Updated 1/22/2022
Just a short post on the slide out for the porta potti I mentioned in the cabinets post.
I wanted to have a porta potti for those occasions you heard the call of nature but didn't want to leave the trailer to use the campground facilities. Think middle of the night in a down pour.
I got the idea of a slideout arrangement from pictures of van conversions. The space constraints and tradeoffs between small camp trailers and Sprinter/Transit van conversions are very similar.
I used some generic 22" 600lb capacity locking sliders I found on Amazon coupled with 2 Accuride 9300-series bracket kits to mount the sliders to the floor and support a 3/4 plywood base that I covered with vinyl composite tile (VCT) left over from tiling the trailer floor. The generic sliders are dimensionally identical to the Accuride sliders but about 1/2 - 1/2 the price.
The entire arrangement is real heavy and structurally sound. I'm actually mostly worried about the attachment to the floor. When fully extended it's a huge cantilevered force (180lb human + 50lb porta potti). I guess we'll see how it works out.
Looking down on the retracted slider shelf
Slider shelf viewed from front
Slider shelf fully extended
Locking/pull mechanism
I mentioned that these are locking sliders. I didn't think it would be too cool to find the porta potti ejected at the first stop sign. I also didn't think the user would want to be sliding to-and-fro when doing their business in the middle of that stormy night. The locking mechanism functions in the closed and fully extended positions. It actually required some specific planning as the small disengagement lever extends about an inch and this means you need longer slides. After some careful examination of the specs and some drafting I ended up using slides that were 4" longer than I'd originally planned.
My precision drafting
In case you're wondering I sized the platform width, depth and opening height to accommodate a wide variety of the larger capacity porta potties. I'm leaning towards a Dometic 975 because it can be purchased with a stainless steel mounting base that will secure it to the sliding base (a key feature). But I haven't made a final decision yet.
Update 1/22/2022
I did buy the Dometic 975 model because of the stainless steel hold down clips. The similar Thetford model has hold down clips available but they are plastic so I went with the Dometic unit. Following are some pictures of the install.
Under Bed Cabinet
Dometic 975 on locking slide out platform
This under bed slide out design gave me fits, mostly because I didn't think through things in enough detail. For example, the cabinet face frame was not large enough to comfortably allow the doors to open to 90 degrees. I had to make three adjustments: 1) i needed to replace the hinges to adjust the "overlay offset" to move the doors away from the outer edge adjust the hinge offset; 2) I hade to trim the inside stile of each door to accommodate the hinges moving; and 3) I hand to remove the cabinet pulls so that the doors could open to 90 degrees without the pulls hitting the cabinet doors to either side.
You'll note that it appears there are still cabinet pulls installed. I inlayed some ebony wood to look like cabinet pulls.
As mentioned this porta potti arrangement is mostly for emergencies. We'll likely use the campground restrooms or set up a small cabana tent to house the porta potti and portable shower outside the trailer. The stainless steel hold down arrangement is easy to unlock so that the porta potti can be removed.
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