Building the Escape Pod
It’s tempting to add hatches, sockets, ladders and racks on the outside of the van to provide better access to utilities and to provide places to strap stuff on.
The problem is, every hole and every screw or bolt is another place where you’ve breached the protective paint layer, so it’s an opportunity for the van to rust.
Continue reading “Why we tried not to make holes in the outside of our van”
We were concerned that every composting toilet reviewer had somehow lost their sense of smell at the same time they started using the unit. How could a bucket full of poo NOT smell bad? Well, either we both lost our nose function too, or the composting toilet we installed really doesn’t produce any nasty fumes.
We just bought the Nature’s Head composting toilet. After testing it out in our spare bathroom for a week, we installed it in our van. Here’s how we chose to fit it in.
Continue reading “Installing the Nature’s Head composting toilet in a Sprinter”
We love our bucket and bag toilet solution, but it’s not really suitable for longer term use inside the van. We decided to try out a composting toilet instead. First, we had to find a suitable one.
We don’t have a propane tank in our van, so we heat our water using the electrical system. It’s a choice that works for us because we have a large battery and solar system. Here’s a description of our system and the other options you might consider.
The water you’ve used for washing yourself or your dishes is known as grey water. And guess what? It really is grey! It’s not likely to be good for watering the neighboring bushes, especially if you plan on staying in the area for a while. It’ll start to stink and attract flies.
Several people have asked for the exact specifications of the sink cabinet we built. It fits really well behind the sliding door pillar and in front of the bench seat in the third row position. Here’s a detailed look at the design and the parts you’d need to order to build your own.
We’ve been driving around with a prototype sink cabinet made from shipping crate wood for a while now. It was time to finish the job. We used aluminum extrusions with t-slots in each side to make the frame, then slid 1/4″ bamboo ply in to the slots to make side panels.
Continue reading “Sink cabinet built with 80/20 aluminum extrusion”
Normally the places we choose to camp are deserted. Nobody but the wildlife to see us pooping. Sometimes though we have neighbors, so we bought a $40 pop-up toilet/shower tent.
Camping away from organized sites has loads of advantages, but there are very few outhouses in the wilderness. Some areas (like Moab) don’t let you dig holes in the ground to poop in. You need some kind of container. It doesn’t have to be too smelly and gross though.