Campervan Plumbing Setup for Full-Time Van Life

When I started planning my campervan plumbing setup, I knew one thing very early on.

Water capacity was non-negotiable.

For me, this van was never being built as a weekend camper. It was being built as a full-time home on wheels that I could live in, work from, travel remotely in, and use around Australia without constantly needing caravan parks or town facilities.

That changed the way I thought about water completely.

A basic jerry can under the sink might work for quick weekends away, but for full-time van life, I wanted something far more practical. I wanted enough fresh water to stay off-grid comfortably, hot water for proper showers, a simple grey water system, reliable fittings, and the ability to refill creatively when travelling through remote areas.

After living with my setup on the road, I can honestly say the plumbing has become one of the most important parts of the entire van.

It is not the most exciting part of a campervan build.

It is not as fun as the timber work, layout design or electrical setup.

But when it works properly, it makes daily life so much easier.

This article is not a step-by-step guide on how to plumb a campervan. It is a real-world look at my campervan plumbing setup after travelling and living in the van full-time, including what worked, what failed, what I would change, and what I think actually matters when building a campervan water system for Australia.

My Campervan Plumbing Setup Overview

My campervan plumbing setup was designed around full-time living, not occasional weekend travel.

The system includes two fresh water tanks, one grey water tank, an instantaneous gas hot water system, rear outdoor shower, side foot wash shower, kitchen sink, drinking water filter, pressure pump, accumulator and a mixture of fixed and flexible refill options.

The main components are:

• 2 x Roto 84L fresh water tanks
• Camec 43L grey water tank
• Mopeka Pro Check Bluetooth sensors
• Seaflo MK2 55psi / 11.3LPM 12V water pump
• Shurflo pressure accumulator
• Camec 13kW instant gas water heater
• Cefito stainless steel kitchen sink
• Decaura 360-degree swivel kitchen tap
• Decaura rear door handheld shower
• Hyuduo RV exterior foot shower
• Puretec inline drinking water filter
• Coast to Coast water fillers
• Flat Out drinking water hose
• Flat Out sullage hose
• John Guest fittings throughout

The two 84L fresh water tanks are mounted inside the van under the bed area. They sit on the floor, covered by a false floor, with my Bushman freezer and storage drawer sitting above. The 43L grey water tank is also mounted in the same general area.

This placement worked well for weight distribution because the water sits further back and close to the rear axle. That matters more than people think.

Water is heavy. If you are carrying 168L of fresh water, that’s 168kg before you even include the tanks, fittings and plumbing. So where you place your tanks can affect how the van drives, how the layout works, and how much usable storage you have left.

How Much Fresh Water I Carry

I can carry 168L of fresh water in total. In reality, I would estimate around 145L is properly usable.

That is because with most water tanks, the outlet does not sit perfectly at the lowest possible point. Unless the drain or pickup is directly at the bottom of the tank, there will always be some water left behind that the pump cannot fully access.

You can park the van on a lean and get more water to move toward the pickup point, but you will rarely empty the tanks completely.

That is something people often miss when planning a campervan water setup.

The number on the tank is not always the amount of water you can actually use.

For me as a solo traveller, this amount of water has been excellent. I can generally last around 12–14 days with drinking, cooking, dishes and showers. If I am careful, and especially if I can capture rainwater or use creek water for washing, I can stretch that even further.

Usually, I will run out of food before I run out of water.

When I built the van, I wanted power and water to be the two things that never held me back. Food is easy enough to plan around, but water becomes a safety issue, especially when travelling remote parts of Australia.

Why Water Capacity Matters for Full-Time Van Life

If you are living in a van full-time, water is something you think about constantly unless your system is built properly.

You drink it.
You cook with it.
You wash dishes with it.
You shower with it.
You clean gear with it.
You rinse sand, fish smell and dirt off yourself before getting back inside.

For me, water use changes massively depending on where I am travelling. If I am inland, not fishing, and being conservative, water lasts a long time.

But if I am near the coast, walking on beaches, fishing, cleaning gear and rinsing off sand, water consumption goes up quickly. That fine shell sand that sticks to your legs after a beach walk can take more water to rinse off than you expect.

