Does Your Camper Van Have a Toilet?
As strangers begin to ask questions about my van travels, at one point they pause, get real quiet, look around, and ask in a near whisper, “do you…have a…toilet in there?”
The answer is yes. Yes, I have a potty in my van.
And it’s the best thing ever.
But, to be completely honest,
I had no desire for a potty during my design and build. I didn’t think I needed it. I believed that I was going to be completely fine using public places as well as doing my business outside, like so many van dwellers do.
One of my dear friends disagreed with my potty stance. He continuously told me that he was worried about me. He would ask me what I would do in case of an emergency, or what if I woke up in the middle of the night and I was sick, what would I do then? What about when it’s dumping snow outside?Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
After chipping away at my ego and opinion with his persistent words, I reluctantly caved to his potty plans. This friend of mine was SO THRILLED that he insisted on purchasing the potty for me and put in an Amazon order that night. Luckily, I was not too far along with my build that I was about to make a modification to my design to have a special place for Johnny-on-the-spot.
Now for all of you soon-to-be vanlifers, current dwellers, and weekend warriors-
here is the product I use, more answers to the questions I get, and some helpful tips (trust me, these are helpful for the shit that I went through).
What toilet did you get?
The Alpcour Toilet from Amazon for $199.
Are you happy with this RV toilett?
Yes, definitely. I have seen some single-use toilets with bags or ones that you can install directly into the van with an RV hookup. Neither of those designs were appealing to me. I didn’t want to have to worry about clean-up with every use or paying money to use an RV-specific dump station at all. Depending on where you are in the states, RV dump sites are only open in the late spring, summer, and early fall. In addition to finding a dump station, they usually cost $20-$35/use.
This potty isn’t too big (17.25” x 16.55” x 14.8”), is easy to use, and takes care of business!
(Update: this potty is 2.5 years old and still works well!)
How does it work?
It is a simple two-tank toilet. The tanks fit on top of one another, clamp together, and are sealed to eliminate odor or any spillage.
The top tank is a toilet bowl in disguise. It has a lid, seat, and houses clean water. Just like a regular toilet, it can flush to rinse the bowl after use.
You simply pull up on a round lever in the back end of the potty when you have finished your business, and push it down to spray clean water into the bowl. Voila, flushed away.
The bottom tank is the black tank, where the human waste resides. In order to open the round seal that connects the two tanks to drop your waste in, a lever is located at the front of the toilet.
When it is time to empty the black tank, you simply undo the clamps and lift the top tank off of the bottom, put the top tank to the side, and bring the black tank to the waste receptacle or toilet.
Yes, it is that simple.
I also purchased these natural enzyme bio potty packs that get dropped into the black tank to help with odor and the breakdown of waste and paper.
How often do you empty the black tank?
As a solo female, I usually empty the waste tank every 7-8 days.
Before the pandemic, I used public places or facilities at work, enabling me to empty my tank about every 11-14 days. I use one bio potty pack pouch per black tank. Each order of bio packs will get me through on average 12-13 weeks.
Traveling with my partner doubles the waste, therefore almost cuts the time it takes to fill the black tank in half. Each time can be different depending on where we are that week, what our lifestyle is like, and what access we have to public restrooms or a friend's house.
Where do you empty the black tank?
I call this:
potty patrol.
When I first moved into my van, I would do potty patrol at friends’ houses using their toilets. There were pros and cons to this experience.
One pro was that it was private- I didn’t feel like I had to rush because someone was waiting for the bathroom while I was dumping a week's worth of waste.
A con about going to a friend’s house was the amount of time and precision potty patrol took.
As you know, when a toilet is flushed in a house, you have to wait until the water tank fills back up before you can flush again. Toilets can only take so much waste at once, so this potty patrol method took a lot more time- about 8 flushes worth of time.
In addition, at-home toilet bowls have walls and a bottom filled with water. This sometimes causes splashing and can be very messy. Yuck.
Don’t worry, I always leave the bathroom better than I found it!
So if you don’t like doing potty patrol at a friend’s house, where do you go?
