Thursday 10th May 2007

Our move didn't really happen. It is still a possibility but not likely in the near future. We would still love to live and run Kiwi Bog from off grid but are staying where we are for the time being.  Fibreglass bogs continue to be the norm although we are also looking into rotational moulding too. A hacker got into our site last month but has been seen off by our hosts. Some may have got a message from google advising of our infection. Be assured it is gone now.

Saturday 3rd February 2007

Fibreglass bogs are now a reality and are far more rigid than the plastic. The urine trays are now glassed into the bog top. Although they are rougher inside they are still easy to clean and retain their elegant good looks.

Kiwibog is on the move for the foreseeable future. From early March for an indefinite time kiwibog will be on the road. First in the North Island till 20th March then in the South. Mostly round Nelson and The West Coast. This means you will need to catch up by email or cell phone (027 4491 699) until we re-establish ourselves with a land base (we may not get a landline again)

Tuesday 7th November 2006

We have finally been forced to raise our basic bog price to over the thousand dollar mark this has followed significant price increases for all the bog components over the last four years which mostly seem to have risen with the cost of petrol. Fortunately we remain about 700 dollars cheaper than our nearest known compeditor. We are now forced to make our bogs from fibreglass exclusively as the plastic sheet we first used and had manufactured especially for us is now prohitively expensive. We have changed our bog too: whereas we used flexible pipe from the urine tray to the outlet we have now replaced this with a funnel so that the top of the bog is no longer tied to the bottom and can now be completely removed for cleaning or changing buckets and bags.

 Sunday 11th June 2006

One of our customers has appeared on the Nation radio Country Life programme or 2nd of June http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/countrylife They are the peel forest outdoor persuits centre who have two bogs in their eco lodge and are intending to purchase more. They describe theirs as working well and their desire to purchase more speaks for itself. We are delighted to get such positive feedback.

Friday 26 May 2006

I can't believe its well over a year since updating this. Oh well. We unfortunately have had to increase our price for our bog made from plastic sheet as the cost of both the moulding and the raw sheet has risen astronomically with the rise in petroleum products. The good news is that we now have available bogs made from fibreglass that are still at the old price. This is because fibreglass is cheaper for us than the plastic sheet we have had to have made especially to our specifications. These new bogs are identical to those made from plastic sheet with the exception that the inside surface appears rougher. It is still easily cleaned and I am advised that it is 'food grade'. We have now included our manufacturing check list on this site so you can see exactly what comes with a bog. We have recently upgraded our manufacturing process to include as short length of urine pipe with a right angle bend to even further ease the installation process for our customers.

Wednesday 16th March 2005

Well a while since last updating these pages and a lot has been happening. Good sales of the bog continue including to Australia. We find an increasing need to support do-it-yourself bog makers. We are selling the urine diversion tray to those who already have toilets of their own construction who now want the improvement of urine separation. This dramatically reduces the maintenance time as faeces alone accumulate much more slowly than faeces and urine together. In addition we are now able to supply a kitset to those who wish to do some of the work themselves or want to use their own cabinet. We find that with the poor weather our solar kit is not sufficient in some areas so we have added a new "super solar kit" with doubled charge and storage.

We have made a few changes to the bog itself too; the height is reduced by about 50mm so as to make the need of a stool redundant (and easier to mold) and we now only supply a rotating vent as an optional extra. We supply a roof shroud and passive vent of our own design as standard. The height change only effects the bottom of the bog and moves the top closer to the floor. 

Again we are planning a sales trip to the North Island for July or August. Anyone wanting to see a bog is welcome to give us a call and we will see if we can make it to your area.

Despite increasing costs of materials and molding we are able to hold the price to $995.

New brochures will be out in the next few months.

Friday 21st May 2004

Sales continue unabated with great feedback from our customers who have nothing but success to report from their bogs. We are planning another display at the Nelson EcoFest and hope to travel in the North Island again later this year. More details as they come to hand. We have been trialling a worm based composting solution for people whose bogs get a lot of use. The results are reported in our new web page treating outputs. Our next move is from plastic bags to starch so that there is never again a need to empty the bag.

