How To Build a Sprinter Van Bathroom

If you don’t design and build them carefully, bathrooms can take up a lot of room in a sprinter van where space is tight and only saved for what is essential.

That is why it is good to have a good idea of what it takes to build a bathroom in your sprinter van. It could be the best decision you ever made as you will never have to run out into the woods or stop at every gas station you see, but it could also be a bit of a headache. 

There are different ways that you can have the essentials of a bathroom without having to build anything just by using some conveniently places products that can be neatly tucked away when not in use. You can also stick to the basics and use mother nature as your toilet, but this isn’t always a good idea.

Essentially, no option is better than the other as it all comes down to what you want and where in the world you are traveling as some places have a lot of public bathrooms whereas others don’t. 

Having an established bathroom on the other hand allows you to not only go to the restroom whenever you want but also gives you the ability to take a shower, wash your face, etc. all at the same place which can make your sprinter van feel much more like home. 

A Rundown on the Sprinter Van

The Sprinter Van is manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and is a Class B motorhome. If you are not familiar with the different classes of motorhomes – there are four different classes of motorhomes which are Class A, Class B, Class B+, and Class C. 

Class A motorhomes are the biggest ones you can get that offer the most space and are the more luxurious models, but this also means that they are expensive and more difficult to drive than other classes as they are quite large.  

On the other hand, Class B motorhomes are the smallest ones you can get and usually range from 18 to 24 feet long. They are not as expensive and much easier to drive and park and even though they are not as big as Class A motorhomes, they are still able to sleep up to four people. 

Class B+ is a relatively new hybrid of class that refers to motorhomes that are a bit larger and offer some more luxuries than those in Class B such as a stand-up shower and bath, but this comes with a bigger price tag as well. 

Finally, we have the Class C motorhomes which sit between the Class A and Class B models. They have an overhead section for storage or sleeping and typically measure between 30 and 33 feet long. The Class C motorhomes offer a bit more room than the Class B ones but also come with the luxuries of a Class A one. 

Now that you have a better idea of where the Sprinter van sits within the motorhome world, you can better understand what it is capable of. The sprinter can take you to places that the other motorhomes are not able to as it is compact as well as very easy to maneuver over difficult roads. If you have a 4×4 van, it can also take on any off-roading that you throw at it. 

If you are itching to explore, love freedom, and live a minimalistic lifestyle then you would feel right at home in a sprinter van. It’s impressive how these vans are able to fit in a functioning kitchen, sleeping area, and bathroom. 

With this sprinter van, you can also choose between a gas and diesel engine which will influence how long the van will last. They are also capable of hauling heavy loads of up to 6,735 depending on how your van is configured. 

There are different body styles that you can decide from when you get your sprinter van which is all carefully designed for your individual needs in mind from the standard cargo van to the minivan configured for passengers.

Should You Build a Bathroom in Your Sprinter Van?

Obviously, everyone is different, and going through the process of building a bathroom in a sprinter van can seem like the most daunting thing that feels a bit unnecessary, but for others, it could be the very thing that turns them toward the van life. 

Being self-sufficient is a big pro that comes with having a bathroom in your van as the average person uses the bathroom around seven times a day which is a lot of public bathroom breaks if you don’t have another bathroom set up in your van. 

On the other hand, others like to live a simple life, and having no bathroom in your van will also save you space, maintenance, and money which is very important to a lot of those living the van life. 

Laying Out the Plan 

The very first thing you need to do is plan a layout for your bathroom with all the parts that are significant to you in mind. Work out where your shower, toilet, etc. will be placed in your van and visualize as good as you can see what it would be like to have that space taken from your van to help you decide if you will be able to make it work. 

Building the Walls

Once you have measured your space and planned the layout, you can begin to build the walls which will give you that much-needed privacy when you are enjoying the luxuries of your bathroom.

To begin with, you can use 18 mm plywood to make a shell for your wall, using a template to cut it to fit, and the sprinter van has a bit of a curve to it so keep that in mind when measuring.

