62A. How I refurbished a Thetford C200 toilet cassette (canal narrowboat, campervan, RV, caravan) 

Dave, you are the only person on earth that can talk about "poo" and make someone laugh appropriately [not at you but with you]. Only a Brit can make "poo" talk interesting.

I do not have a Thetford C200 toilet cassette, I do not need a Thetford C200 toilet cassette, I do not plan ever to get a Thetford C200 toilet cassette. Why have I spent 20 minutes of my life enthralled in watching you change the seals on one? Brilliant Vlogs thank you.

After this operation this man is able to survive in any situation. Great !

LOL! I was just killed by the completely straight delivery of, "You can never have enough vlogs where you're talking about poo."

Useful video for anyone with one of these. I don't have one but, for some strange reason, I watched it all the way through anyway.

Needed something stronger than a cup of tea to watch this one! Useful to know though, thank you for taking one for the team.

Best toilet refurbish video I’ve ever seen.😅 Being a ex-plumber I would know. Serious that was great information.

Yep. I’ve reached that point of the pandemic, I’ve just watched a 20 minute video about toilets on narrow boats, a topic I will never need to know anything about. That said, it was a very nicely done video about narrow boat toilets.

Good of you to fix what the vast majority would toss out. You saved money and stopped it from going into a landfill. Thank you.

What a wonderful time to spend on board!!! Very well presented and informative - many thanks for taking the time to produce it.

Good information on a subject that most channels just don't talk about! I liked both this & your last video on the toilets. Thx

Brilliant video all round. Just replaced my vent button after watching made the job so easy. So it’s a big thank you from me.

Use one of those in my caravan and it will need a service shortly. Very useful video that will make that job easier and cheaper. Thanks David.

Thank you so much for this informative vlog. As someone who has been trying to hide an embarrassing leak for a few months now you have inspired me to have a go at fixing it rather than buying a whole new cassette. I have no DIY skills whatsoever so wish me luck!

I've just watched a man service his shitter, for no other reason than it being the next video in the series.

David, your films have really helped me though this tough time. Thank you. Now, let me continue watching your film about poo.

Thoroughly enjoying your videos and your sense of humour.😁😁😁

This very useful video enabled me to refurb our CS200 Thetford toilet 5 years ago & having watched it again, l feel inspired & confident that l can repeat the process. Your delivery so is user-friendly, easy to follow & amusing. Thank you so much.

Thanks for that, a really useful video. I was putting off refurbishing mine, but seeing you do it has made it look straight forward.

Many thanks for your video!! Our cassette arrived with all the bits and pieces rattling loose on the bottom. Because of your excellent step-by-step how-to, our cassette is all together and fully functioning! One thing, my wife doesn’t understand about marigolds, and that’s a good thing! Cheers and best regards

great video. very well explained, love your proper down to earth commentary, funny at times but always helpful advice. will check out more... thanks.

Well done and a very informative video. Here in the colonies you can make a portable toliet by using a 5 gallon bucket with a attachable seat. You can put a bag inside for removing the waste. And seal the bucket with it's top . Makes a great and easy emergency toliet and cheap too .

"And I'm in, as the actress said to the Bishop... or was that the other way round?" haha

I did see this video as a Suggested Video some time back but not clicking it because I am always either drinking or eating while watching your videos. Now that I am clear, I am watching this with the same 'enthusiasm' as watching a hunter shoot, clean and cook a squirrel to make a pie - cringe at the beginning, satisfaction in the end. Very informative, great work!

Day 4 of self-isolation and I'm watching a video of a man refurbishing a plastic toilet for a narrowboat. I'm scared to ponder what I'll be watching by day 24.

Great and truthful presentation of how to do it properly.

Great vlog..... We have a small motor-home and I know at some point I will need to refurbish our cassette, this will help me no end. Many Thanks

This is very useful, now I can fix my non-existent toilet. Very interesting maintenance for your Narrowboat.

