The Camel has the following primary design features:

• No nails! - the main 'rigging' is constructed from just pole wood and ropes;
• light weight canvas walls and roof, which easily hook on, and are pegged down with guy ropes;
• wheeley bins as receptacles for the humanure, which is then easily removed from site, where the 'product' can be composted safely

The first Camel was prototyped in 2007 in response to a request for compost toilets for the Northwest Neighbourhood at the Climate Camp. It quickly acquired the 'Camel' tag because of its characteristic central hump.

Thanks to Kirsty and Dan for helping me design and build the fist Camel, at the Northern Green Gathering, before the Camp. Also to the random stranger who helped us sort out our knots, when we didn't know what we were doing, and to all the others that helped! Also thanks to Graham and Stef, who helped loads during the Camp itself, and to all the other random people that did their bit.

Watch an interview of me at the Climate Camp, at Heathrow in 2007, talking about the design of the Camel:

Watch an interview of Stef (also at the Camp), talking about and showing a completed Camel. (Note that this was the first ever comple prototype, and looks very scruffy from the outside, because the walls and roof were made from tatted carpets and tarp. The next generation of Camels are going to be much more aesthetically pleasing.)

Click here to see updated designs for the Camel (click on Original link to see detailed fulls sized images):

• Schematic diagram of the main rigging of the Camel
• The Camel with side walls hung
• An end elevation of the Camel, demonstrating usage
• New roof design
• Paper model of new roof design

The toilet is a 'double shitter', that is to say that it has two 'cubicles'. The design hangs around a central, load bearing A-frame, which supports two back-to-back toilet seat platforms, separated by an internal partition. Users dump their load into wheeley bins located underneath the platforms, and the platforms are accessed up wooden steps.

Design Issues
There were a number of design issues, which seek to be addressed with the 2nd generation of Camel:

• The poles that were used were over speced, and too heavy, especially the door poles, which are not load bearing and need only to be slender;
• Lack of time and resources meant the tatted carpet was used for the walls. This looked ugly from the outside, and was very heavy and bulky. I have been promised some reed patterned canvas tarp for the next generation, which will improve the aesthetics of the system, plus make it less bulky to transport and assemble;
• The roof system was ill-designed and bodged - click here for my proposed design for the the future (note this will require some textile skills to get right);
• The toilet seat platforms were made of sawn timber, which was not in keeping with the rustic, pole wood nature of the design. I plan to make hazel hurdles for the platforms instead;
• The doors did not shut properly, but this can be easily resolved with better designed latches;
• Like the platforms, the steps were made from sawn timber, and were out of character with the rest of the system. I am open to suggestions about how this aspect of the design can be improved, becuase I have yet to come up with a practical alternative.

Knots
The system uses just five basic knots:

1. square lashes
2. what I call tension knots, for lack of a better name - these are like clover hitches, only with an extra twist - I am tying to find out their real name;
3. simple loops;
4 and 5. butterfly knots, with half hitches. Click here for instructions for tying a butterfly knot, using the "around the hand method".