Monday 1st March 2004

Our first customers have now purchased their third bog for their far north home.

Wednesday 26th January 2004

Finally back to work after a good break. Hope everyone has had a great Xmas and new year. We are getting an increasing number of enquiries from Australia so have investigated the cost of shipping a bog to a customer there. Door to Door airfreight costs around $NZ 270 and the bog without our GST is $NZ884. Therefore Australian customers should be able to buy a bog for around not much more than $AU1000 even with your own GST.

Wednesday 19th November 2003

Well. Another wild few months. Good sales up North, some continue back home too and more for yachts. Many sales using the solar supply. We have decided to offer a 30 day money back guarantee to anyone buying a bog site unseen. We are now getting quite a few sales from people who trust us enough to not need to see the bog in person. So to show how much we believe in the bog we have undertaken to refund any purchaser who buys a bog unseen and returns it to us within 30 days of purchase in good condition. We know of no one who would have returned theirs so we are pretty sure of our offer.

Sunday 7th September 2003

Just to confirm that we are travelling in the North Island from next Sunday (14th) until the 1st of November. If you would like to see a bog give us a call on 027 4491 699. The EcoFest was another great success with even more people than last year. We noticed a more serious attitude generally toward green alternatives.

In return for a bottle of good whisky, Daryl Crimp has done a cartoon to fit under the bog seat lid to dissuade males from urinating while standing. This sticker is now supplied with each bog.

Forgot to mention below that we had tested the bog on a person of more than 150Kg weight with no problems.

Tuesday 22nd July 2003

We are now recovered from the circuit of the South Island in June. Heaps more sales and really enthusiastic response, particularly from people on the coast. In Hokitika a council officer sought us out to express his delight that we are manufacturing our bogs here. We have also continued to receive orders from all over the country. Most notable for us is our very first customers purchasing their second bog almost a year after their first. They are replacing an American composting toilet and commented when placing their order that they "want something that works". There can be no better recommendation.

Our next show and tell trip is becoming more defined. We intend to travel to the North Island mid September and to return early November. We will have stock with us and are happy to call on anyone interested in viewing a working bog. We expect to visit both coasts as well as the middle of the North Island. We will travel North of Auckland if there is sufficient interest there again from potential customers.

Catch if you can the Nelson ecofest the 23/4th of August where we will again have a caravan with an installed and working bog on show.

Friday 25 April 2003

Dates for our show and tell trips are more fixed. South Island occupies the whole of May. The first two weeks on the West Coast, Queenstown, Wanaka, Southland with the latter weeks Otago, Canterbury and East Coast to Blenheim before returning to our base in Nelson. For the North Island we have six weeks or more planned for late September, October and early November. More precise details of the North Island places later this year.

Friday 4 April 2003

Sales continue unabated and we are now planning show and tell trips for later this year. North Island should be September and we may do the South Island before then. More details in due course. We are also responding to customer suggestions on our site with more detailed photos of some specific areas. There is a new area philosophy to give me space for the sort of mindless rants for which I have become famous.

Friday 30 January 2003

I've done a bit of work on the site. Hope that you find the improvements worthwhile. The links page is particularly improved. Don - your webmaster and general factotum.

Monday 27 January 2003

What a rush before Xmas. Sorry to be so long in updating this site. We circumnavigated both the North and South Islands with our caravan. Building bogs as we went filling orders, checking on our existing customers and taking orders for bogs to be supplied in the new year. We are now just getting underway again with the good news that our problems with bog moulding have now been resolved by a local supplier. Its great to have the work done here in Nelson where we have closer control. We have now supplied 19 bogs to customers and now have nine bogs in stock. Not too bad since our start August last. We have one yacht customer who has just reported success with their installation and how much better it is than the alternatives. They just love the absence of smell even when the bog is in use. Some advice; sugar apparently can neutralise the odour from urine, it just takes a teaspoon or two washed down the urine path. If you add garden or composting worms to your faeces before settling them to compost the end result can become a lovely thick mulch.

