The SheWee, Yay or Nay?
Updated: May 3, 2021
Let’s get real ladies communing with nature isn’t our favourite part of camping, but as we all know, it isn’t avoidable. After years of honing the good ol’ camp squat - (using the heel of a boot to carve a channel running down hill to avoid splashing the boots) one of our ladies sustained a squat inhibiting knee injury (no guesses as to who it was, our resident crystal chandelier, Jana). What is a lady to do? Not camp? I don’t think so. A torn meniscus wasn’t going to slow her down so after a bit of a google it was decided that a SheWee was the way to go. A quick online transaction and problem solved, or so we thought. Little did we know what we were in for.
The much anticipated purchase arrived. It came with a convenient carry case and an extension to help avoid that annoying boot splash (although we had our Merry People gumboots at the ready, just in case...). Jana is nothing if not studious, so after reading the instructions carefully and googling all the tips she could, she set about mastering this odd little contraption.
No one wants to discuss the ins and outs or the awkward trial and error associated with this slippery situation, but ladies as you all know: when you gotta go you gotta go. There was some at home training with promising but mixed results. It turns out a lot of concentration, control of flow and precision positioning is needed to yield the desired outcome.
The verdict? It’s a lot of work and the margin for error is too thin. When we camp, we pack light so if that one pair of jeans is the collateral damage, it’s no good. In the end we gave it 2 stars, however after a couple of drinks or even just in the middle of the night when you are a bit sleepy, we give it 1 star.
Back to the drawing board. It turns out slinging a strap over a low tree branch windsail style is a better option but lets face it, we live in Australia there isn’t always a tree handy, particularly on the beach. We will keep working on the pee-fect solution, but for now the SheWee is back on the bench.