The age-old question. Where do you sh*t?
Here is my take on it. If you are in a city, there are bars, gyms, restaurants and cafes with
toilets open from around 8am to 1am in most places. This covers you for the basic needs if you can do a little thinking ahead.
If you are in the wild – then you can nature poo anywhere. Just take a trowel and go for a ‘Pike’ (poo-hike). Dig a 6 inch hole and away you go. Best practices is to dispose of the toilet paper into a bin and don’t go anywhere near a stream or river.
For those of who prefer their comforts or are perhaps a bit older and dashing to some woods is not ideal here are the main toilet options;
No toilet (pee bottle)
A pee bottle is kinda nice, saves going outside in cold or rainy weather.. or if you just don’t feel like dressing yet. Naglene wide mouth bottles can work for women if they work out their aim.
Portable toilet – cassette toilet
There are a wide range of portable toilets which use chemicals to flush, clean and manage odors.
You can make a space in your van where it can slide away when not in use. These are ideal especially for when you are caught without a non-van alternative.
They are not maintenance free and you can usually empty them at any normal fill point or other
mains-connected toilet.
The main advantage is that they just take space. There is no additional build required and with £85 / $120
you have a toilet in your van.
Fixed-position - cassette toilet
These toilets are the middle ground between a portable toilet and a fully plumbed in toilet that goes to a black water tank.
These cassette toilets are best when integrated into a shower unit. The seat/bowl typically swivels to give more room in the small shower space.
The cassette is removed from the back of the toilet and therefore it is usually placed with the back facing in-to the van so it can be accessed.
These fixed units (that can be plumbed in) cost more – around $650 or £500.
Again the cassette can be dumped into normal mains plumbed toilets or at waste dump sites in campsites etc..
Built-in toilet with black-water tank
A built in toilet brings the requirement for a black-water tank. A ‘black water’ tank (toilet waste) needs a big hose to empty it – and a grey-water tank to empty after so the black water hose is cleaned up.
This is not really a suitable set-up for most van conversions, especially off-grid conversions as you need proper caravan waste dumping facilities fairly frequently to deal with the waste. I will not delve into these requirements in this book but if you search for adding black water tanks / plumbing in a flushing toilet for your van it should be fairly easy to work it out.
Note; in the US black water holding tanks are pretty normal and there tends to be lots of dump sites. In Europe dump sites are much less prevalent therefore a cassette toilet is recommended.