Van Life: Bathrooms

In some ways it feels like we just started, and in other ways it seems like we’ve been on the road for years, but in reality we started van life just over one month ago (June 1^st). It’s been long enough to settle into a routine and to improve upon some of the minor inconveniences we uncovered early on. For example, we covered the bed’s footboard with some thick fabric so I wouldn’t bruise my shins every day getting up, built a mount for our satellite internet dish, and we swapped the trash and recycling bins for better access.

But let’s get into what you really want to hear about: our bathroom situation. I’ll go ahead and warn you, it’s minimal and not for everyone, but as far as van life goes, it’s pretty class. It has all of the elements you need in a bathroom – a toilet, shower, and sink – so let’s get into each.

The Sink

Maybe I oversold it by saying there is a bathroom sink. There is a single sink in our van, and I more commonly think of it as our kitchen sink. That said, it also is the receptacle for our post-tooth brushing waste and our after-toilet hand washing. Yes, sometimes there are some dirty dishes piled up in there, but we’ve learned to work around them. Cameron did have to instruct me to run the faucet long enough for my toothpastey spit to fully wash out so that he didn’t have to look at the white foam the next time he used the sink.

Also doing double duty is our hand towel, which is more commonly thought of as our kitchen towel. I’m not super happy with that set up, since I don’t want food flecks on my clean hands nor hand flecks on my clean dishes, but we’ve yet to commit to a solution.

It’s just a cheap undermount setup that Cameron bought on Wayfair and Amazon, but I’ve been pleased with it, especially the built in soap dispensers. We made sure it maximizes the space available and is small enough to fit well under the cabinet. There are separate pumps for dishwashing soap and hand soap which are pretty low profile. I haven’t yet mixed up which one’s which yet, but I’m sure it will happen to somebody. I’m also dreading the day we’ll have to refill the bottles, which are also undermounted and take some flexibility and finagling to reach.

The Toilet

When possible, we use public toilets, especially for our #2 business. That said, our Nature’s Head composting toilet has been great, although I know its setup would make some people uncomfortable. It’s basically dead-center to the length of the van, and sits directly next to the sink. Most of the time it is covered by a bench seat and some cushions, and so long as it’s covered you don’t notice it’s there. There is a small built in fan and tube system that theoretically pushes any stinky air outside of the van (I say theoretically because we haven’t produced enough solid matter to create a lingering smell) and also helps keep the composting process aerobic. Although centrally located, I think it’s a pretty sanitary setup.

The toilet is fully encompassed by the shower curtain, but we haven’t found it worth to pull out the shower curtain from its storage cubby every time we pee. I.e., there is no privacy. Cameron and I often face each other while he works from the swiveled-around passenger seat while I take a mid-day leak. During weekdays, the table stays down, which provides a little bit of cover, but being able to have your elbows resting on a solid surface while urinating is unusual. Is it weird? Yes. Have we permanently converted to the type of couple who uses the toilet in front of each other? I hope not.

Everyone sits while using this toilet. The main reason is because the urine section is at the front of the bowl, and if you were standing and aiming at the back, you might end up with a puddle that would pool over the solid’s trap door. Solid’s have their own compartment, which is supposed to stay dry. It is filled with sphagnum peat moss that acts like a carbon medium to aid with the composting process. There is a little lever that allows you to flip between the two compartments while you’re sitting, which I have to use regularly to deposit my toilet paper. After making a solids deposit, you use the attached foot pedal to mix it all up.

We’ve yet to dump the solids side, but we have to drain the urine jug at least weekly. A fair amount of our evening stops have had dump sites, but we’ve also used a pit toilet and occasionally poured it among secluded trees. Once done, we add a large splash (maybe 1/3 cup) of white vinegar (although we’ll be transitioning to white wine vinegar soon thanks to a misinterpretation of the grocery shopping list) and call it good.

I’m not particularly happy with our toilet paper situation. We don’t have a committed place for the toilet paper (although we’ve talked about installing a waterproof cover) which means the roll shifts around from counter-to-counter and occasionally on the floor or bed. More than once I’ve had to either do a very uncomfortable long reach, call for Cameron to bring me the TP, do a vigorous wiggle followed by an awkward pants-down waddle to a far-away storage place, or begrudgingly decided to just suck it up and commit to showering and changing my underwear soon.