It is best to use right-angle brackets that are fastened to the floor, ceiling, and sidewall of the van to fasten the plywood in place. The brackets should be on the inside of the bathroom so that they are hidden. 

The next thing to do is put in the shower tray and then install the wall panels. Use the same template that you used to measure the upright plywood walls to measure and cut out the side walls before gluing them to one another. 

After this, you can use a strip of wall panel to create the bathroom ceiling and final wall by curving it upwards over the van’s shape. A good shower wall panel will contain all the moisture and keep it away from the wood used in the rest of the van. 

Then, make sure to seal all the edges and corners with something like Sikaflex 512 so that your bathroom is totally watertight as this will save you a lot of headaches in the future. Finally, you can put in an LED lightbulb which will bring your bathroom to life and prevent you from having a nasty slip in the night. 

Shower

For the shower door, it is best to use a retractable one because it saves the most space as it rolls back into the frame instead of opening out and getting in the way. A retractable door is also able to clean itself which is an extra bonus and will prevent streaks and a build-up of moisture on the glass. 

The pros don’t stop there either because retractable doors are easy to install as they attach to the shower with sticky pads which may not sound very secure, but there is also a guide rail at the top and bottom of the door which then hooks onto screws on both ends to keep the door in place. 

If you have a 16-liter hot water tank, just 15 minutes of driving will give you a full tank of hot water that you can use in your shower.

There are many ways that you can lay out your plumbing system in order to get the right balance of feeding it to other appliances and getting the most out of your water supply. 

Toilet

There’s a selection of toilets that you can put in your van, one of them being a composting toilet which is becoming increasingly popular since it gives you the luxury of having a toilet in your van but without having the smell and the hassle of disposal that go hand in hand with a traditional chemical toilet. 

If they are used in the right way, the beauty of composting toilets is that they are easy to clean and do not smell.

Instead of flushing the human waste away into a sewage system, a compost toilet works by breaking the waste down with most of them not even needing any water in order to function which means they don’t need to be connected to a septic tank or wastewater system. 

At the end of this process, the human waste is turned into an organic matter which is both dry and odorless and can be used as a fertilizer if the laws in your state allow it. 

If a composting toilet isn’t your kind of thing, you can opt for other types of toilets such as a portable toilet. This means that you can go wherever you are, and you can easily tuck it away when not in use, but you will have to stop and dump the waste when you can, and it can get a bit smelly. 

Public toilets are also an option if you prefer, but there is the risk that you will not always have one at the ready when you need to go, especially if you are traveling through rural areas for long distances. 

Making the Most of Your Space

After building your bathroom in your sprinter van, you are probably looking around and seeing that you have a lot less room for your things.

Do not worry though because there are a lot of clever ways that you can make the most of your space without making you feel crowded and weighed down as that goes against one of the main motivations of van life. 

Every sprinter van has walls, and therefore every van can store things on those walls! You can use the rear doors to hang your shoes and tools on, and you can hide the messier bits of life such as garbage in cabinet doors. 

Pegboards are great for storing pots and pans and your spices can be neatly tucked away with the use of spice gripper clips which can be stuck on the inside of your cabinet doors, ready to use. 

To free up some cabinet and counter space, you can get your hands on some wall-mounted dispensers in which you can store things such as rice, cereal, and pasta. 

If you are a remote worker, desk space is important, but it shouldn’t take up a lot of space even when you are not working, eating, etc. This is why you should get a table that can collapse because it will open up a whole new area when needed. 

Summary

Once you have decided that building a bathroom in your sprinter van is what you want, you will have to figure out a clear layout before you do anything else. It is worth thinking about it in depth before you take the leap because you will be using a lot of van space. 

There are pros and cons to building a bathroom in your sprinter van, but your experience will vary greatly on what kind of sprinter van model you have, your traveling habits, what shower you use, and what toilet you use, so you have to think about what works best for you and what will make your van life easier. 

If you are ready for the luxury of a bathroom on the move, you can begin your journey with 18 mm plywood, brackets, wall panels, glue, and seal, and get building!