Is the Compo Closet Cuddy Good for Van Life?
Choosing the right toilet can make or break your van life. Okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic… but the right (or wrong) toilet can drastically change the day to day of your van life. In this guide, we are going to dive into the Compo Closet Cuddy, a composting toilet built specifically for van lifers.
In this guide will discuss:
** Disclaimer: This blog post contains various affiliate links that provide a small kickback to us, at no additional cost to you. We truly appreciate your support if you choose to purchase through these! **
What is the Compo Closet Cuddy?
The Cuddy is a portable composting toilet made by the startup Compo Closet. As van lifers, we would also be amiss if we didn’t toot (punny?) that that Compo Closet’s Cuddy is a portable composting toilet made specifically for the van life use case. Up until the Cuddy was created, composting toilets from tiny home applications were repurposed to use in camper vans. This meant that were rather clunky dimensions wise, the agitator arm was hard to reach, and they needed to be mounted to the floor and vented outside.
Compo Closet Cuddy Basics
The Cuddy composting toilet is a box shaped with dimensions 15.1″ wide x 16.8″ long X 16.3″. On the inside is a toilet seat with a urine diverter. When you lift up the toilet seat, you reveal a solids bin with agitator arms, and a liquids bin. The solids bin locks in place with the agitator handle, and the liquids bin fits snug. Behind the solids bin is a carbon filter and small fan. The fan is powered by an included DC power cable and draws 0.1 amps. The fan is optional if you want to move your Cuddy around, or use it outside.
Below is the Cuddy Lite so there is no agitator arm present, just an empty solids bin you can use bags in.
Cuddy Lite: Ideal Toilet for Part Timers
In 2023, CompoCloset released another option for the solids bin; an agitator-less solids bin. The perk of this option is that you can utilize bags and make the toilet more of a one, or two, time use situation, compared to composting for months. This is less work to maintain making it a better option for part timers who might head out on a trip and only use their solids bin a few times, or even not at all!
Pros of The Cuddy for Van Life
The Cuddy was built for van lifers. Compo Closet did this by optimizing the size and shape, and simplifying the construction. Previous composting toilet options that have been brought over to van life from other applications are clunky, complex, and need vented outside.
- Size: When designing a van build, every inch matters and that is exactly what drew us to the Cuddy composting toilet. The dimensions are just *insert chefs kiss* for storing inside a bench, which is where 75% of people end up putting their toilet in a camper van.
- Compactness: The agitator handle is fully accessible in front, and not protruding. This opens up more options for where it gets stored compared to other similar toilets.
- Simplicity: The Cuddy is simply a solids bin, a liquids bin, a comfortable seat, an LED indicator light (for when the pee jug is full), and a fan along with a carbon filter. That’s it! Everything is easily accessible.
Below you can see the Cuddy sitting perfectly inside our “shower in a bench” module (30″x20″x16″) with the agitator pulled out.
Cons of The Cuddy for Van Life
There are only two things we want to mention as “cons” for the Cuddy. The first is moisture. Because the fan is internal to the Cuddy and it is not vented outside, moisture can build up quickly, especially in warm and humid environments. This is a neccesary problem when it comes to composting processes and not venting externally. To solve this, you can opt to add an exterior vent with a little extra work. However, we personally opt to “deal with it” and start with more dry composting material and agitate more often.
The second is emptying. While it is a relatively simple process to open the Cuddy, pull out the bins, and dump them. You are still dealing with organic matter! If this is something that doesn’t sit well with you, you want to steer away from composting toilets all together and opt for something like the Laveo Dry Flush toilet.
Where We Store Our Cuddy
The key to building a camper van is to have every space be dual purpose when possible. For this reason, we personally store our Cuddy in a bench that is a part of our dinette. This bench also is waterproofed and stores our pop up shower [see full build schematics here].
Below you can see the Cuddy dimensions and how it fits. Storing the Cuddy, or any toilet, in a bench is a very popular option in camper vans. Another option would be to put it on locking heavy duty drawer slides and slide it out from under your bed.
Does the Cuddy smell?
Like dirt, yes. Like poo, no. 🙂 In all seriousness, the composting really works for us and does not smell. We use coco coir bricks as our composting medium so the solids bin almost always looks like a giant pile of dirt and is easy to deal with.