Thank you for the vlogs I really enjoy them. This one in particular was very informative for me. I use a Thetford loo and cassette in my Coachman caravan, so I thought I would share a little tip with you. Chemical cleaners are forbidden to clean the loo so I make my own cleaning mixture. The mixture is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. In an empty regular size washing up liquid bottle, I pour non-bleachy dish washing liquid, about an inch in the bottom, 2-3 teaspoons of baking soda and about an inch of the cheap white vinegar. I clean all of my loo, inside and out with it and also inside and out of the cassette, after it has been emptied and rinsed out with clean water a couple of times. I have in my caravan a separate loo water tank and will add some of this mixture to the water for the flush and it seems to keep the loo smelling fresh and clean. (Saves buying that other expensive stuff for the job) It doesn't seem to have any adverse affects on the breaking down process or smell in the cassette. Canal cruising was something we used to do before we left England. I love the water and I envy you the opportunity to travel and live on your narrowboat! Keep up the good work.

here's a simple little tip: when screwing things down, whether it be a cover for the top seal on your poo cassette, a manhole cover, or the cylinder head on your engine...get ALL the screws started (usually about half-way in), and then tighten them, as opposed to tightening them as you put each individual one in. This will help prevent things from getting pinched on one side or the other, making getting the other screws hard or even impossible to get started. just a handy tip to make like better for us all. Lovely nasty video today! Cheers!

There is a video on RU-vid somewhere where a guy replacing the circular seal suggests Olive Oil as the lubricant. Thanks for taking the time to show how the refurb is accomplished.

a great instructional video,,,ive wondered about those toilets and never owned one,,,this clears up some questions ive had,,,thanks for the posting

Great video - thanks. Not sure what rabbit hole brought me here but glad I visited.

I had a camper that had a Thetford cassette toilet. I thought it was a well thought out design and worked well. I used various chemicals some better than other. None of them made it pleasant. However most made it a blue gel consistency and had a mild musty odor. Much better than raw sewage. I would swish mine with some bleach after and give it a few rinses. BTW, I have been having a flare up of my anxiety due to some health and this quarantine life style. Your videos I find to be very relaxing and interesting.

You did a great job on this tutorial. Thanks for the work you put into it. Happy Cruising

Steve Leat . Thank you , very easy to do after watching your video, you saved me a lot of money Thanks again Steve from OZ.

Great informative vlog, if only I knew those bits were replaceable before buying a new one for the caravan !! Looking forward to the next Q&A vlog immensely

Even though I don't currently own a narrowboat (but there's always this week's Lottery to come - ha ha !!) nor a Thetford cassette loo, I found this vlog strangely fascinating. I don't know whether that says more about your excellent presenting skills or my innate curiosity - who knows ??!!

Cleaned mine with Thetford Cassette Cleaner first (has to be left to soak overnight) and wasnt a disgusting job after all. Great video!

We have a Thetford for our sailboat. We'll be heading into the 5th season and its leaking a little when you carry it to empty it so thank you for this video!

I would love to see a video about your day to day life when moored for a period of time. Also, your videos allow me to live out my dreams of travel vicariously through your RU-vid channel, so keep it up!

This is a followup comment to the one I made in the #62 vlog. That was disgusting, but informative if I ever buy a Thetford C200 cassette toilet. I liked the part where you put the screws back in and tightened them up in a crisscross pattern. 👍 You are a man of many talents. A Jack/John of all trades. 😁

Making HEADway! LOL. Very informative, thank you again for your vlogs!

Looking t this video for the second time, what I would have done is to take one off those extra-large recycle bags, put it under the cassette, plus have a small bucket of water with Clorox and aaa small cup to place the screws in. Then I would begin to refurbish my toilet,. Upon completion, all of the old parts could then be placed in that recycle bag that was used to catch any spills, Perhaps this is a bit long-winded but I think in the long run it would save any additional clean-up. Once again, aa very informative and well-done video. Thanks.

Very interesting video. I enjoy watching your meandering Narrow boat life. I would love to travel the canals of England, but alas that may never happen as I live here in the American state of Michigan. The home of the Thetford corp. In my younger days I produced plastic components for the Thetford company and even toured the factory once. Not that I wanted too but it was part of a lean manufacturing program my company was initiating. Well enough about that I hope to see you traveling again soon and stay safe .