Once the summer arrived in the Colorado Rockies everything opened for the season. I quickly, and strangely, became excited to do potty patrol in a composting toilet at campsites and trailheads. Quickly, I learned that this is my preferred method of potty patrol. Composting toilets are deep pits enabling you to dump the contents of your black tank in one go! They don’t have a bottom which eliminates splashing and extra mess. At trailheads and campsites, it is easy to do potty patrol early in the morning or later in the evening to avoid recreating humans. Although it may not be the most luxurious location, it is much quicker and cleaner than the household approach.
Does your toilet smell?
No. It is sealed well and is stowed away in a wooden box-like compartment. I have used the potty during all four seasons and have never smelled a thing.
Do you feel weird about the toilet at all?
At first, definitely.
Living in 50 square feet, my kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room, and bedroom are all in the same space. If you need to do business while you’re cooking..then you gotta do what you gotta do! Doing business in your dining room starts to normalize after a few uses, in fact, it has become quite humorous.
BONUS:
If you purchase this portable toilet for your adventure home, here are some tips:
(trust me, these are helpful for the shit that I went through).
Tip #1: ALWAYS PRESSURIZE THE TANK BEFORE USE (Caution: embarrassing story ahead)
In Colorado, I drive from 5,200’ to 10,600’ frequently. As some of you know this changes the air pressure causing your sunscreen to explode or your water bottle to make a pfffftttt sound when you open it when going from low to high elevation.
I DIDN’T THINK OF THIS WHEN I HAD THE POTTY.
Embarrassing story time:
The way I used to do my business was to open the lid, do my business, close the lid, open the tank divider slot to flush the waste, rinse the bowl, close the slot, and put the potty away.
One fine -10 degree night in the highest city in America, Leadville, Colorado, I did my business as usual.
After I closed the cover, I went to open the slot like I always do, and PFFFFTT the air expanded from the black tank and forced the waste up and ALLLLL over the inside of the cover and squeaked through the sides of the seat. Eeeeeek!
LUCKILY I had closed the cover, if not I could have been in for a giant mess.
I learned a lesson fast that evening.
After that mishap, I changed the order that I used Johnny-On-The-Spot to: take the potty out, pressurize the tank (open the slot), open the lid, do my business, close the lid, rinse the bowl, close the slot, put the potty away.
Never again, will I make that mistake.
Tip #2: Time of Day for Potty Patrol
When on potty patrol, I prefer early mornings because then I don’t see humans and don’t feel bashful about what I’m doing. I get worried that if people see me, they will ask me about what I am doing or give me a look, which in turn, would make me feel weird. I also don’t want to be taking up time in a public space when people are just trying to pee before going on a hike.
In order to avoid all weirdness, I do potty patrol early in the morning before people have started their day.
Tip #3: Freshwater for Potty Patrol
Bring a gallon of freshwater with you to rinse your tank. Once you get to the bottom of the black tank after the final dump, sometimes the waste breakdown has become a gel-like sludge because of the potty packets, gravity, and time. When I get near the bottom, I pour fresh water into the tank, close the ports, swirl it around, open the ports and dump it out. My preference is to have my tank completely empty and somewhat fresh for the next go around.
Tip #4: Use thin toilet paper
I know, I know- we all prefer a nice cushy Charmin on the toosh. But when it comes time for patrol, Charmin isn’t so cushy anymore.
Thicker toilet paper doesn’t break down as easily and can cause build-up as well as take up more space in the black tank. After many weeks of trial and error, I find that the cheap 4 pack of generic works really well.
If you want to get fancy, some stores sell RV/Marine-specific toilet paper. It works well, but it's more expensive and harder to find. Two-ply toilet paper does the trick for me!
Tip #5: Potty Patrol: LEAVE NO TRACE
When you are doing potty patrol, make it seem like you were never there, or leave it cleaner than you found it. When dumping waste into a composting camp/trailhead toilet, the process is cleaner because you can dump it in one go. When emptying into a toilet, sometimes you can drip or splash a little bit.
Dump slowly, and PLEASE, oh please, clean up after yourself. No one needs to see or experience that! Leave it better than you found it.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the article above are affiliate links. This means that I earn a small commission if you purchase the product through the link provided above.