The one drawback to using a camper van vs an RV trailer is the bathroom. While we are not planning on camping off the grid and mostly using campgrounds (that will have showers and toilets to use), there may be times you need a solution. It could be the middle of the night, and you don’t want to go traipsing through the campground, or you could be in a temporary off grid solution while traveling.
We looked into the most popular choices of toilets that don’t need a black tank (since that is one of the reasons we chose the camper van over a more traditional RV). These videos were quite helpful on researching our solution.
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Composting Toilet in a Camper Van
The video goes through the pros and cons of composting toilets in camper vans. Composting toilets use a compostable material such as coconut husks or peat moss to deal with the solid waste. The liquid waste goes into a small tank in the toilet that needs to be frequently emptied. This video includes popular questions and their answers about the smell, male and female use, dumping of tanks, type of compost toilet, bugs, cleaning, separating solids and liquids, capacity, using a wet bath style shower, and more about maintaining a composting toilet. It is a realistic view of owning and using a composting toilet.
Cassette Toilet in a Camper Van
This video is a review of using a cassette toilet vs. a composting toilet in a camper van. Cassette toilets have a freshwater tank to flush and a waste tank, so it uses water in the bowl like a regular toilet. This video goes in-depth into the pros and cons and popular questions and answers such as use (male and female), cleaning, bugs, capacity, and more. It looked like the cassette toilet was winning over the composting toilet until they came to dumping it. Apparently, that alone made their decision to stay with the composting toilet. This video is a great review and fun to watch.
Portable Toilet Options
If your camper van doesn’t have a bathroom and you are looking for a temporary solution or off grid solution when you don’t have bathroom facilities, this video goes through 10 different solutions and pros and cons.
Custom Solution in a Camper Van
We liked this video since it came up with a custom solution to the issues of camper van toilets. While we don’t think we will do this same exact method, it did start some ideas of what we could do for those emergency situations where a public toilet isn’t available or very inconvenient.
Kitty Litter Solution
This is a solution that is closer to what we might be using. We might be using a different bigger style toilet (like the portable bucket one), but this idea of using kitty litter to keep the liquid and solid waste and smells under control. You can use compostable bags instead of plastic to be a little more eco-friendly, and it stays really clean so that isn’t an issue. In addition, there
Stay Tuned for our Solution
We have some ideas, but want to try them out so we can really give a review on how this worked. When we have our finally solution and detailed information, we will link it back to this post. Until then, happy camping!
What an incredibly comprehensive review. It’s perfect guide to all the options available.
I admit. I love camping but this is one area that I’m not to keen about. I still tent so have to rely on the campground washrooms always
Im hoping one day to own one so I can travel freely around the US and this was helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Having a toilet in your campervan is a great advantage when out exploring so that you don’t have to find public facilities which can sometimes be unpleasant. Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ Let me know if you are interested in doing collabs! xx
A very comprehensive and informative post. This is literally my worst nightmare, but great to see so many options available!
This is the whole reason I’m not willing to make the leap to a camper van. I love everything else about the lifestyle, but just can’t get over the bathroom situation. I loved the honesty of your video, I have a really weak stomach and don’t think I could have managed dumping the contents into another toilet. I think I would have thrown the whole thing away! Such good information you’re giving here, at least now I know what I’m up against. Seems the composting option is the best bet, I know lots of other van travelers go that route as well.
Wow, that is a very informative and well researched post!! Decidedly, a troubling situation, worrying about a comfortable bathroom in a campervan. But thanks for sharing, it is a perfect guide.