Keith Gooden
Welcome back again to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
I ask the silly questions. Matt, he’s the expert.
Matt Sims
You do ask silly questions.
Keith Gooden
It’s all brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
Matt Sims
And don’t forget to like and subscribe on your favourite podcast app and YouTube, brought to you by our video producers, www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
Keith Gooden
In this week’s episode, we’re talking toilets again. And yes, Matt is slurping from the bog! We also answer that question -what’s the benefit of going green and organic in the toilet rather than using the standard chemicals?
Matt Sims
It’s going to be very exciting. It’s our favourite topic. Don’t ever make that noise again.
The Camping & Caravanning Club welcomes a new president
Keith Gooden
In the news this week, welcome along to Hamza Yassin. He was the winner of last year’s Strictly. He’s a broadcaster as well. He does wildlife and nature and stuff like that. He’s the new president of the Camping and Caravanning Club.
Matt Sims
Yeah, well done Hamza. I tell you what, it’ll be interesting to see what he brings to the club and also to our industry at large. It’s going to be great.
Keith Gooden
He’s younger.
Matt Sims
He is younger, yeah. But well done to the Camping and Caravanning Club as well. Julia Bradbury, of course, was president for 10 years, I think. A long time. And she was amazing. So yeah, a new chapter for the club. So well done to all of the guys at the Camping and Caravanning Club.
Keith Gooden
And she was the first female president of the club, by the way.
Matt Sims
She was, yeah.
What is Solbio organic toilet fluid?
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And with me, Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Today, the product of the week is Solbio organic toilet fluid. We love it. Yum, yum. It’s served as an aperitif around Matt’s house, which is why I’m never going round there ever again.
Matt Sims
I wash in it every morning. Have you seen this stuff? So we’re a bit of a fan of this in the shop. And I discovered this back at the NEC show, the Motorhome and Caravan show. I think it was back in October ’22. And I put it to the test. They said, “Basically, it’s totally harmless to animals and people. So you could drink it!” And I had a little slurp then,
Keith Gooden
And you’ve had another little slurp!
Matt Sims
Don’t do it. You could drink it. But yeah, it’s horrible…
Keith Gooden
For our newbies and people who don’t know a lot about toilets, what exactly is it? What does it do?
Matt Sims
So we typically poo and wee into our cassette toilets in our motorhomes and caravans, and we use a chemical to rot it down into a liquid form that can then go into a toilet, or into a septic tank on a campsite. And this stuff is unlike all the other chemical because it’s completely biological. So it’s totally harmless to the environment, totally harmless to animals. And they say here, “Take the Green Road,” and it’s multipurpose.
Keith Gooden
What else can you use it for, then?
Matt Sims
Well, obviously washing myself in the bath! No, you can clean your toilet with it. You can clean your grey waste tank with it. And you can even clean your surfaces with it. Although there’s no food standards thing on it, it has multiple purposes. There are 40 doses in a bag. And it is incredible. It’s completely harmless to the environment.
Is Solbio effective?
Matt Sims
And we met up with John Morley, who’s the guy that brings it into the UK, and asked him to tell us a little bit more about some of the attributes of this wonderful chemical we call Solbio.
John Morley
It is a toilet fluid that’s completely natural and completely safe. If you go and pick up a packet of one of the other brands, you’ll see on the back the harmful symbols, hazardous symbols, “Don’t put this near your mouth,” etc., etc. Solbio is a safe product and a natural product.
I’ve done this in Düsseldorf at a trade show. There were some guys from Belgium selling this on a stand, a bit like one of these stands here at the NEC. And I thought, “I don’t believe this, herbs in a bag. They’re trying to do good, but it’s not going to work.” But I took it back and I tried it. And it works. And I gave it to other people who tried it. And it works. And you’ve tried it. And it works!
Matt Sims
So it works in the same way as the blue and the green chemical that we’re used to in this industry, doesn’t it? And it’s fair to say it’s not very often that we see innovation around toilets. But this certainly is one of those, isn’t it? But does it work in exactly the same way as the blue chemical we can buy?
John Morley
The output is the same. So forgive me anyone if you’re having your breakfast now! But we’re going to talk about toilets. And so the aim of the chemical or the products in your toilet cassette is to break down all of the waste so it’s a liquid and to stop it smelling. If it does those two things, we’re all happy.