Nice work ! And glad to see you wear ear protection ! that is definitely needed in this job,one screw that falls and you curse yourself deaf whitout any ear protection 😉

Superb.. informative as always... a good tip from movie silence of lambs.. something like VICK on yet top lip.. deflects the PONG... hope that helps.. John.

A little tip for dealing with self tapping screws in plastic. When reinstalling screws, place the screw in the hole and turn it in the opposite direction of tightening until you feel the beginning of the thread fall into the original groove. This will allow the screw to "use" the orignal path. Self tapping screws in plastic will cut new threads everytime if you aren't careful and will dramatically reduce the number of times you can reuse the hole without have to use a larger screw to secure the fixture tightly.

Well, I watched this when it came out some time last year... I was thinking to myself "Glad I don't have to do that job". It seems that now I do, I have a slightly different issue though. One of my cassettes (The new one) won't shut properly and nearly always doesn't line up when it does. So, I've come full circle! Thanks David, I can follow this whilst I'm doing it.

Loving this channel. I’m originally from the Black Country, the heart of the Industrial Revolution, but now live in Canada. My cousin had a narrowboat up until fairly recently. I still miss the “cut”. One suggestion, I think you might find a box of disposable surgical gloves useful instead of the Marigolds. You can change them and dispose of them when you are doing stuff like this. They are useful for all sorts of messy jobs and you keep your “feel” and dexterity. Loving the videos and the humour. I miss that. They don’t have one here lol. Keep up the great work. If I win the lottery, my holiday home will be a narrowboat on the canals of the UK. I’ve always loved the canals and canal life. I lived in Dudley which is home to the Black Country Living Museum. I don’t know if you have been but it’s worth a trip. The tunnels are awesome and have a long history. Parts of the TV show Peaky Blinders was filmed there, as well as many other shows and movies. It has lots of original buildings which were dismantled brick by brick and moved there and rebuilt. There is a row of shops, including a fish and chip shop, a school, a blacksmiths and a fully working steam pump. Cheers and keep up the great work. I’m jealous.

What a expert you are. Another great video u made it look so easy.

Held off from my Chunky Vegetable Soup after watching this one

Someone (Thetford?) should have a similar video with the top half of the cassette separated the bottom half. This would allow the inside, underside of the top, to be shown while replacing those bits which are hidden otherwise. This should be part of their sales literature. Seeing what's going on would make feeling for them easier to understand. Good video, thanks.

Had a good chuckle at the "Googling lubricant" comment, thanks!

That was really well explained. Thank You.

Love your commentary, "As the Actress said to the Bishop" I use this comment on many occasions, it is not always with favourable response, it turns any innocent remark into a Blue One.😂😂😂

as always, very informative.

Life on a narrowboat. Marvelous.

I’m surprised marina’s haven’t installed a “cassette dump and clean” service machine! All auto and comes out super clean and shiny! Lol

Hi CTC. Good video. I’ve been using Thetford cassette toilets now for around 20 years as a caravanner and my advice would be “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, with the added benefit you don’t need to get your hands dirty or spend £35 on spares. I’m on my third caravan and therefore third cassette toilet and have never needed to replace any spares. I did once have an issue with the automatic vent (the grey rectangular item you replaced) but it was simply sticking open when the cassette was removed and then slightly leaking when transporting it. I fixed this though by freeing it up and lubricating it. FYI, it operates when you return the cartridge in place, by a cam fixed in to the housing and is intended to vent gas build up. In a caravan this vents through the external locker/access door, I assume on a narrow boat there is a similar external vent. As far as I’m aware, Thetford do not recommend any routine maintenance spare parts, these spares are sold primarily for if any of these items break. P.s. If your tank full warning light is not working, check either the 2x AA batteries in the holder inside the housing, or the supply from the boat/vehicle battery, if its a wired in version, or the fuses inside the compartment. You can usually see the float valve for the warning light as a small white drum the diameter of a 10 pence piece, on a short rotating arm, through the blade opening, at the upper rear right hand corner on mine. This floats up when the tank is full, moving an encapsulated magnet, which then operates an external reed switch, built in to the compartment/housing. Very useful to have an operating warning light, as I’ll leave it to your imagination what would happen if you overfill the cassette and then need to remove it with ‘fluid’ still in the bowl!

informative as usual. keep them coming.