Fishing also uses a lot of water.

Althought I rarely catch anything, I still need to clean rods, fishing gear, hands, feet, bait boards and anything else that gets dirty. This is one of the reasons I added a smaller foot wash shower near the sliding door.

I realised on a fishing trip that I was constantly getting into the van before I had a chance to wash things properly. That meant bringing sand, fish smell and general mess into the space I actually live in.

That is a big no from me.

Now I can wash my hands, feet or gear before stepping inside.

Small changes like that make a massive difference when you live in a van every day.

My Campervan Hot Water System

For hot water, I use the Camec 13kW instantaneous gas water heater.

It is mounted externally and turned on from inside the van using a remote mounted near the kitchen sink. I have it preset to around 50 degrees, which is more than enough for how I use it.

The system heats up quickly, usually within a few seconds, and has been extremely reliable.

For me, hot water was one of the luxuries I really wanted in the van. Travelling full-time, there are two things I miss most from a house: being able to spread out on a big comfortable sofa, and having a long hot shower.

I cannot really solve the sofa problem in a van, but I could solve the hot shower problem. That is why I was happy to give up some space for the Camec campervan hot water system.

Some people may see hot water as unnecessary in a campervan, and for short trips, I understand that. But when you live in the van full-time, being able to have a proper hot shower after hiking, fishing, beach days or long drives genuinely improves your quality of life.

I use hot water mostly for showers and dishes.

It uses very little gas because it is only running when I need it. The only thing to remember with instantaneous systems is that the first bit of water usually comes out cold. Rather than waste that, I often use the first litre or two to fill water bottles and put them in the fridge. Water is precious when travelling, so I try not to waste it.

Why I Chose an Outdoor Shower

The indoor vs outdoor campervan shower setup debate is huge in the van world. For me, I was never building an indoor shower.

I completely understand why some people want one, especially solo female travellers or people who spend a lot of time in cold or wet climates. Privacy and comfort matter, and everyone’s travel style is different.

But for my van, an indoor shower never made sense.

It takes up a huge amount of space for something you use quickly. In a house, you can have a 20-minute shower and not think about it. In a van, you are usually wetting yourself down, turning the water off, soaping up, then rinsing off.

It is a three to five-minute process. For that, I did not want to give up valuable interior space or create a wet area inside the van.

I also did not want floor-to-ceiling walls closing in the layout and making the interior feel smaller. A shower cubicle inside a van often becomes storage for random items when it is not being used anyway.

So I went with a rear door outdoor campervan shower setup. And honestly, I love it.

Some of my favourite memories from van life are having outdoor showers in remote places with ridiculous sunsets behind me. It sounds simple, but those are the moments that make this lifestyle feel pretty special.

Of course, it is not perfect.

If the weather is terrible, showering outside is less appealing. Tasmania in poor weather is harder than warm summer travel up the coast. And yes, sometimes it can be a little awkward showering in your jocks if there are people nearby.

But most of the time, it works perfectly for the way I travel.

The whole point of my lifestyle is chasing weather, chasing sun and spending time outside. My outdoor campervan shower setup suits that.

My Sink, Tap and Kitchen Water Setup

My kitchen sink is a Cefito stainless steel sink that I bought from Amazon to save money.

It is roughly 30cm x 45cm, deep enough to hold dirty dishes, but not so large that it takes over the bench space.

When I first bought it, I was worried it might use too much water for washing dishes. But after living with it, I think it is a great size.

Because I travel solo, I often stack dishes in the sink throughout the day and wash everything at once. Sometimes I will stretch dishes to two days if I can get away with it.

That might sound lazy, but in van life it is also about saving water.

You quickly learn to cook in ways that reduce dishes and waste. I often make meals in pots or pans that last two or three days, then refrigerate or freeze leftovers. Cooking a single meal, eating it once, and then doing a full load of dishes is a waste of water, gas and effort.

These are the little things you learn from actually living in a van. My tap is a tall 360-degree swivel tap with two modes: normal flow and spray mode.

It has worked really well. It is high enough that I can still fill a bottle even when dishes are sitting in the sink, and the sink is deep enough that it does not splash everywhere.