But it does it in the opposite way to the blue type products which kill all the bacteria and chemically break down the waste and cover the smell up. That is the aim of it. Solbio works the opposite way round. So actually, it doesn’t have bacteria in the product, but it uses the bacteria that you’ve already put in your toilet cassette. It massively multiplies them and composts it at a really high speed.
So essentially, you’ve got liquid compost. So all Solbio has to do as a sort of smell is to just cover up the smell of compost, not cover up the smell of what you originally put in your toilet cassette! So it doesn’t need to be overpowering. It doesn’t need to make your whole vehicle smell of hospitals, which is often what you get. So it’s the opposite way. So it’s a probacterial system rather than an antibacterial system.
Matt Sims
I was going to say, it’s probacterial, isn’t it? So you’re right, it turns it into liquid compost. So technically – and don’t do this – it could be poured on a lawn once it’s treated!
John Morley
You can say don’t do it, but plenty of our customers put it on their compost heap when they get back home. There’s no danger putting it down a normal toilet. If it’s in a septic tank, it makes no difference. Anywhere you put it, it will be safe.
Matt Sims
And the smell is notable as well, isn’t it? It smells of essential oils.
John Morley
So pine oil and aloe are the smells that you get. The word that gets used lots when we’re at trade shows is homely. It smells more homely than sanitary. And I think especially if you’re in a confined vehicle, that’s quite a nice thing!
Matt Sims
Well, I love it and I am a big fan of it. And thank you for sponsoring us here at the Motorhome Matt podcast. We do sell it at www.thatleisureshop.com. And you’ve brought some in some wine glasses, which looks very ominous. Are you going to make me do this?
John Morley
Of course I am, yeah!
Matt Sims
This genuinely is toilet chemical. Are we going to do it together? Cheers.
John Morley
Right… well, it’s a strong taste! You wouldn’t choose over your Pinot Grigio, would you?
Matt Sims
I’ve had worse…
John Morley
But the thing is, I mean, it’s a little bit of a gimmick. But the reality is, if your kids get hold of it in your motorhome and they drink it, they’ll just smell nice. They’d probably be a bit upset with the taste!
Matt Sims
It’s fine. The point is we can ingest it, can’t we? It’s totally harmless.
John Morley
We can. I think if you drink a lot of it, it’s probably not going to do your stomach any good! But yeah, it’s nice to have something safe. We’ve had 50 years in this country of selling blue chemicals which in many cases are carcinogenic and in almost all cases are a hazardous, harmful product. So we now have something that does the same job but safely.
Matt Sims
Well, we are big fans, and it’s an innovation in the toilet department. Plenty of reasons why people should be considering buying it – environmentally safe and it makes your motorhome smell homely. Sounds good to me.
How do you use Solbio?
Matt Sims
When you first use Solbio, there’s a little process you’ve got to go through, isn’t there, to prep your toilet cassette. Just explain that for us.
John Morley
Yeah, there is. So with the old style blue chemicals, they’re antibacterial, they’re trying to kill everything that is in your cassette. Solbio is trying to promote bacterial growth. So if you’re switching from one to the other, you need to make sure your cassette is completely clean.
Otherwise, you’re going to have remnants of the old blue chemical, which is going to kill the bacteria that Solbio is trying to create. So you need to fill it up with water, put a dose of Solbio in, shake it around, leave it for at least 24 hours, empty it out and flush it through a couple of times. And then you’re essentially on a probacterial system instead of an antibacterial system. And of course, you can use Solbio in your grey water tank as well and use it for cleaning pipes.
Matt Sims
Well, this is interesting. I’ve spoken to people who pour it down their sink traps and it cleans the sink, it cleans the grey water tank. And I know John and Tash at Life Beyond Bricks use it. They’re regularly buying it from us and they clean their workshop surfaces with it as well because it’s almost food safe as well.
John Morley
It is. We don’t have any food safety certification. We have organic certification, we have vegan certification, so it’s a completely vegan product as well. You can use it in your grey water. It’s a really common one because rather than trying to cover the smell, it is actually cleaning. It is taking out all the remnants of the bits of food from your roast dinner that have gone down the plughole. The bacteria essentially eat it.
We’ve got some great photos with toilet cassettes, where actually if you cut one in half that’s using it – I won’t name the brands, but one of the blue traditional products – it looks like a sort of crystal blue cave inside the toilet cassette.
If you use Solbio, it just looks like a new cassette. There isn’t anything in it. There is nothing stuck on the side. It just means your cassette will last longer as well. And the same with your grey water tank. It will actually just clean it, so you’re not having to constantly try to stop that smell coming up through the plug holes.
