The bathroom is the part of a caravan people ask about most and inspect least. It is worth a proper look, because it is also where water damage tends to start. Our listings tag whether a van has a toilet and a shower.
Cassette toilets
The cassette toilet is by far the most common setup. The bowl is fixed in the van and a removable tank (the cassette) sits underneath it, reached through a hatch in the outside wall. When it is full you slide it out, wheel it to a dump station, empty it and rinse it.
- A cassette is usually around 17 to 20 litres, which is roughly three to four days for two people.
- You add a treatment fluid to the tank, which controls smell and helps break down waste. Choose one that is safe for the dump station you use.
- Emptying takes about five minutes and is far less unpleasant than people expect.
- New Zealand has dump stations at most campgrounds, many town service areas and most NZMCA parks. Never empty a cassette into a storm drain or on the ground.
There are two other types you will come across:
- Black tank toilets, which flush into a larger fixed tank underneath the van, emptied by hose at a dump station. Less frequent emptying, but you have to take the whole van to the dump point.
- Composting toilets, which separate liquid and solid waste and use no water. Popular for long stays. They need a vent and a bit more of a routine.
Note that a portable toilet sitting on the floor no longer counts for self-contained certification. See the legal topic in this guide for what changed.
Wet rooms and separate showers
A wet room is a single moulded cubicle where the toilet, basin and shower share one space, with a drain in the floor. Almost every mid-size caravan uses one, because it makes the most of a small footprint.
- Good: compact, simple, easy to hose out.
- Watch for: everything gets wet when you shower, including the toilet roll if you forget to move it, and the room needs to dry out afterwards.
A separate shower cubicle is drier and nicer to use, and it takes up more of the van. You mostly see it in larger vans.
Some vans have a bathroom but no shower plumbed in, or an outside shower point on the side wall. If a shower matters to you, check it is actually there and that hot water reaches it.
How much water you really use
This is where expectations meet reality. A shower at home uses somewhere near 70 litres. A caravan shower needs to be under 10.
The technique is simple: wet down, turn the water off, soap up, rinse off. Most caravan showers have a button on the head so you can stop the flow without losing the temperature. Two people showering daily will go through a 100 litre fresh water tank in roughly three days, and will fill the grey tank at the same rate.
Grey water is usually the limit before fresh water is, so keep an eye on it.
Servicing and what to check
When you inspect a van:
- Slide the cassette out and back in. It should move freely and the seal blade should open and close smoothly.
- Look for staining or a musty smell, which points to an old leak.
- Run the shower. Check the pump primes, the water gets hot, and it drains away properly rather than pooling.
- Press gently around the base of the wet room and the corners. Soft or spongy means water has got into the floor, which is expensive.
- Check the roof vent or extractor in the bathroom works, because that is how the room dries.
Ongoing, a caravan bathroom needs very little: replace the cassette blade seal every couple of years, keep the seals lubricated, flush the fresh water system before a season, and leave the bathroom door open when the van is stored so air can move through.