One of our writers is researching the possibility of toilet /washing facilities in a truck - all /any comments may be used in one of our print titles…
Q: Would you be in favour of truck manufacturers offering a fitted shower or toilet (or both) in a long-haul truck? If not, why not?
Dont go overboard with the humorous comments, any too near the mark will be deleted
My view…
The cabs are too small to realisticaly install a workable shower, and personaly I would not want to spend all day working in a toilet !!
With something like a Long Line where a cubicle is a possibility then perhaps, but given the practical dimensions of nearly all cabs at this time, I think its not reasonable.
Not to mention if someone else drives your vehicle and leaves a present or two in the toilet…
A toilet would be a good idea, in my opinion. Most drivers park away from facilities overnight (and even if you park on an MSA, they always put lorries as far away from “normal” people as they can), and a toilet is the one thing that we can’t supply for ourselves. Washing facilities, or even a shower, can be cobbled together or purchased; but apart from an empty pop bottle or plastic bag (both of which are frankly medieval) we have no hygienic method of relieving ourselves.
edit to add - I agree that with most current trucks it would be unfeasible to fit though.
When Ive been for my morning dump, I want to leave it as far behind me as possible - I certainly dont want it as a travelling companion. As for a shower there simply isnt enough space in european trucks - those horrible yankee things might be big enough, but I wouldnt be seen dead in one.
If there were some legislation in place to allow bigger cabs without increasing load capacity (ie to allow something along the lines of Big Blue), then it could be feasible to squeeze a bathroom in. The problems could arise though in providing infrastructure to get rid of the waste. we still crap on the tracks when we go by rail, could you imagine the state MSAs, laybys and truckstops would be in.
MADBAZ:
The problems could arise though in providing infrastructure to get rid of the waste. we still crap on the tracks when we go by rail, could you imagine the state MSAs, laybys and truckstops would be in.
Not too different from what they are now I suspect.
I dont think it would be a major restructuring exercise for truck maufacturers to fit a small but perfectly usable toilet beneath the passenger seat, most coaches have them fitted nowadays.
all “deposits” would be collected in a tank fitted to the chassis or even in the cab side locker.
As for the infrastructure for emptying the tank, I would think a lot is already there to support the coaches, just have a card similar to fuel, that you present when emptying.
Canal barges have toilets and the tanks can hold enough ■■■ for a family of 6 for a while, so 1 guy just using it when no other facilities available shouldnt present a large problem.
IIRC a lot of continental MSAs have areas for coaches to de-■■■ , just a large grid over a drain IIRC, obviously it then goes into a tank for enviromentaly emptying later.
I seem to remember Charnock Richard having one a while back but it might just be my brain confusing somewhere else 
Having seen the state of most Gents toilets, I shudder to think what would happen if you put a bog in their trucks… 
Graham Cordiner from Peterhead, had a shower cubicle fitted in his Scania ( I think it was a 142) back in the mid 1980,s. He,s the man to ask. I beleive he still runs a Tyre-fitting place up at Peterhead. (He showed me it when I was having a wash in a bucket of cold water, after a nights kip on a 9inch wide plank hanging off the back wall of my F86. I had already had a No2, using the axle for a seat, under the trailer)
Insofar as today is concerned, and bearing in mind some of the 25 stone+ Lard rrrses that i see flopping out of wagons in their 55inch waist trackie bottoms, and XXXL Newcastle United shirts nowadays, it would need to be a BIG cab to accomodate a king sized Bed–Bath–and Toilet. 
Therefore, in my view the idea of showers and toilets in the cab, is a non starter. 
Having just seen Lucy,s post I wonder what she thinks she,s up to , scouting about in the blokes bogs. 
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Believe me toilets in trucks would be a disastrous idea. People would drop their toilets all over the place. Take it from an ex coach driver, some places that coaches drop them is shocking. If you’ve a rear toilet for instance just drop it on the motorway in the dark. Or any old drain. I dropped one by accident in the high street of a French town once, talk about rush the passengers back onto the coach and drive off at high speed!
Only this week i saw a Magnum parked up with a " cab shower" hanging from the back of the cab.It was shop bought. It was a canvas or similar bag, with a shower hose coming from the bottom with a shower head on. Dont know if it was cold only or had some sort of solar heating panel fitted. At least he was making an effort, better than some of the smelly oiks on the train.
Buycrider:
Having just seen Lucy,s post
You’d be amazed how many places we deliver to only have a women’s toilet in the offices, which turn out to be a 4 day camel ride to the other side of the site. No point doing that, you’d need a ■■■■ by the time you got back! 
switchlogic:
Believe me toilets in trucks would be a disastrous idea. People would drop their toilets all over the place. Take it from an ex coach driver, some places that coaches drop them is shocking. If you’ve a rear toilet for instance just drop it on the motorway in the dark. Or any old drain. I dropped one by accident in the high street of a French town once, talk about rush the passengers back onto the coach and drive off at high speed!
ahh so that was you was it .mate of mine used to work for a well known coach company something airways they were called needless to say he s not allowed back to france .
Lucy:
Buycrider:
Having just seen Lucy,s postYou’d be amazed how many places we deliver to only have a women’s toilet in the offices, which turn out to be a 4 day camel ride to the other side of the site. No point doing that, you’d need a ■■■■ by the time you got back!
So agreed there Lucy, apart that usually its a 4 day escorted camel ride 
Portapotti now do a compact mobile bog that could be put possibly under the passenger seat or at a push you could keep it under your pillow
I had a shower in my Iveco when i drove on the road - it used to stick to the outside over a small frame shower tent - took 5 minutes to put up - i used to boil a kettle of hot water and add it to a 2 gallon bucket of cold - wasn’t super hot but it was nice in the summer months when you get sweaty -
got some strange looks mind you -
24 volt water pump and a shower head - off amazon -
i still use it during off roading weekends whilst camping
cheers
Steve
I carry a 10L camping shower bag, which I rig up in the back of the trailer, when needs must. Even though i’m
not the smallest of fellas, there’s enough water in it for me to have a full shower, shave, and hair wash, and believe me, it does get very hot if left in the sun for an hour.
As for a toilet, that’s the last thing i’d want in such a confined space. Don’t think most of us are that crippled that we can’t walk to a toilet.
1 million and 1 places to stop for a shower or to use the bog.
do we need a Spar in our cab to get food? what about a BP garage in our cab so we can get fuel?
I have a ‘cartridge toilet’ in my caravan and it’s fine, put some chemical in and empty the cartridge when convenient. No smell in the caravan so it’d be fine in a truck too, and only small, like others have said, under a flip up passenger seat with cartridge in the side locker should be fine.
Liking the sound of those camping shower tents, but you’d get some funny looks, or even worse, pervs
Good idea but would be disastrous in practice.
I do wonder sometimes though why more truck manufacturers make a solo cab without a passenger seat as standard as most of us rarely carry a passenger or even use the seat.