What are the benefits of a natural toilet chemical?
Keith Gooden
That was John Morley, UK distributor of Solbio. So I have one question for you here, Matt. Why does it matter what we use in our toilets? Why change?
Matt Sims
I think we need to take responsibility for where our toilet waste goes. So once you’ve finished with it, we pour it into a toilet. And we talked about this at length before, didn’t we? Where it goes from that point on is out of our control.
So if you put it into a septic tank, it’s then taken somewhere. It ends up in a sewage processing plant, you would hope, rather than poured on the fields. Into the toilet and then into the sewer – where does it go after that?
Keith Gooden
Rivers. The sea.
Matt Sims
You can’t say that out loud.
Keith Gooden
I can.
Matt Sims
Well, it’s true. Yeah, it’s true. So I find this, frankly, very disturbing. What this does is, if that happens, where our water boards are putting it in the rivers in the sea, I know that this is not going to cause any harm to anything living, breathing, whatever. The other factor as well is that a lot the chemical you can buy, if you look at the back of it and read the ingredients, formaldehyde is still prevalent. Now, that is said to be carcinogenic. It’s really bad for us.
Keith Gooden
It’s made by ants, and it’s used to preserve dead bodies as well. It’s a fantastic preserver.
Matt Sims
Well, what on Earth are we doing coming into close contact with that? You know, as John said in the interview back then, if your dog drinks out of your toilet cassette, puts his nose or her nose in the pan for a quick slurp, that is going to harm them. It really is going to harm them. This won’t. Solbio won’t hurt them at all.
Keith Gooden
So you need to break it down, don’t you, the solid – you break it down into what? What does it break it down to?
Matt Sims
It basically becomes compost. So it just becomes composted waste that you can actually pour on your compost heap. I mean, you could pour it on your roses.
Keith Gooden
So this is more than just something that gets rid of the smell.
Matt Sims
Yeah, absolutely. And as John explains, it fast reacts the waste into a compost. We had people complain at a show recently. They bought some and said, “We love it. And we love the principle of how it works. But we just don’t like the smell. It’s not as smelly as the blue stuff that we used to use.”
And so our advice was to just put one drop of essential oil in the toilet with it, and you’ll find it will change the experience. So sure enough, the next day they came back to the stand and said, “Unbelievable. Complete game changer. We had some essential oil – one drop. Fantastic. We’re actually now happy to leave the toilet door open and enjoy the aroma!”
Keith Gooden
Great tip, that one, Matt. Thanks for that. So final question from me. Can you put this in an older campervan, in an older toilet?
Matt Sims
Of course you can. Yeah, as John explained, there’s a process to go through to prep your toilet cassette, but any toilet cassette, campervan, caravan or motorhome can be used with it. And as I say, there are multiple other uses as well.
Audience Q&A
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
It’s brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. We’re back. It’s back. It’s back! We’re back! The Q&A, the questions and answers, where you ask the questions. And Matt? Well, he gives the answers.
Matt Sims
It’s your favourite bit, isn’t it?
Keith Gooden
It is my favourite bit. First of all, Brian has been in touch.
How do I know if a motorhome sales listing is a scam?
Brian
It’s difficult to know – what is the correct price for some of these items? You see 2012, 2014 with a dealer, and they could be about £24,000 or £25,000, obviously depending on the van. You then see the same ones for sale privately at about £9,000.
I’m very, very wary of the scams which are around at the moment. So where do I find out? What site can I go to say that this particular model of van with these particular specifications is normally valued between this and this? I don’t believe some of them actually exist.
You know, it seems to be the scam that they’re other people’s vans that somebody’s taking a photograph of, and you’ll never get to use them. But you’ll lose your money. We’d prefer a dealer to some extent. But I want to know, where can I get a good idea of the value of a van of a particular year and a particular model?
Keith Gooden
Thanks very much, Brian. You didn’t say where you were from! Try to say where you’re from. Not just you, Brian, but everybody! Brian’s very wary of what he sees online. There’s lots of different auction sites. Buyer Beware, isn’t it?
Let’s face it. He’s concerned that some things that he sees in dealers or private sale are priced higher than you see on some of these online sites. He’s a bit confused by that. But what he wants to really know is, you know when you buy a car, the dealer’s has the book price, don’t they? I suppose he’s asking, what’s the book price for motorhomes? Is there such a thing?