Monday 14 October 2002

Now some six weeks later. A time filled with attention to our bog's mass production. We are just returned the manufacture of our plastic components back to Nelson but with a new company that seems to work the way we do. We had a disastrous experience with a Christchurch plastics moulder. Nice mirror-glass building but.

We continue to receive an average of two enquiries a day. So we are just waiting on the repair of our caravan to undertake quick circuits of both the South and North Islands. We will call on those who would like to see a working bog and our existing customers to ensure that all is well for them. We intend to make it as far north as Kaitaia and south as Dunedin and Queenstown. A huge number of recent enquiries have been from the deep south. More details of our impending travels as soon as we can.

Wednesday 28 August 2002

Well - here we are back again after a very successful trip as far north as Kaitaia and south as Christchurch. Delivering bogs to those who had placed orders, showing to others checking with suppliers etc...... Just today attended a seminar in Chch on Composting Toilets organised by Andrew Dakers from Lincoln University. The seminar was attended by about 20 interesting people with diverse roles and experiences. One of the more interesting people was Johannes Heeb who is president of the international Ecological engineering society. He had some great ideas for urban use of composting toilets including the idea of separating faeces and urine at the toilet but allowing the urine only to flow through the present sewerage pipes for collection, storage and utilisation as a fertiliser. Can we get a trial going here - what chance?

As our first customers install their bogs I will be able to report their experience and opinions through this site. I also plan to do quite a bit of work to clean up the site and to get the links menu option going again soon.

Wonderful response from everyone we met. All universally impressed with the aesthetic appeal of the bog. John Kenderdine at the Far North Environment Centre was extremely hospitable and supportive. We now plan a mail out to all the environment centres who are ideal sources for people with an interest in composting bogs.

Thursday 15 August 2002

Our trip north stopped before it had really started with a crash on the way to Picton. This rolled our caravan and did considerable damage but fortunately none to us. We have rebooked and are trying again tonight on the Straitsman. In Wellington tomorrow without the Caravan or the opportunity to see or smell a working bog. None-the-less we will have a few bogs with us for demonstration and sale. Contact us on cell phone 027 449 1699 if you would like us to call on you.

Wednesday 14 August 2002

We are about to head toward the North Island for a whirlwind tour of just over a week. If you live there (our condolences) and we could call in to show you the bog in person. Just contact us on 027 449 1699 or email us at info@kiwibog.com for attention within a day or so.

We are in Wellington on 14th,15 of August, Auckland around 18,19 of August and even will be in Christchurch on the 26th.

Monday 12 August 2002

Our bogs were launched at the Nelson EcoFest on Saturday last 10th, August by Nelson's newest MP. Mike Ward for the Green Party. This was as a result of the counting of special votes and Mike himself had first learnt of his success only a few minutes earlier. The launch of our kiwi bog became his first official duty.

We achieved great publicity and quite a number of orders with even more prospects for the future.

Saturday 10 August 2002

We have our base 7mm ABS plastic material made for us and nearly 100 sheets arrived today just in time to build some bogs to take north next week.

 launched at the Nelson EcoFest on Saturday last 10th, August by Nelson's newest MP. Mike Ward for the Green Party. This was as a result of the counting of special votes and Mike himself had first learnt of his success only a few minutes earlier. The launch of our kiwi bog became his first official duty.

We achieved great publicity and quite a number of orders with even more prospects for the future.

We are about to head toward the North Island for a whirlwind tour of just over a week. If you live there (our condolences) and we could call in to show you the bog in person. Just contact us on 027 449 1699 or email us at info@kiwibog.com for attention within a day or so.

We are in Wellington on 14th,15 of August, Auckland around 18,19 of August and even will be in Christchurch on the 26th.