When you have a house with plumbing, you never have to think about where the water comes from and where it goes… But in a campervan or RV, you’re going to have to fill up every drop of water you want to use.
Every handful of days (depending on the size of your water tanks), you’ll need to fill and dump.
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Fill your tanks with fresh water for drinking, cooking, showering, etc.
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Dump your dirty tanks, or your grey water.
Neither task takes all that long or is that terrible, but unless you’re exclusively camping at RV parks or higher-end campgrounds, you’ll often need to do a little searching for where you can fill and dump.
Insider Tip: We’ve had luck at gas stations (only some have these services) and visitors centers. And sometimes random sporting goods shops or transit centers will have what you need. The apps Campendium and iOverlander are usually pretty helpful in showing nearby fill and dump stations to your location. Also, you can sometimes go to campgrounds (even if you’re not staying there) and ask how much it is to fill and dump. We’ve paid anywhere from $5 to $15 for these services.
Filling your tanks
This task isn’t that bad, it’s just sometimes a hassle to find water. If you’re staying in a campground, there will likely be a place for you to fill. Problem solved. But if you’re urban camping or on BLM Land, you’re going to have to seek out a fill station.
Psst! Apps like Campendium and iOverlander can be really helpful for finding fill stations.
Our advice is to not let your water get too low, and fill when you have the opportunity. It’s no fun running out of water in the evening in the middle of nowhere. We speak from experience.
Emptying Grey Water
Alright, let’s talk about one of the least glamorous parts of vanlife…
Imagine saving up all the dirty water in your house for a few days. It’s a lovely concoction of toothpaste spit, the bottom of your cup of coffee, dishwater, and the remnants of washing your dirty hiking socks in the sink.
Let’s just say they don’t call it “grey water” for nothing.
When you do all of these things in a regular home, you never have to think about the water once it leaves your sink. But this is not the case with a campervan.
Depending on the complexity of your van setup, emptying can be kind of hands-off, or it can be more involved…
Some fancy builds have a super amazing button for dumping! But that requires a bit more plumbing and time installing.
Emptying your tank isn’t fun — that’s for sure — but honestly, it goes pretty quickly.
That said, finding a place to dump, taking everything out, and putting it back in isn’t exactly on the top of our favorite ways to spend time.
And in some areas, dump stations are few and far between. It’s never fun driving around with a full tank of nasty grey water trying to find a place to dump it before you can use the sink. Best case scenario, you just don’t let it get that full, right? But more likely than not, you’ll make this mistake at least once before you really learn.
5. Doing Laundry
No matter how luxe your build, you’re going to have to deal with doing laundry on the road, and depending on your situation, that can mean many things.
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a) you can hand wash your dirty items individually (think: washing underwear each night and hanging it to dry) or a bunch at a time and hang them to dry
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b) you can find a laundromat on the road
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c) you can stay at an Airbnb or friends’ house every so often to keep up with your laundry
Doing laundry at home is a drag to begin with, so it should come as no surprise that it’s not suddenly super fun in a van. It can be kind of a hassle, but it’s always a hassle, isn’t it?
6. Getting Internet
If you’re using a campervan mainly for weekend adventuring purposes, this one may not really apply to you.
But if you, like us, need Internet to work on the road, you’ll likely have some growing pains along the way.
The great thing about campervans is you really can create a comfortable “office on wheels” that you can quite literally take with you wherever you may be. When you’re in a city or an area with great cell service, you should have no problem getting great Internet in your van. With the right devices and methods, your Internet can be as good as (or even better than!) anyone’s home connection.
However, many of us with campervans don’t want to stay exclusively in cities. And when you venture to the outskirts of civilization, you’ll find it can be difficult to do things that require higher bandwidth, like stream videos or upload files.
The struggle of getting fast Internet is something all digital nomads deal with at some point, so this doesn’t apply exclusively to campervans. But it is something to keep in mind, especially if your job depends on it.
Insider Tip: Before heading to a campsite, read reviews. Often times camping apps will disclose if there is cell service (sometimes it’s even broken down by provider). We always like knowing in advance if there will be limited or no cell service. That allows us to download important things like maps (and Netflix!), or to pass on the site and find a different one if we really need Internet connection.
7. Lack of Personal Space
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