Review - Boginabag

The Boginabag set up as a guest's stool

A strange new portable convenience for long staying anglers who may need to go. Does what it says in the title.

BoginaBag - the unique portable toilet that provides its owner with a solution to that age old question of needing to go and having nowhere to go!

BoginaBag      £19.95

In order to use the BoginaBag as a toilet you will also need to purchase the packs of specially designed degradable bags.

Pack of 5 bags     £2.95


Questions and answers

How do the pads work?
Our pads contain a granular powder which is contained inside the fibrous cellulose of the pad. When it absorbs water it swells into a gel which traps the liquid.

What impact is BoginaBag having on the environment?
We strive to do everything we can to minimise the impact we are having on the environment. Our bags are degradable and we have made them as simple as possible so we minimise wastage. BoginaBag is hygienic without the need for environmentally damaging chemicals.

How much liquid can the pad within the bag absorb?
The pad can absorb up to 700ml of urine.

Can you use BoginaBag for both toilet functions?
Our leakproof bags are designed to catch and hold both liquid and solid waste.

What are the dimensions and weight of BoginaBag?
When folded, BoginaBag is only 65cm in length with a diameter of 13cm. It also weighs only 1.2kg.

What is the weight limit of the stool?
BoginaBag is designed to carry up to 100kg in weight when used as shown in the user instructions.

Never before have I been asked to review an item of angling (?) equipment for such a delicate purpose so please excuse some of my fumbling around for phrases to use. And let me also say that I haven't fully tested it, no one's going to see pictures of me sitting on it, so to some extent I'm working on assumptions.

As with any new idea that is ground breaking (I suppose that’s what anglers used to do with a spade before this idea came along) one has to ask the question; is there a need for this item?

So many new ideas have come before anglers only to fall flat on their face for the simple reason that nobody wants them. If only the people who develop new ideas only did a bit of research first to establish what the need was and would customers actually buy it? In this case the manufacturers of Boginabag have done this, I can see a need for it.

Not all venues provide adequate toileting facilities, not even all the commercials do and certainly, most of the club run lakes won’t. Of those that do, many may fall well below the hygienic standards once might expect, although the ones that I have used at Marsh Farm and Bury Hill’s Temple Lake, were exceptionally clean and comfortable.

If no facilities are provided what do you presently do? A shovel job or in the long grass well away from any pathways etc. and just hope someone doesn’t suddenly disturb you in the act. Then there’s the disturbance to soil, or leave it sitting there, and what about the comfort of the position adopted to perform the action?

Yes, it can all be a little degrading for some, but here’s where the Boginabag comes into play. You can happily sit in the comfort of your own bivvy and pee or poop away to your heart’s content, even read a fishing mag or watch an angling DVD on your portable player. Just remember to wind in your rigs first as a sudden take half way through could lead to a highly embarrassing episode. No one would be any the wiser unless they were immediately downwind on a closely pegged lake.

OK, so let’s look at the product itself. Easy enough to understand, it’s based on the typical three legged canvas stool (no pun intended) that you can buy in many supermarkets and garden centres, only this one has a neat hole cut in the top. The hole does have another detachable piece of material covering it so you can use it to sit on normally in between its other role. To prepare the product for its real use, remove the extra material, take a Boginabag plastic bag (complete with pouch of powder) and place over hole pushing the main portion of the bag into the hole.

Once it’s in place you can sit on it, relax and luxuiously open your bowels. Ahhhhhhh!

The pouch of powder will begin to absorb any moisture and hopefully the experience will be reasonably pleasant and a blessed relief (pun certainly intended). Afterwards, close the bag up and tie it off for disposing of later. Don’t forget to wash your hands and for that you should always take along some hand cleaning gel.

Caveat: Watch where you dispose of it, some councils insist on treating it as ‘Special Waste’ so it cannot then go into a normal dustbin.

Pros: Keeps faeces away from public places and off the ground where it could be a danger to wildlife. It’s comfortable and clean and can be used in the privacy of your own bivvy. It’s fairly light and amongst all the other paraphernalia you take for long stays, won’t add much more.

Cons: The hole in the seat is pretty small and some men, I understand it was designed by a woman, may find it difficult or unpleasant to get their tackle into it as well to do a pee, so I’d recommend spending a penny first and fully emptying your bladder. Women should find it OK for both, but that’s a guess based on school anatomy classes.

All-in-all, this is a very good idea and one that many carp anglers and other long-stayers might consider investing in, if only for the convenience (oh the puns!)

Click here for the boginabag website