We also still need to physically bolt down the toilet. It’s surrounded on all four sides by something that holds it in, but there is still a few inches of wiggle room. It’s not creating a big problem, but there are slight shifts as we drive and you can jiggle it a little while sitting on it. Hopefully we don’t have occasion to regret not fully securing it sooner.

The Shower

Although I initially thought the shower was unnecessary, I’ve been happy to have it. I think we’ve only used it twice in the first month, but even if we never use it again I’ll consider the shower worth it.

I’ve given an overview before, but to summarize there is a low-profile curtain track that is permanently attached to the ceiling and a pocket in the cabinet above the sink that the faucet and curtain tuck into when not in use. The tile floor is covered by a false floor to raise our feet to a comfortable height when sitting at the table. While showering, our soaps sit on top of the toilet, but the rest of the time they are stored under that platform.

Cameron did a lot of research to figure out which shower head he wanted. We ended up with an Oxygenetics model that is widely considered one of the top choices for RVs because of its low profile, good water pressure, but low flow with high water conservation. Our sink faucet is good for water pressure, too, but its more noticeable with shower use. Even so, we have to be conscious of our gray tank level since both of us showering uses about 10 gallons of water, and it’s max capacity is only 20. For hot water, we do have to remember to turn on the furnace, which is fueled by the same fuel tank as the rest of the car, but it heats up in just a few minutes.

The shower head has three settings: two for different water streams and one that is a near-shutoff. That setting keeps the temperature and water pressure up while we soap up as another method of water conservation. The snaky piping is long enough that we can spray outside the sliding door, which we’ve used to rinse off sandy feet to avoid trekking muck into the van.

The standing shower space is spacious for a van, yet takes up virtually no room when not in use. Being able to let the curtain tuck up into a slotted-shelf cabinet and drip into the sink, even when not fully dry, and having the above-floor platform and above-toilet bench seat mean that we can go back to our normal use for that region of the van even if it’s still wet from the previous shower. We haven’t needed to fully test that yet, and so far have been able to keep the curtain hanging and drying overnight.

Pancake demonstrating how comfortable it is on the false floor. Additionally, you can see the urine jug, which is easy to detach and dump. We thought this would be an ideal place to store toilet paper, until we realized it sometimes slips below the platformed floor and absorbs moisture.  

This was our first dump site – the Wyoming Welcome Center. It was a little mystifying at first, but we've since learned that there is typically two potable water hoses with a septic dump and nonportable water hose in between. The idea is that two people can drive up on either side to use the two potable water hoses simultaneously. If you have a long enough hose, you could fill up while dumping, but so far we've mostly dumped first and then pulled up to the potable water station. 

When in use, the shower takes up quite a bit of space, but there is still enough walkway to get around the curtain. The bigger problem is finding enough hooks for all of the wet things (towels, swim suits, etc.) to dry after the shower. We've concocted a makeshift clothesline that runs the length of the van, but it makes it feel very crowded inside. We're also in need of a post-shower floor mat, so for now we're just throwing down the junk green towel you can see in the photo.

The most important element of our shower design was to incorporate the venting fan within the curtain. That help keeps the in-van moisture to a minimum. While we shower the toilet is exposed, and we've waterproofed all of the edging for the wall-mounted table. 

On the righthand side of this photo you can see our sink with our bespoke sink cover (intended to increase the counter space when the sink is not in use). You can also see the cubby directly above that where the shower curtain and shower head are kept. The shower head mount and water dial are permanently on display.  

The sink and shower water both drain into this gray tank below the van. At certain dump stations we can drive overtop of a dump hole and simply open the draining valve, but at others we need to release the water through a hose. We keep separate hoses for gray tank and potable water. 

Now some throw backs to the van construction. Initially we thought the shower hose was unnecessarily long (6 feet) but we have benefited from it being able to reach outside. 

Cameron installing the sink and soap dispensers. 

The shower construction was really challenging and we had many concerns on if we did it right. It's not perfect, but we use a squeegee to guide any pooled water into the drain hole. The tile we chose has a nice underfoot texture, but I'm still worried about falling over at some point; the space is unusual and feels like a natural tripping hazard.