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The Americanizer™ – The RV Sewage Adapter for Thetford Cassettes and Portable Toilets IS HERE!!

The Americanizer

And yes, that’s our own affiliate link… it’s our product!


I’ll be honest, emptying cassette toilets has always kind of grossed me out.  And since our new Winnebago EKKO will have a cassette toilet, I figured I needed to do something about it.  So I came up with this, and it looks like you’ll soon be able to order one:

 

Update 4/26/2021 – THEY’RE ON THE WAY!!!

Very literally… on a slow boat from China right now…

So, the Americanizer™ is made in China.  There are two reasons for this:

  1.  I love irony.
  2. I didn’t think anyone would want a sewage adapter that cost $95 and was available in 2022.

Seriously, I really tried to find a US-based injection molding company, but those are the kind of ridiculous numbers and dates I was being quoted.  So I did the next best thing: I found a foreign injection molding manufacturer with a US presence and engineering staff, so we’re at least supporting some office jobs in the USA.

Anyway, long leadup to let you all know that the first batch of 2000 Americanizers™ is right now making its way to the US via ocean.  I wanted to get more than 2000, because there are a LOT more than 2000 of you that want one, but the second batch will have to wait until we recoup some of our money from this first batch.  We’re told that the ocean shipping process takes a total of about 28 days, accounting for delays, customs, and then final shipping inside the US.  We won’t be selling these, shipping them, or collecting money ourselves.  We’re RVers, too!  We’d rather be spending our time on the road.  So once we have them, we’ll have to figure out how to get them on Amazon.  I’m allowing a month to figure that mess out, so it still looks like June to have them available for sale.

You might have guessed from reading this, that the beta testers all reported back successfully.  Nobody broke it.  Nobody spilled sewage all over themselves.  Some of them even have helpful tips on how to use it.  So… the short version of the update is:

Testing went well.  Still on track for June availability.

 

Update 3/22/2021  –  WE’VE GOT SAMPLES!!!

I got a package today from our injection molding contractor containing a few samples of what could be the production version of the Americanizer™.  I just need to test them out and then we should be good to go.  I plan to send one sample to an RV dealership, where they might be able to have their service department put it through its paces.  I’d also like to find a couple of you who have responded on the signup page to test these out as well.  I’d like to test with a variety of cassettes, so I’m looking for two people who have different models of Thetford cassettes than I do.  I have the C220.  So I’m looking for folks with the 200, 250, 260, 400, 500, C2,3,4… anything besides what I have.  I’ll send details in the next Americanizer™ update email.

The good news from all of this is that it seems like I could have some available at RV dealers by summer for sure.  Amazon may take a little longer to get set up, but I’m targeting summer there as well.  It’s happening!

Update – 1/31/2021  –  GOOD NEWS!!!

Since originally posting this, scores of people have registered their interest.  That’s enough for us to forge ahead and get it manufactured.  We’ve contracted with an injection molding facility.  They’re making the molds now, and I expect to have some samples around the end of March.  If those samples check out, then it’s off to the races.  If everything goes according to plan, The Americanizer™ should be available this summer!  We plan to sell it on Amazon.  If you are interested in potentially having one, just go to

https://www.thefitrv.com/Americanizer

and fill out the very short form with your email address.  I’ll send out periodic emails to let  you know how this is progressing, and when it’s available for sale.  There is NO COMMITMENT to buy one.

I pretty much say it all in the video, but to summarize, The Americanizer™ adapts a toilet cassette (popular in Europe) to work with North American RV sanitation accessories and dump stations.  It eliminates your exposure to a literal gusher of human waste, and it provides a spill-free, sight-free, and smell-free way to empty the cassette into any standard RV dump station.  Besides that, there are a few other benefits that make this better than any kind of hose contraption you might rig up yourself:

  • No modifications are made to the cassette itself.
  • The design is such that the waste never actually flows through the adapter.
  • You don’t have to grab the “dirty” end of the adapter to attach or detach it.
  • The adapter is really easy to grab, tighten, and loosen, even with gloved hands.

 

Oh, and I know I joke around a lot, but there really is a patent pending on the design of The Americanizer™.

So – what do you think?  As far as I’m concerned, this really solves one of my biggest hang-ups with a cassette toilet, and it does it in a way that only adds capability to the cassette – and doesn’t take any away.  But maybe you disagree.  I’m actually very interested in your thoughts here.  If you were someone who was a “hard no” on cassettes, would this change your mind?  If you’re already a cassette user, can you think of times this would have come in handy?  Or maybe it’s never come up?  Have any of you had troubles with a cassette at RV parks?  And if so, would this resolve the objections of the park staff?  I’m interested in all of that.

Sound off below!