If you are considering having a toilet in your caravan or camper, there are a few things you need to consider prior to purchasing one.
Do I want it to be permanently installed, or portable?
Will there be many people will use it? How long does it need to last?
How often will I need to use it? (For example, will I be staying in caravan parks mostly or not?)
How much am I willing to spend?
Do I need to be water, electricity or environment conscious?
How do I empty it, and how do I clean it?
What are the benefits of a caravan toilet?
There are a few very obvious benefits of having a toilet in your caravan or motorhome. The first, and probably most important –convenience, and practicality! Having an onboard toilet means you are less likely to need to stay at a caravan park, increasing the ability to free camp. Depending how many people are using it, you can go days without having to leave to empty your toilet. You also don’t have to use public toilets, and let’s face it, sometimes they are not so nice!
Another important reason – privacy. Have you ever been in a public toilet and almost walked out because of the smell? Or even worse, the noise? Sometimes it’s nice to know you have this little private sanctuary in your RV.
So what caravan toilet options are available?
Cassette Toilet –
A cassette toilet is a permanent option in your RV or caravan. It is secured in place, and has a waste holding tank underneath.
Once you flush the toilet, the waste goes down into the cassette and is stored until emptied. The waste holding tanks typically are between 15-20 litres in size. Depending on use and the amount of people, this typically will last a couple of days. A lot of people opt to carry an additional waste tank if they know they will not be near a dump point for some time.
Most cassettes are accessible from the outside of your motorhome via a small door.
The idea is to remove the cassette tank, and empty when needed into a dump point (a specific spot for dumping motor home waste – we have found these to be quite common everywhere in Australia, most RV friendly towns have one available). Once emptied, you can hose the tank out for a bit of a clean, and reinsert back into your motorhome.
The good –
Easy to find dump spots – readily available in most RV friendly towns.
Convenience – No need to find a public toilet, or a nice spot on the ground!
Space saving – some cassette toilets come with a swivel seat which means it can be turned in any direction. This is handy in smaller spaces like ours.
The bad –
The smell. Yes, it can smell!
We use specific toilet chemicals which help to break down the waste, and basically turn it into slush. This is what comes out of your cassette and into the dump point. The first time you dump your waste can be a bit of a shock to see what comes out!
Some dump points are definitely more cleaner than others. Most have a hose to rinse the dump point when you are finished using it, the ones that don’t tend to be a little smelly!
Inside, the smell is mainly when you open the toilet and you can smell it from underneath. When closed, it is not as much of an issue.
We have found regularly cleaning the toilet, rinsing it at each dump station, using the chemicals, and a few drops of eucalyptus oil every now and then helps with the smell.
Another negative – the waste tank can be heavy when full. To help with this, a lot of cassette waste tanks come with an extendable handle and wheels to roll it along the ground to the dump point.
Some examples of Cassette toilets –
Portable Toilet –
A portable RV toilet is essentially the same as a cassette toilet, however the waste holding tank is attached to the toilet itself, and the whole thing can be moved around as a unit. This is a good idea if you are not wanting a permanent plumbed in toilet, or do not have enough space for a bathroom but want the convenience of a toilet just in case.
The good –
Easy to find dump spots – readily available in most RV friendly towns.
Convenience – No need to find a public toilet, or a nice spot on the ground!
Space saving – if you cannot have a permanent bathroom, at least you can still carry a toilet around with you. Most people tuck them away under a bed, or in a cupboard when not in use.
Typically a lot cheaper than a cassette toilet, so better for those watching their budgets!
The bad –
Generally a smaller waste saving tank, so it needs to be emptied more often.
Not a permanent feature, so needs to be carried around with you.
The smell! Always the smell haha!
Some examples of portable toilets are –
- Camec Portable Toilet – 20L (10L also available)
- Thetford Porta Potti 365
- Dometic Sanipottie 976
Composting Toilet –
Have you ever chucked all of your vegetable and kitchen scraps somewhere and just left it to breakdown?
That is essentially what a RV composting toilet is.
It works by separating the liquids from the solids, and an additive such as peat moss, or sawdust helps to break it down.
After you have used it, it can then be emptied anywhere you would normal compost. It is definitely recommended not to empty the compost around any edible plants, herbs, vegetables, fruits, seeds etc.
The liquid can be disposed of at a dump spot, or even in a normal toilet as it has no chemicals in it.
The good –
It is the most environmentally friendly option. It is a dry toilet and doesn’t require water to use. If needed a quick spray of water from a bottle should do the trick.
Easy to find dump spots.
Convenient!
No chemicals required.
The bad –
Typically the most expensive.
If you need to use toilet paper, it takes much longer to break down than the waste does, so you will be able to see this and would probably need to dispose of at dump stations. Alternatively, you can put your used toilet paper in a bin instead of the toilet.
There is RV specific toilet paper available. It is generally a lot thinner than regular toilet paper which helps it to breakdown quicker. Downside to this is the cost.
As it separates solids from liquids, it is not great for anyone who may be sick; sometimes there is an in-between!
It is recommended for use for only 1-2 people. As there is no large waste holding tank, it is not suitable for families or large groups.
They require a bit of understanding to be able to be used properly. If used properly, there is typically no issues with smells, or clogs.
There are not a lot of composting toilets around, however a good example is the Natures Head Composting Toilet.
Gravity Flush –
If you are going to be staying at a lot of caravan parks, a gravity flush toilet could be the option for you.
They work using pressurised water and gravity to flush away the contents in a tank located directly underneath – kind of like a pretty long drop toilet!
As you need pressurised water to clean it, typically you need to be plugged into mains water for this to be effective.
The tank is then emptied at a designated dump spot, just like a cassette toilet.
The good –
Simple to use.
It does not require electricity to work – They are operated by a foot pump.
Low water usage
The bad –
Can smell, just like a casette toilet.
The toilet has a higher chance of clogging.
As the toiler needs pressurised water, it is not as good at being able to be used off grid.
Some examples of gravity flush toilets –
So what did we decide?
After looking at all of the caravan toilet options available, we were tossing up between a cassette toilet, and a composting toilet. We wanted a permanent toilet and both of these fit what we were looking for.
After watching a clip on YouTube describing the composting toilet, we opted against it. The idea of being sick, or even for a girl during that time of the month and not being able to use the toilet turned us off a little. Not to mention it was more expensive!
Because of this, we decided on a Dometic CTS 4110 cassette toilet.
All of the toilets listed require the use of a dump point. Dump points are readily available in most RV friendly towns. We found the easiest way to find them was using the Wikicamps App. Not only does this app help with dump point locations, but also camp sites, information centres, laundromats and more.
Even though most of them can smell, there are plenty of chemical options such as Thetford Aqua Kem blue, or Porta Pak sachets available to help. You can purchase these at caravan shops, camping shops, some auto shops, and in country places some supermarkets stock them. We tend to use the sachets, as we have found for us they last longer and work better.
A toilet is definitely a personal preference, and they are all good in different ways. After living in our Toyota Coaster motorhome for quite some time now, we are happy with our decision to put in a toilet and wouldn’t ever build another motorhome without one!
If you want to see how we installed our toilet, check out our page here –
