Thetford Curve failure

[ShrimpBurrito]

Well, the honeymoon with the Thetford Curve was short, as in 2 camping trips. This past weekend, we trekked up to a Forest Service camp, as we often do, which required travel on a dirt road for 3-4 miles, and a similar length of crappy paved road. Lots of bumps and dips on both, but nothing extreme. The way up was uneventful. The way home was not. Upon returning home, I opened the bathroom door to find the top of the Curve on the floor. The bottom was empty, and the top was only about 1/4 full (it was completely full on the way up).

I put the top back on the bottom, but it seems the catch at the front of the unit has failed, perhaps by bending too far such that it will no longer catch. So I can now put the top on and pull it off freely, without having to use the rear latch. It wasn't a disaster -- a few spoonfuls of fresh water on the floor, but now I can't travel with the toilet assembled, and I refuse to travel with it in pieces.

ARGH! What a PITA. Why can't Thetford design a toilet that is secure enough to go camping anywhere other than RV parks?! Presumably, my use is not typical.

Since they have the market cornered, I'm now looking at the Thetford cassette toilet Kidraz and Trailmanorman have installed (and others with factory installation). Maybe spending $100 on the Curve was a bit of wishful thinking. The C200 is in the neighborhood of $700-$800 with the door; I'm thinking the C200 CWE model, with the electric flush and the integrated fresh water tank (to conserve fresh water tank from the TM tank, and also to monitor flush consumption).

To Kidraz and Trailmanorman -- the C200 has mounting points to both the floor and wall, right? I can't tell if it just pushes up against the wall and access door, but I can't imagine there's not some attachment point there.

Any recommendations for good places to make a purchase? Any other suggestions? I do have a backup Curve......

Dave

[TrailManorMan]

Yes it does attach to floor and wall, I added additional floor screws and have no movement issues

[BrucePerens]

I have had no trouble taking the electra magic 80 off road when it is full. We should caution people that some replacements may not be up to the task.

[Kidkraz]

Dave, Sorry the curve failed ya. If you do decide to change over to the cassette toilet I have posted pics to my album. I also still have the templets for the installation and marking where to cut the holes. I purchased my toilet from "www.americanrvcompany.com" It was under $600 without the access door. If you do go this way, order the access door when you order the toilet. I failed to do this and had to wait longer to finish the whole task.
If you have any questions or need more pics or the templet let me know and I'm happy to help.

[Kidkraz]

Dave, sorry I didn't see yer question before.
Yes, there's an upper inside bracket on the wall. That's the top anchoring point for the toilet. As TMM says there's four screws for the floor.
When I installed the outside trim panel the instructions say to have wood blocking to drill into, I just used some wood shims and pulled out enough of the Styrofoam to fit them in. They also tell you to sit on the toilet when you mark the wall, and I also moved that top bracket up just a very tiny bit so the back of the toilet was completely engaged onto it. The toilet seat swivels 180 degrees to the front and aft. I keep mine pointed to the back bumper to fit more things in the bathroom area. Below are the fittings I used when I connected up the water line. I went under the bathroom sink verses the outside shower. Good luck

36” flex faucet supply line- 3/8 X 3/8 compression
Hose barb 3/8 ID X ½” MPT
Small hose clamp for the blue hose
Comp to straight ½” X 3/8” OD
3/8 X 3/8 X 3/8” T-fitting

[ThePair]

If you have a backup Curve, my suggestion would be to utilize the backup, and develop a way to strap it down in transit. You could just screw a few eye bolts into the floor on both sides of the toilet, and run some nylon straps across the top before you close down. That should eliminate any bouncing the toilet experiences from off road/dirt road driving, and prevent a repeat event.

Certainly worth a try, as it's a lot cheaper & easier than replacing the whole unit with a cassette. If it doesn't work, you can always just remove the eye bolts as part of the de-installation later and you're no worse off for the attempt.

I don't go anywhere off-road, but if I did, this is precisely the type of mod I'd do to try to prevent what you've described.

[ne14golf]

Before I travel, I always remove the top portion of the Curve and place it in the bathtub. I love the Curve. It was a great and inexpensive solution to the "toilet problem."