We have an in ground worm composting sewage tank. It needed refurbishment. We did it ourselves. I had to climb into it. Quite the experience!

This is great information that every one needs to know thank you

Oh the glamorous life of narrow boating and we thought it was all pastures and swans. (I think you need longer marigolds)

very grateful. Soooo many videos out there, either of the wrong cassette or replacing the wrong part... Mine was a non-moving blade, and i had NO idea how to get it out and fix it. So glad to have your instruction. Will admit to having fast forwarded through quite a bit of the video to get to the bit i needed. Thank you very much indeed! (why don't Thetford give this info in their manuals?)

11:28 "I'm in, as the actress said to the bishop" LOVL

i had started to watch another video on this but was nearly sick lol thank for posting your was fine. i can face doing it now.

Many years ago I crewed two narrowboats and sank one of them in Wheelock, it makes a very good read!

A very welcome reference to A. A. Milne indeed!

This is a awesome vlog like always

LIQUID "PINESOL" in your black tanks works great for smells !!!! It even works to pour directly onto spills from dumping. I add some Fontana before using . Smells fresh & good.Lemony clean. Makes using & dumping very pleasant !!! For all seals use a Qtip to clean on & under & on seals then using a QTIP apply VASELINE.

Thanks for video! I'm gonna do the same with my Thetford. Think I will rinse mine first with hot water and dish soap.

Very informative . . . my husband is off to check the Thetford in our motorhome immediately!

"Strap on your Marigolds and get in there!" Indeed, a philosophy for life, no less.

Have had experience of Thetford cassette on my camper. The only thing I had to replace in 12 years was the flushing pump which succumbed to freezing after I neglected to empty the tank over winter. If I had ever had to replace the system would have done so with a Thetford Bristol toilet. No seals, blades, springs or catches. In my experience simplicity is best :)

This was very informative.

A little late for comment, but having a plastic bin a little larger than the cassette would allow for using a bleach cleaner or hot water would help to sanitize the exterior an get into the recesses of the unit and keep work area clear and clean. Hope this is helpful, Alex Longoria

When I was a kid in Germany, farmers were still using horse-drawn "honey wagons". These were filled with the waste from the farmhouse and barns and then taken to the fields where spray pipes at the back spread the "manure" on the ground. Back in the day, you had to wash your vegetables well before eating them (we used diluted iodine). Human and animal manure has been used in farming for centuries if not millennia. If done right, it is safe.

A great educational video

Fantastic series! I really am enjoying this bingeing into a way of life that I wish I had! So far on vlog 62A but am hoping the upcoming episodes will have a bit more history of the boats as well as the environs you cruise through. Came across your vlog after watching Great Canal Journeys with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Kudos to you!

You have the same casette as I have in my caravan, I basically maintain it the same as you however I do use olive oil to lubricate the main seal, and then give the whole casstte a good spray of jeys fluid

Very helpful vlog

Glad we don’t have smellovision yet haha. Back in the day when my kids were tiny and I cleaned their nappies, I found that if I breath only through my mouth I could not smell the poo, so I might try that trick if I have to do this job in future

Having fathered 3 children and doing my proper share of the changing and cleaning the babies, refurbishing the cassette is a not that daunting a task. Good video on an important subject!

SsThanks David for reminding me of why we chose pump out!!!!!

Lubricant for rubber seals and O-rings. You are absolutely right. Vaseline and most other greases and oils will make rubber component swell up and die. Use pure silicone grease. A tube in your tool box will last a long time. Much cheaper than proprietary spray lubes like Thetford's.