Matt Sims
And where can he access it? So yeah, your gut is going to tell you the truth here, Brian. If it looks too good to be true, it really is. The book you refer to is probably Glass’s Guide, which is what dealers for years used to use. I mean, I don’t even know if it still exists, but we used to use it here in our business. It was a little tiny book, and you’d leaf through and find the motorhome model, the mileage, the basic spec and there was the price.
These days, I don’t know of many dealers even still using that, and maybe it’s gone. But Auto Trader seems to be the main place where everybody lists motorhomes for sale. There’s also a really great website called Caravan Finder, which is very tailored to motorhomes and caravans. And Graham and his team list all the different layouts and models, and you can search there by layout.
And all I can suggest to you, Brian, because there isn’t a place you can go to specifically find a model that’s second hand, is to use your own intuition and do some research. And if you find that the one you’re looking for is typically between £40,000 and £45,000, there’s your benchmark. And if you see one for £21,000 it’s probably a scam. We’ve been scammed recently. Just this week, actually. It’s a lovely Adria Coral Supreme that we’ve got for sale. And it’s appeared on numerous adverts online. This motorhome is up for, I think, £70,000, and it’s up for £33,000 somewhere else.
Keith Gooden
So they’ve nicked your photograph of it?
Matt Sims
They’ve used all the photos. And we have a whole podcast episode on this, don’t we, on how to avoid scams. And again, we had a horse box that was duped, and someone was just trying to collect a deposit of £1,500 pounds, and they’re away. That’s all they want. They’re not expecting you to pay the full asking price. They just want your deposit.
£500 – if they can do that 100 times, they’re ahead, aren’t they? These people are absolutely awful, what they’re doing. So use your gut and do your research. If you’re not sure, ring a dealer and ask them to value the motorhome and the spec you want and get them to give you a ballpark figure of what they think it will be worth. And that will give you a good starting point.
Keith Gooden
And Brian did ask there, should he use a dealer? And I suppose the answer to that question is yes.
Matt Sims
Well, if you’re worried about buying privately, then of course, yeah. And there are reasons to be wary about buying from a dealer as well. So reviews are key. And again, we have an episode on buying privately and from a dealer and the pros and cons of both. So if it’s a private purchase, then really you need to do your research. Go and check out that episode because there are some great tips in there as well.
Keith Gooden
Thanks, Brian. Much appreciated, that question. And that’s one that does concern a lot of people. And when you’re talking about large amounts of money, people’s hard earned or their retirement funds, it’s important.
How can we sell our campervan conversion?
Keith Gooden
Ian and Deb Nicholls are in Bristol. “Hi, Matt. We’re looking to sell a professionally built bespoke off grid Mercedes Sprinter campervan to enable us to head back to Australia. We understand that this time of year might not be the best time to sell, but are looking at various options and would love some advice.”
Matt Sims
They go on to say, “Do you know any good agents who would be interested? Ideally, we need them to recommend or provide storage so that we can move out of the van and head home. In other words, we’d like to sell the van remotely. Any guidance appreciated.”
Keith Gooden
Now, this one Matt, I must admit, brought back memories from when I was being brought up as a teenager in London. You’d go down to The Cut down at Waterloo. And all the Australians and New Zealanders would just drive their Kombi vans there.
And you could buy one on the spot for cash because they wanted to go back home again. Or there’d be someone who’d just flown in and they wanted to buy one. It was always down there between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge.
Matt Sims
What a great memory.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Sims
Are they still doing it?
Keith Gooden
No! I mean, Kombi vans now, the original VW ones, are worth tens of thousands.
Matt Sims
I know. They can be very expensive. So in terms of advice, Ian and Deb, I would say lots of dealers will broker your van. You could sell it to them obviously. Done deal. There is a model called brokerage. We do lots of this and we do exactly this.
I would want to know a bit more about your van, as it’s not a factory built conversion in the traditional motorhome or campervan sense, which is what we favour here. But we would take it from you. You would keep it insured, we would agree a fixed return price to you and then advertise it for a higher price, which we would discuss with you.
And we typically look to clear 8% or 10% when we’re selling a motorhome under brokerage, so less than we would clear if we were buying it from you. So we would then take care of storing it because we’re displaying it. And we would essentially take care of all the advertising and people wanting to come and view it and so on. You don’t say where you are in the country.
Keith Gooden
No, they do.