Frankly, we find the liquids container to be the bigger culprit in terms of smell. However, we quickly realized that spraying a mixture of 2 parts water to 1 part distilled vinegar into the diverter after each use helps that.
A note on composting materials
There are two forms of composting material you will hear about in the van life world: coco coir and peat moss. These are not the same thing. Coco coir comes from the recycled husks of coconuts, is environmentally friendly by saving the husks from becoming waste! Whereas, peat moss is strip-mined from bogs causing environmental and cultural damage. Peat moss is also hydrophobic in nature so it might prove more difficult to re-moisten for use in your composting toilet than coco coir does.
Our recommendation is to use coco coir bricks, unless of course you want to pursue a more DIY option like wood chips, coffee grounds, or other scraps.
How often does the Cuddy need emptied?
For the liquids bin, we need to empty it about every 2 days with two people using it for almost every “go”.
For the solids bin, I would say every 10-15 “goes”. This, of course, varies on many factors like how much composting material you use and how (uhhh…) much organic matter you deposit. As a baseline for how much composting material to use, CompoCloset suggests adding enough at the beginning to reach the bottom of the agitator arms, and then adding a scoop with every “go”. Personally, we use extra composting material just to be safe, so we probably have to empty more than we need to.
A note on the LED Indicator Light
The Compo Closet has a handy LED indicator light that will light up red when it is time to empty the liquids container.
**2024 Update** We previously reported that the LED indicator light was unreliable, however, as of 2023, all liquid bottles now have a float switch solving the false indicator light problem.
Emptying The Cuddy
For liquids, the process is simple. Remove the black jug and empty it. We actually LOVE that the jug is black because it is a little more discrete. We have found the actual dump and pour to be a bit messy so we recommend bringing a paper towel, or our favorite wipes, to clean the sides. We also try to rinse the inside with water whenever the resources are available. You can dump the liquids into a porta potty, trailhead toilet, or disperse it over public land.
For solids, the process is a bit more time insensitive as you have to finagle the solids bin off of the agitator handle and carry it to a safe place for disposal. We personally prefer to dig a really deep hole and dispose of it there as it is composting material, or use a trailhead bathroom. This of course takes time to do properly (yay LNT!). The actual emptying of the solids bin once it is finagled out, is pretty clean. If the material has composted correctly it is like dumping a pail of dirt. Sometimes we need to wipe the agitator arms a little extra, but nothing major.
Stainless Steel Hinge Upgrade [2023]
Previously, we had reported that the hinges on our Cuddy rusted after a few months. However, as of Summer 2023, CompovCloset acknowledged the rusting hinges and upgraded all toilets going forward to have Stainless Steel hinges.
If you have a Cuddy from before then, you can purchase and install the Stainless Steel hinge upgrade kit.
Is the Cuddy good for your van life?
If you are willing to spend money on a composting toilet, yes, we think The Cuddy is a GREAT option. As folks who DIY-ed our toilet in our first rig, and now have this in our second, we can say with confidence that it has increased our comfort greatly. There is something special about enjoying your bathroom situation when you live in a van.
Additional Van Life Toilet Recommendations
If the Cuddy isn’t fitting your bill, have no fear, we have an entire guide to choosing the right toilet for your van life. Head on over there, or check out a quick summary below:
- Best Van Life Specific Composting Toilet: Compo Closet Cuddy
- Best “Tried and True” Composting Toilet: Nature’s Head
- Best For Easy Disposal: Laveo Dry Flush
Thanks for being here! Happy building!
Eric + Colby
✉️ Join our mailing list for more content!
🙏🏽 If you are looking for more 1:1 van build help, we are here to help via Consulting or Travel Van Building.
[Start Here] Beginner Guides:
Comments 7
Thanks for the review! Just wanted to note that coco coir and peat moss aren’t the same thing. (Peat moss is taken from peat bogs, and is environmentally way worse than using coco coir. So, I’m glad you’re using coco coir! 🙂
Author
Oh, no! Thank you for pointing that out. I will update!
How much composting material do you put in each time?
Author
We start each “batch….” with enough composting material to cover up to about 1″ up the agitator arms. Then, every time we go we add about a cup of loose composting material.
Pingback: Best Portable Camper Van Toilet – Everywhere With Claire
Another annoying thing with it is the lid – it always wants to close when opened in vertical position.
Author
Oh! Interesting, we haven’t had this problem. I have seen some folks just take the lid off though and I wonder if that is why…