It is also handy to take a magic marker and mark the date you changed the seals. A lot easier to set up your preventive maint. program this way.

A good (100) box of 6 mill nitrile mechanics gloves will be your best friend. You might have to wait until the "beer" funk subsides and supplies come back in stock. I recommend SAS safety brand; solid glove for most work.

Very useful video, but NOBODY should underestimate just how difficult and fiddly the replacement of especially the blade opening knob is. I spent the best part of a day struggling to get the yellow turning knob seated fully so that the blade assembly was secure and opening/closing properly. I gave up in frustration and as I needed a replacement cassette urgently just went online, bought one and it arrived 24 hours later. Easy-peasy but cost ££s having already bought the four replacement parts for the old cassette. I hate being beaten by anything so the following day I had another go at reassembling the blade opening mechanism. Then I saw it. All the RU-vid vids say it's imperative that the yellow control knob is seated properly, and I just couldn't seem to get it far enough in, it was maybe 1/16 to 1/8 inch protruding from the top of the cassette. There is a rubber seal that comes with the replacement knob. I had not noticed that the old seal had not come away with the old knob, but remained in the hole when I pulled out the old knob, so with it in place and the new seal on the new knob of course the bloody thing would not seat properly. Pulled out the old seal, cleaned the seating, tried again with the new knob and its seal and voila! it went all the way in (as the archbishop said...etc). So now I have a spare cassette.

Love the smell of loo blue, reminds me of holidays bet you had a good G&T after that job

One thing that would be handy is a parts dish. It is a metal dish with a magnet. When you take out a screw or bolt and put it in the dish it will stay there even if you turn it up side down. It saves having to look under things to find the screw that dropped. They are cheep and most auto parts stores should have them. There is also E-Bay and Harbor Freight. (I am not sure if Harbor Fright ships to the UK)

"Potty" good Vlog :0) Interesting to know all the things you Narrow boat folks over there have to deal with, always looking forward to your vlogs, you do good work, Cheers from the US of A.....

Sorry to say, despite of your excellent description on how to refurbish the cassette, I can't bear finish watching you struggling. But you did a great vlog anyway.

It's as complicated as the control panel on the Tardis - and you made short work of it. Very nice. I did laugh when you said "The first thing you need to do is make sure it's empty." It would add a whole new level of adventure to do the refurb while it's full (maybe a future video idea... yuck). An option for being able to handle small screws is to use fairly tight-fitting disposable Nitrile gloves. Love the channel - best wishes.

another great video,perhaps latex gloves under the marigolds, then when you take the marigolds off you have a clean pair of tight fitting gloves underneath, so you can put the screws back in. Looking forward to the answers to the quiz.

Great vlog and very useful thanks

very useful vid and you present it in an entertaining way to me. and yes you are right things like vaseline and wd40 type products attack rubber seals and so they fail prematurely(often swelling up too), so silicone or rubber grease is always recommended for important seals, this is also true for seals on cars etc

I’m not entirely sure that most people would have chosen that as dinner time viewing (it was the next one in the list!) but it was fascinating! I don’t think I’d be keen to do it myself but I suspect I could manage it given the thought that a new cassette would cost £100+!!

I received an email notifying a new vlog. Tempted though I was to instantly click on the link, I did not. The thing that separates us from other animals is that we can defer pleasure. So I waited till I came back from the pub. Oh, that was so....lyrical.......informative, yes, very, and done with panache and commitment. You could make dry stone walling interesting, (actually it is, interesting and surprisingly skillful). I'm not being sarcastic, or detrimental, honestly, you bring to mundane, everyday, often sometimes unpleasant tasks, an enthusiasm and humour that almost makes me want to clean a cassete loo. Actesses and Bishops, Googleing Lubricant, oh, so funny, made me laugh out loud. Oh, and please, don't say Crickey if you do post a reply. Makes me feel a little strange. Do not end the vlogs. Your possibilities are endless.

Thanks David, just changed the Blade Opening Seal on mine and thanks to watching your video it was a piece of piss, sorry I meant cake! :) Rob