1. Bathroom in the Camper: Is it needed Yes or No?

1.1 WHY INSTALL A BATHROOM ON YOUR VAN

If in every home, there is a bathroom; there is a reason: we need it all the time, every day!

As you travel, the need for a bathroom remains, and having a place to empty yourself, wherever and whenever you want, without ever having to pay a euro, is certainly no small comfort. More time to enjoy the journey, and less time to suffer looking for a bathroom!

In fact, when you are traveling, whether in urban areas or remote places, it is not always easy to find a bathroom, and a clean one at that! Having an on-board toilet means the problem does not arise: any parking lot becomes the right place to empty out and leave again.

If you are planning to camper a van for trips longer than the duration of a weekend, I personally recommend that you think about installing a bathroom or at least an emergency toilet. Once you’ve tested its convenience, I don’t think you’ll be without it 😉

1.2 THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO PLAN THE CONSTRUCTION/INSTALLATION WELL

To avoid unpleasant situations (in this case, situations of m**** 😉 ) it is important to plan from the beginning how to install (in case you buy one already made) or build (in case of Do-It-Yourself) your portable toilet.

Having a bathroom on board in fact, as you can well understand, is still something “extra” to take care of and obviously involves good planning for:

Avoiding Bad Odors: A poorly installed/constructed toilet could let unpleasant odors escape inside your RV. Since this is a very small space where everything is practically communicating (kitchen, living room, bed etc.), it certainly would not make for a pleasant travel experience.

Emptying Organic Waste/Black Water: all RV toilets, regardless of how they operate, transfer our excrement into receptacles that regularly need to be emptied. Therefore, it is very important to install/create our bathroom in a way that makes flushing waste and sanitizing containers as easy and clean as possible.

Feeling at Your Own Leisure: If you plan to travel with other people, you need to take into account the level of privacy you may need. If you plan to travel with a very intimate partner, for example, you may not need walls and use a space-saving pull-out toilet when needed. Conversely, if you are traveling with people with whom you do not share the same intimacy, creating a bathroom with a door and walls may give you more privacy and comfort.

In the next chapter, I will show you how RV toilets work and we will cover all these points in detail to make sure we leave nothing to chance 🙂

Once you understand how toilets on RVs work, and given the various toilet models on the market, I will show you how with creativity and DIY, you can create solutions that are effective, easy to maintain, and also take up very little space.

2. Chemical Bath vs Compostable Bath

There are essentially two types of toilets in RVs: the chemical toilet (the most classic, installed on almost all factory RVs) and the compostable toilet (also called the “dry toilet” or “composting toilet”) that has become very fashionable in recent years.

Below I briefly explain the operation of both one and the other.

2.1 THE PORTA-POTTY IN THE MOTORHOME: HOW DOES IT WORK?

2.2 THE COMPOSTABLE TOILET: HOW DOES IT WORK?

2.3 CHEMICAL TOILET AND COMPOSTABLE TOILET – THE COMPARISON

Below, let’s look together at the main advantages and disadvantages of one type of bathroom rather than the other.

2.4 THE BEST CHEMICAL TOILETS FOR YOUR RV

In this paragraph, I want to show you 3 of the best models of chemical toilets to help you in your choice, should you have chosen the chemical toilet route.

2.4 THE BEST COMPOSTABLE TOILETS FOR YOUR RV

In this section, I want to show you 4 of the best compostable/ecological RV toilet models on the market right now.

Unfortunately, at present there are still no great choices in the compostable toilet market.

Good products are few, and they cost a lot.

Personally, after much searching, I did not find a product that met my needs 100 percent(Nature’s Head or Separett maybe would have appealed to me, but 1,000 euros for a WC was too much for my pocket).

Therefore, I decided to roll up my sleeves and create my Camper’s bathroom entirely Do-It-Yourself. In the next chapter I will explain how, in case you also want to take the same path 🙂

3. How to Build a DIY Compostable Toilet

3.1 REASONS WHY I CHOSE A DO-IT-YOURSELF COMPOSTABLE TOILET

When I designed my camper van, I did so with the use I planned to make of it in mind: to travel in it full-time, to do as much free camping as possible, and to be as autonomous as possible (in terms of energy, water, and waste) for as long as possible.