Matt Sims
Oh, they’re in Bristol! So are we. Let’s have a chat. Brilliant, we might be able to sell it for you! So go to www.motorhomeholidaycompany.com, and you can see details of selling with us there and how it works. And if you think we’re a good fit for you, great, get in touch.
Or do some research. It might be that you find a dealer who specialises in this type of vehicle and they have others and therefore they’re attracting customers who have an interest in your van. But just do some Googling and you’ll find it. But brokerage, certainly, I would suggest is the way forward.
My awning doesn’t seem to fit right. Can you help?
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And me, Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
It’s brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. And we’re midway through our question and answer section of this week’s podcast. Kevin Dawson has been in touch about his Thule awning.
Matt Sims
Thule, not ‘Thyool!’ It’s not ‘Thyool.’
Keith Gooden
That’s what you put into your car, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
Only if you’ve got a lisp.
Keith Gooden
Take it away, Kevin Dawson.
Kevin Dawson
Hi, Matt. We have a 2016 Bessacarr 496 with a Thule canopy. We’ve just purchased an Air Pro 260 camper porch awning. But the bead seems too large for the C rail on the canopy. Have you heard of this before? And can you help?
Keith Gooden
He says, ‘Thyool.’
Matt Sims
He did. It’s Thule. Come on, Kevin, know your product! There are a lot of numbers in that question.
Keith Gooden
What’s your answer?
Matt Sims
Yeah, I have seen that before because there are different sizes. So the bead on your Thule awning may well be 6mm, whereas the bead on your blow up camper awning might be 8mm. So you can buy an adapter that reduces that, and I think there is an adapter now that’s 4mm, 6mm and 8mm, so you’ve got every option available to you.
We do sell them at www.thatleisureshop.com. You can find other resellers selling them as well. But basically, it’s the drive away awning strip and you want one that goes from 6mm to 8mm, because I imagine that’s what your Thule awning is – 6mm.
Will my 6kg gas cylinder last for my two week trip?
Keith Gooden
John Nicholls is in Chard. He says, “We caught some of your ask the experts at the NEC,” and he loved them, by the way, Matt. “We’re looking to take a trip to Europe next year visiting France, Holland, and Luxembourg.
We’ve had the same six kilogramme gas cylinder in our van for over three years, which is still three quarters full. Would you consider it risky to travel with just one full six kilogramme bottle? Is that okay for a two week trip? We’re thinking about weight.”
Matt Sims
I think if you’ve made a six kilo gas bottle last three years, you’ll probably be all right for two weeks! John did earlier say in his point, actually, that they’re mainly cooking and heating on electric and they’re always going on campsites with electric hookups.
So I think, John, probably given how long it’s lasted you, for two weeks, you’ll probably be fine if it genuinely is three quarters full. How do you know it’s three quarters full? Because the only way I’ve found to do that is either to weigh the bottle or use a GasStop valve which has the gauge on. So that would be a good purchase.
You can genuinely see what pressure is left in the bottle. Go and get yourself a GasStop valve at www.thatleisureshop.com – quick plug! But yeah, I suspect you will be fine. And considering weight is really sensible, particularly if you’ve got limited payload and you only want to take the one bottle.
So yeah, I think you’d be fine. The other option is you could take a Campingaz bottle. You’d have to change the connector onto the bottle on your pigtail because there’s a different connection point. But they are of course much smaller. So that would give you a propane butane backup.
Keith Gooden
Thanks very much for your question, John Nicholls in Chard.
Ask Matt your question
Keith Gooden
If somebody wants to ask you a question, Matt, what should they do?
Matt Sims
We would love it if you did, because I’m sure if you’ve got a question – it doesn’t matter how silly you think it is, I’m sure someone else is thinking the same or wants to ask the same. You can go to mhmp.info/askmatt. You can click the button and record it. Please tell us where in the country you are if you do that, or fill out the form and ask your question and we can read it out.
Keith Gooden
You can leave us a review at mhmp.info/review.
Matt Sims
And if you like watching the podcast, you can do that on YouTube but make sure you subscribe as well. It’s brought to you and sponsored by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
Keith Gooden
And remember, share this episode with a friend!
Matt Sims
We would love that. If you think you know someone who would find this useful, maybe entertaining – apparently we are, a little bit!
Keith Gooden
I can juggle.
Matt Sims
Don’t do that dance again… then please share it with a friend, and they may thank you for doing just that!
