Van life is about freedom. When people choose to devote themselves to living on the road, they’re searching for that freedom. But what that looks like—the happiness you’ll get from living full-time in your vehicle—depends on many practical details.

At home, most people rely on public utilities to provide water, electricity, and sewage service. On the road, you’ve got to think about everything from the ground up.

Outfitting Your Van

“Where do you shower and go to the bathroom?” As anyone who’s lived the van life knows, vehicle accessories—all the hacks and gadgets you build into your van—can make or break the whole thing.

Every van is unique because every person eventually finds their own unique solutions for living on the road. Rather than replicating a house room by room, you can separate out various “tasks” and look for clever ways to incorporate them into your van.

Showering is one thing, but the more urgent question you’ll need to address is how to pee and poop.

So, what’s the best toilet for van life? Context is important! Are you parking primarily in urban areas? Will you be camping in rural places without services? How often will you be able to empty at a dump station?

The truth is that built-in toilets are not the end of the story. If you can pee standing up, you’ll have more options, and you won’t need to depend as heavily on toilets and sewage infrastructure.

The pStyle

The pStyle is a handheld hard-plastic funnel that allows you to pee standing up, even while fully clothed. Put it on your list of must-have van life accessories!

The best thing about the pStyle is its simplicity. Can you use it inside the van? Check. Can you use it at campsites? Check. Will it make your life easier when you’re parked in urban areas? Check!

Most cisgender men take pee breaks for granted, but for the rest of us, pee breaks—if there’s not a home-style bathroom involved—usually involve a little forethought.

Outdoor Camping

When you parkin the woods, the pStyle offers you the perfect opportunity to give your van toilet a break.

Using a stand-to-pee funnel means you can pee without squatting. It’s easier to find privacy because all you have to do is turn your back, and you don’t have to worry about poison ivy, ticks, or bug bites.

Every van toilet requires regular maintenance. Emptying bags or manually connecting a cassette toilet to a dump station is unpleasant at best. Save the toilet for when it’s needed.

Inside the Van

The pStyle makes it easier to pee inside your van. That’s what van accessories are meant to do—make things easier!

Peeing inside your van is a safety issue. When you wake up at night to pee, you can stay inside without having to assess your surroundings or—even worse—start driving to find a bathroom.

The pStyle makes it more practical to aim at a pee jar from a standing or kneeling position. Pee jars are a simple, cost-effective solution that can free you up to figure out more complex parts of your life, especially when you’re new to living on the road.

Urban Areas

In van life, legal issues can arise in unexpected ways. Ironically, going to the bathroom in urban areas can feel much more tricky than when you’re off in the wilderness.

Your bathroom options are limited when you’re parked on the street or in a box store parking lot, especially at night. The pStyle gives you some alternatives.

You can always use the pStyle and a pee jar inside your van, no matter where you’re parked.

Public Places

Surprisingly, the pStyle can make it possible topee in public places. In most jurisdictions, the legal issues boil down to two things: indecent exposure and damaging public property. Using an STP device can be a legal workaround.

When used properly, the pStyle involves zero exposure to any body parts. All you need to do is unzip your fly. By peeing into a bottle, you avoid depositing urine, which can act as a corrosive on concrete, brick, or metal and leave an unpleasant odor.

Pee Jars

Pee jars make it possible to divert urine from the waste stream. Our friends at the Rich Earth Institute are working to create potent fertilizer for farmers and home gardeners by collecting urine that might otherwise concentrate in waterways.

Your list of van life essentials can include the Rich Earth Institute’s ingenious collection system or your own DIY setup. Practically speaking, these tools can be easier and cleaner to use than some mobile toilet systems—plus, REI organizes drop-off locations in its “catchment” region of southern Vermont!

“Separating urine from the rest of the wastewater stream at the source has the potential to eliminate75% of the nitrogen and 55% of the phosphorus from municipal wastewater,” the REI writes.

A Word About Poop

No discussion of mobile bathrooms would be complete without talking about poop. Newbies can get swept up in planning the best van for their van life and miss some crucial considerations about their impact moving through the world.

Since 2020, there has been a considerable increase in people living on the road, and with it has come more significant impacts on public lands, especially dispersed camping areas that typically lack facilities.

“Leave No Trace” is a well-developed ethical system that helps people to minimize their impact on the natural world. LNT has nuanced guidelines forhow to poop outdoors: dig a sufficiently deep hole, at least 200 feet away from water, and bury or pack out your toilet paper.

Your vision of living the van life might not include packing out dirty toilet paper, but insufficient burial of poop and toilet paper—combined with increased traffic in sensitive natural areas—is a good argument for building an interior toilet into your van.

Hit the Road!

Want to know more about the pStyle? Our website for information about the full line of pStyles and canvas pCases.

We love hearing your questions and ideas! Drop us a line on our contact page.