This philosophy, I also followed in designing the bathroom.

Having black water on board (organic waste with chemical breakdown agents) means that it always needs to be emptied at a dump station, campsite or toilet (in the

Chapter 4

I explain more about where black water/organic waste can be flushed). Which is not always convenient or quick .

In addition, to keep chemical toilets in good condition and avoid odors, it is necessary to treat them constantly with some
antibacterial disruptor
which in the long run (if the RV is used to live in it full-time) is an extra maintenance cost anyway, adding to the monthly travel expenses.

The lack of convenience of emptying a porta-potty and the cost of monthly maintenance were reasons for me to discard a porta-potty for my RV.

After realizing that the chemical toilet was not suitable for my needs, I set out to find a compostable toilet.

For quite a while I have been pondering some of the models on the market (the Nature’s Head and Separett were very attractive to me), and their operation really inspired me: divides liquid and solid; the liquid (pee) can be emptied independently when needed, while the solid (combined with sawdust and the like) becomes a 100% sustainable and compostable material.

However, there were also details that didn’t inspire me too much.

In addition to having to wash the solids canister by hand on a regular basis (not the most pleasant thing, but still doable), there was clearly
An elephant in the closet: the price
! As well designed and constructed as they were, I just couldn’t resign myself to the idea of spending a thousand (!!) euros on a toilet.

At this point, the idea popped into my head: I observe how they work and create one myself. And so I did.

In the next few paragraphs I will show you how I built my camper’s bathroom, entirely Do-It-Yourself .

NOTE: in my motorhome I built a bath-shower, in this article I will only cover the bathroom part. If you are interested in learning how I built and lined the entire structure, I suggest you read the article
How to Build a Shower in a Do-It-Yourself Camper.

3.2 DO-IT-YOURSELF BATHROOM PLANNING

In this section, I show you in detail how I planned the van tailored to my needs (and hopefully give you a useful idea for planning YOURS as well!).

STEP 1. To begin with, I thought about the size of the seat.

For the width I knew I had no problem, having bought a 60x60cm shower tray, that would be the width of the bathroom as well.

To calculate the length, I based it on
this toilet seat
which I bought on amazon (I chose this one because the cover completely covers the inner toilet seat and prevents both accidental water spillage and odors from coming out. The tablet was 45cm long, leaving a few cm margin for the opening, I went with a length of 49cm.

Forheight, on the other hand, I initially simply thought of measuring the cup at home: after all, that height surely has been studied by many before me as the most suitable to be comfortable for the average person.

Unfortunately, however, given the tanks I found for solid/liquid waste and the size of the diverter (which we will discuss in a moment), I have fallen back on a height of 53cm, slightly taller than the standard (45cm) but not overly so either.

3.2 THE KIT I USED TO BUILD MY OWN DIY BATHROOM

STEP 2. Once I was happy with the seat measurements, it was time to find all the right materials to build my bathroom.

Below, I show you in brief the materials I used, while in the step-by-step explanation immediately after I will explain the characteristics of each of them, why I chose them, and how I used them.

3.3 HOW I BUILT MY CAMPER’S DIY BATHROOM

Once all the materials were procured, it was time to get to work.

BONUS. Video of Our Finished Compostable Toilet 🙂

4. Where to dump the Camper’s Black Water (and human waste)?

The question of where RV water should, should and can be discharged has been an open debate for a very long time where everyone seems to have their own opinion or belief.

To provide some clarity, let us assume that there are laws and they should all be followed. Then, between us, we say that in some cases the laws are far too restrictive and strict, and sometimes end up going beyond logic: suffice it to say that technically it would be prohibited to empty gray water (which is nothing more than soapy water) into the grates of a wash (where essentially soap ends up).

Personally, I think it is right to use your conscience and be responsible to the environment and to other people and to understand when a dumping can do harm to others or not . Before you do a dumping, I suggest you keep in mind that there are over 100,000 RVs in Europe. Think as if everyone did as you do, and understand whether it would be a problem or not.

