You're right, a bowl will cause less issues because it is easier to clean and the position of the rabbit when drinking is a lot more natural than with the bottle.
Some rabbits take to it faster than others, though. Take out the water bottle so he won't have a choice.
One of my rabbits was pretty reluctant to use it, as he came from a place where they were using water bottles. It took him three days to do so (in the meanwhile, I gave him plenty of moist leafy greens and syringe-fed him a bit of water once in a while because I was worried he would get deshydrated). In the end, I bought a little bottle of organic carrot juice and put a tiny bit of it in the water of the water bowl. He began to drink from it right away. I did it again the next day to be sure and after that it was only water but he's been drinking very well from it ever since.
Maybe you can try to do the same thing?