only makes sense to throw your compost out in a compostable bag.
ā¢ 2 gallon Ziploc bags: we use these to mix the new compost (coco-coir + water) together. It creates much less mess than trying to do it in the compost bin itself.
ā¢ Bathroom cleaner spray: weād recommend investing in a forever bottle from Blueland to avoid single use plastics. Their plastic free tablets dissolve in warm water, so you can travel with plenty on hand.
DOES IT SMELL?
The only time weāve ever noticed a smell has been when weāve consistently been in weather over 90 degrees for weeks on end, and the culprit has always been the pee, not the poo. Other than that, never.
IS IT GROSS?
Churning your own waste may sound unsanitary, but it honestly feels a lot more sanitary than using a public toilet and weāve both genuinely come to love the process of using our Cuddy. As weird as it may sound, thereās just something so wholesome and grounding about it.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU EMPTY IT?
ā¢ We empty the liquids every 3-5 days of normal use (1 person).
ā¢ We empty the solids every 2-3 weeks of normal use (2 people).
HAVE YOU HAD ANY ISSUES?
We have the first generation model of the Cuddy that does not have stainless steel hinges and have noticed some rust. However, Compo Closet has recently resolved this issue and all of their hinges are now made of stainless steel. The light that is supposed to illuminate to tell us when our pee jug is full stopped working almost immediately. For us, this isnāt the biggest deal since we use it often enough to know when we need to empty it. The team has since updated the components on the liquids tank to a newer version!
TIMES WEāVE BEEN THANKFUL FOR OUR CUDDY:
ā¢ At nighttime. Imagine this: itās cold and dark and you need to go. The last thing you want to do is leave the vehicle and wander into the forest with a shovel and a roll of TP.
ā¢ In bad weather or harsh seasons like winter when leaving your cozy, dry home to wander around for a place to poo is the last thing you want to do.
ā¢ In cities where most places do not have restrooms or wonāt let you use it even if they do.
ā¢ Long roadtrips where rest stops are few and far between.
ā¢ Remote locations where the ground is not forgiving enough to dig a cat hole OR is too exposed to go without being seen (this happens more than youād think).
ā¢ When you get sick. Itās bad enough that you donāt feel good but not having a toilet only makes the situation that much worse.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
ā¢ Travel with some 2 gallon Ziploc bags and mix your clean compostable material (coco-coir + water) in that. The coco-coir will expand with water to fill the bag, but it makes a lot less mess than trying to do it in the toilet or elsewhere. Save and reuse the bag for next time!
ā¢ Despite having the Cuddy, Seth still uses a pee jug. One: because itās easy to pee standing up. And two: because it extends the amount of time we can go before it needs to be emptied again by double.
ā¢ After much experimenting our secret recipe for the perfect compost is 1 brick of coco-coir + 7 cups of water + 1 cup of diatomaceous earth.
OVERALL REVIEW: 9.5/10
With the -.5 mostly due to the fact that we have the first generation model. For the price point, we believe this toilet is a phenomenal value. It makes our lives on the road that much more comfortable and when we eventually build a tiny home, weāll be using the Cuddy there too.
The goal of this post was to provide an honest review of our personal experiences using the Cuddy, but if you have other questions about the Cuddy, they have an amazing FAQ page where they answer almost every question you could think to ask!