The funny thing is, I cannot say this was perfect planning.

The bigger priority was making sure the sink, tap and fibreglass gas storage underneath all fitted together in a compact space.

It just happened to work really well. Sometimes in a van build, you get lucky.

How My Grey Water System Works

My grey water system is simple, but it works really well.

I use a 43L Camec grey water tank mounted inside the van near the fresh water tanks. The kitchen sink runs to a mechanical diverter, which lets me choose whether grey water system goes into the tank or diverts outside.

The diverter I used is a Rain Harvesting 50mm 3-Way Water Diverter from Bunnings.

When I am somewhere appropriate, away from waterways, and using environmentally safe soap and detergent, I can divert grey water outside. But if I am in a national park, campground, urban area, caravan park or anywhere grey water needs to be contained, I switch it to the grey tank and dispose of it properly.

That distinction is important.

Grey water is not black water, but it still needs to be managed responsibly. Different campsites, councils and national parks have different rules, so if I am ever unsure, I contain it.

The grey water tank empties through a simple ball valve underneath the van near the driver’s rear wheel. I can connect my 6m Flat Out sullage hose and empty it into the correct place when needed.

I also use a carbon filter to help prevent odours, and I have never had a major smell issue.

The biggest tip I can give for grey water system is simple:

Use baby wipes before doing dishes.

Every full-time van lifer knows this trick. Wipe plates, pans and bowls before washing them. It saves water, stops food scraps entering your pipes, and keeps the grey water system much cleaner.

The only annoying issue I have had is blowflies getting caught in the outside pipe entrance. There is mesh to stop things entering the van, but blowflies can get stuck in a small section of the pipe. The sound echoes through the pipe, and because my laptop area is nearby, it can be incredibly annoying.

That is just one of the joys of living in Australia.

Rainwater, Creek Water and Refilling on the Road

One of the best parts of my campervan water setup is that I can refill in different ways.

I carry a Flat Out drinking water hose for normal refills, but I also made a portable pump setup using a Shurflo 4009 12V fresh water pump with an Anderson plug to cigarette lighter connection.

This allows me to pump water from rain catchment, buckets or creeks when needed.

In winter, this is incredibly useful.

My Fiamma awning is only 3.5m, but it is amazing how much water it can catch in a short amount of time. Even collecting 10L of rainwater is useful. That is several days of drinking water if needed.

I am careful with rainwater.

If the awning is clean and I have not just driven through red dust or dirt roads, I am happy to filter that water and put it into the tanks. All water going into the tanks passes through an inline filter first.

Creek water is different.

I generally use creek water for washing, showering or cleaning gear rather than drinking. I built the system so I can bypass the tanks and use external water without putting questionable water into my main fresh water supply.

In an emergency, I could filter and add it to the tanks if I needed to, but so far I have not had to.

Travelling around Australia, water is usually not that hard to find if you plan ahead. Visitor centres, dump points, refill stations, showgrounds, caravan parks, service stations and small towns are all options. Wikicamps is very useful for finding water refill locations.

That said, in drier parts of Australia like South Australia, Western Australia and northern regions, you often need to pay for water or plan more carefully.

In places like Tasmania, water is much easier to find because of the higher rainfall.

The main thing is thinking ahead.

If I am heading into a remote section of coastline, I fill up before I need to. Water planning is part of travelling smart.

Tank Sensors and Monitoring

Originally, I used Safiery sensors connected to the Victron GX Tank 140.

I wanted to know exactly what was happening inside the van: fresh water levels, grey water levels, gas, temperatures, power and everything else.

But the Safiery sensors were one of the biggest disappointments in the build. I understand these things happen with build to this scale, but it really adds up towards the overall budget by the end of the conversion.

The grey water sensor failed almost immediately.

The first time I tested it with clean fresh water, something blocked the tiny hole used to measure the level, and from that point on it read 0%. That was not even dirty grey water. It was fresh water.

The gas sensor from Safiery was also extremely inaccurate. I ended up removing it completely and replacing it with a Mopeka Pro Check Bluetooth sensor. That has been excellent.

The Mopeka sensors are accurate, simple, easy to use and the batteries last for years. I now think Bluetooth sensors are the better option for this kind of setup.