Before we understand where to discharge our needs then, we need to understand some terminology:

• Blackwater: is the wastewater from chemical toilets (contains pee, poop, toilet paper, and antibacterial/disinfecting chemicals)

• Gray Water: gray water is wastewater from the sink and shower, but not from the bathroom. They normally contain artificial products such as soap, shampoo, detergent etc.

• Compostable Liquid Waste: it is simply the pee canister, without anything else.

• Solid Compostable Waste: the solid mix of compostable toilets (biodegradable bag, poop, sawdust and possibly coconut humus or similar products). This waste over time can be turned into fertilizer.

4.1 WHERE TO FLUSH THE BLACK WATER FROM THE CAMPER’S CHEMICAL TOILET?

Black water from the RV, including human feces and chemical breakdown agents, can be discharged:

• At the designated dumping areas(marked by the blue sign seen above or by the words “chemical toilet,” “camper serve,” or “equipped area”). Usually these areas are found at campgrounds, truck stops, or otherwise on main roads (sometimes free and sometimes for a fee). If you have a portable cistern toilet, you can simply carry it to the point of flushing. If, on the other hand, you have an RV with an automatic drain (under the van), you will have to carry it over special grates in order to dump it safely. To find the nearest dump point to you, I recommend downloading and installing the app
  Caramaps
  (read here if you are interested in learning more about Caramaps and other useful apps for traveling by RV:
  The Best 15 Camper Travel Apps.
  ).

• In a regular toilet (e.g., the one at home or in a bar). However, this is only possible if the instructions of the chemicals you are going to use allow it (some products are even harmful to recycling systems!).

All other places, legislatively speaking, are off-limits and could bring you a big fine.

In fact, it is absolutely forbidden to discharge sewage (which, let us remember, contains chemicals) into rainwater drains or into the wild.

To see the black water flushing procedure (and the operation of a chemical toilet in general), I leave you with the
link to this video
by VanSweetFun, which I find really well done!

4.2 WHERE TO DISCHARGE GRAY WATER?

Gray water (also called “soapy” water) can be discharged:

• ideally, in a designated service area (such as black water)

• in a toilet

• In a Sink (where soaps, shampoos, and detergents can end up anyway).

• in the Grates (such as in the washing ones but not only, where other soaps end up anyway)

The products you use in an RV that can end up in gray water are essentially those you also use at home (shampoo, dishwashing liquid, toothpaste etc.). By knowing what you throw, you will also know better where to dump it.

4.3 WHERE TO DUMP LIQUID COMPOSTABLE WASTE?

Dumping the pee tank of a compostable toilet is really easy for the simple fact that there is exactly one and only pee in the container. That’s why you can dump it where you would normally pee:

• in a toilet
• among Plants (pee does not harm plants as you may think, but on the contrary is a source of nutrition)
• in a grid or a manhole
• roadside
• etc.

The important thing, of course, is.
Be civil and think about emptying in a place where it doesn’t bother anyone
: don’t throw your pee on private property, near other people, houses, vehicles, ornamental plants or anything else where their smell may harass people around.

4.4 WHERE TO DUMP SOLID COMPOSTABLE WASTE?

And here we come to thelast question: once the biodegradable bag with our feces and sawdust inside is closed, where can it be disposed of?

Here the issue is a bit complicated: feces can contain cholera bacteria and other viruses, so we need to be concerned that our human waste does not reach groundwater or other places where it might infect someone.

First of all, it is important that the bag is biodegradable: the most recommended materials are bioplastics and cornstarch.

Thus, the options for discarding the bag of solids once closed are:

• Put them in a Composting bin (you can keep one in your backyard if you have space, or know of some place in your municipality. Many campgrounds even have one).

• Throw the bag in a garbage can: garbage is composted and used as fertilizer, so putting the bag in a garbage can will allow it to get to the ideal place to be disposed of. (as in dog poop).

• In the absence of garbage cans, throw the Bag in a Garbage Can: just like dog poop, human feces can be disposed of in the garbage can (however, note that in this case it will not be composted and reused as compost).

• (More extreme solutions) Bury the Dead: If you are lost in the wilderness, you can dig a hole about ten inches deep and bury the bag. It will be disposed of within 2-3 months.