People used to say Bluetooth sensors were unreliable.

Now I am removing wired sensors because they are unreliable. Funny how things change.

John Guest Fittings: Expensive but Worth It

I used John Guest fittings throughout most of the pressurised plumbing system. They are not cheap.

Some hot water elbows can cost around $25 each, and once you start using them throughout a campervan water system, the price adds up quickly.

But I would absolutely use them again. For me, the biggest advantage is reliability and serviceability.

John Guest fittings are proven in caravan and campervan water setups. They handle heat, vibration, dirt roads and full-time use well. They are also easy to disconnect and reconnect if something goes wrong.

That matters when you are travelling around Australia.

If I have a leak or need to replace something, I can access the fittings, pull sections apart, fix the issue, and reconnect everything without destroying the van.

I also carry spare connectors and plugs just in case.

One thing I would strongly recommend is buying the proper John Guest cutting and joining tools from the start. I did not buy them immediately, and I should have.

A straight cut makes a huge difference. Once I bought the tools, the whole process became much easier.

For non-pressurised fill lines, I did not use John Guest. There, I used drinking hose and hose clamps because the system did not need the same pressure rating.

But past the pump, everything important is John Guest.

What I’d Change About My Campervan Plumbing Setup

Overall, there is not much I would change about my campervan plumbing setup.

That actually surprises me because plumbing was probably my least exciting part of the build and one of the areas I felt least confident with. But now that it is done, it works.

The main thing I would change is the tank sensors. I would skip the Safiery sensors and go straight to Mopeka Bluetooth sensors.

I would also consider hot water to the side foot wash shower, but even that is a small thing.

At the moment, the side shower is cold water only. It is mostly used for washing feet, hands and fishing gear, so it does the job. I avoided running hot water across the van because I did not want to create another potential leak point.

The only annoying part is that if I want a proper hot shower at the rear after fishing, the hot water switch is inside near the sink. I try to remember to turn it on before I go fishing, but with a male brain, I often forget.

The other thing I would improve is not technically plumbing, but it connects to water use.

I would add a permanent outdoor table.

When I come back from fishing, I want somewhere outside to clean, sort and organise gear before bringing anything into the van. Without that, I end up putting things on the ground or bringing dirty gear inside.

That is something I should have planned earlier. Once the van is finished, adding those details properly becomes much harder.

What Worked Better Than Expected

The biggest surprise was how well the plumbing came together overall.

There were definitely frustrating moments during the build. I had leaks in the shower area a few times, but they were my fault because I was trying to fit too much into a tight space.

Eventually, it all came together.

The pump is quiet, especially considering it is close to where I sit and work. The accumulator helps smooth out the water flow and reduces that weak delay before the pump kicks in.

The sink and tap combination worked far better than expected.

The grey water diverter is simple and effective.

The outdoor shower fits my travel style perfectly.

And the John Guest fittings made the system feel much more serviceable and reliable.

Before finishing the van, I also tested the system like I did with my electrical setup. I imagined certain parts were leaking and checked whether I could access them, isolate them and fix them on the side of the road.

That gave me confidence. A campervan plumbing setup is only good if you can repair it later.

Final Thoughts on My Campervan Plumbing Setup

A good campervan plumbing setup does not need to be complicated.

It needs to work for the way you actually travel.

For me, that meant carrying enough fresh water to stay remote, having hot water for proper showers, keeping the grey water system simple, making repairs easy, and building a system that lets me live comfortably full-time.

My campervan plumbing setup is not perfect.

The Safiery sensors were a mistake, and there are small things I would tweak if I was building again.

But overall, I would keep the same layout.

The 168L fresh water capacity gives me confidence. The outdoor campervan shower setup suits my lifestyle. The campervan hot water system feels like a luxury I would not want to give up. The grey water system is simple. And the John Guest fittings make the whole system easier to trust.

That is what matters most.

Not building the most complicated campervan water system.

Not copying someone else’s layout.

But creating a campervan plumbing setup that makes life on the road easier, cleaner and more comfortable.

Because when you are living in a van full-time, water is not just a plumbing decision.

It is freedom.