Creative expedition shower setups?

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cbmontgo

cbmontgo

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I am going on a week-long trip in the FJ60 to the Chihuahuan desert in a couple of weeks and was thinking about building some sort of simple shower setup that I can put on my roof rack with a tube and valve that operates on a siphon. I have something in mind, but want to see pics of things you guys may have done.

Has anyone done something simple and water efficient that will suffice as a shower? Call me soft, but I'd sure sleep better after a nice, [cold] shower after being in 100-degree heat all day...
 
I just put together a small system similar to the zodi. I bought a 1.5 gal stainless steel sprayer tank from the hardware store (OSH). and replaced the tube with clear tubing, of the same diameter. Then fitted a spray handle ( like on the kitchen sink) onto about 8 ft. of the tubing. The stainless steel allows me to put it on the coleman stove to heat it up. The set up was about 60 bucks. Plus the handle and tubing fits inside the tank to keep it out of the way. I will be trying it out this week in Death valley, I'll let you know if it works, or it melt down. Guy
 
you can get a solar shower pretty much anywhere these days. one of those bags with a short hose and pray head. just hang it from anything and your set. make a PVC frame to hold up a tarp and your even more set.
 
TexasCrusher said:
I would think a couple of Solar Showers (5gal @ $14.95 each) and with a make shift cover you would be set for pretty reasonable...
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X2..I've used the cheap "solar power" deals. It's just a black bag that holds a few gallons, in the desert it'll get hot and hold the heat well enough that you can take a shower in the cool of the night...I also found that any dark colored water container, jerry can, canten etc will heat up enough to "shower" off if you leave it in the sun. Cloudy? hey who cares if you shower anyway?
 
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check out the forum at

www.expeditionportal.com

Lots of folks from here over there, search for shower in the camping section and you will find a lot of low tech---> high tech solutions for what you are looking for.

Hope it helps

Drew
 
REZARF said:
check out the forum at

www.expeditionportal.com

Lots of folks from here over there, search for shower in the camping section and you will find a lot of low tech---> high tech solutions for what you are looking for.

Hope it helps

Drew
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There is definitely some good stuff there. Cool site. Thanks!
 
cbmontgo said:
There is definitely some good stuff there. Cool site. Thanks!
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All that trailer buildin' and you didn't know about expeditionportal? Glad you do now :D

Drew
 
Well, I went to Academy today and picked up a very cool little camp shower with a 4.5-gallon bag, valve, and shower head for $ 6.00! This thing looks like it will be perfect for what I need. I'll have to report back after the Big Bend trip...
 
I used my sprayer shower set - up this weekend out at D.V. , The trails and landscape were awsome. The shower worked flawlessly, and also works great when doing the dishes in the collapsable sink. Warm water on a cold night makes clean-up much nicer. No more freezing hands. FYI I got the idea from the guys on Exploration Portal, They are the defacto masters.
 
pismo62 said:
I used my sprayer shower set - up this weekend out at D.V. , The trails and landscape were awsome. The shower worked flawlessly, and also works great when doing the dishes in the collapsable sink. Warm water on a cold night makes clean-up much nicer. No more freezing hands. FYI I got the idea from the guys on Exploration Portal, They are the defacto masters.
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You know, I didn't think about washing dishes. That is a great idea too!
 
Using both over the years..

Solar showers are not for those who require "instant gratification" , but work pretty darn good (and cheaply) at the end of a long day, and if you want a longer shower all you have to do is hang more of them around camp..

The Zodi propane shower is nice and provides lots of instant gratification, but requires a very watchful eye and can cause some very ugly and dangerous situtations ( IE scalding burns, fires and complete meltdown of the heating unit) and uses a lot of fuel ...


Exchanger units.. well, I`ve never used one but they seem to be a real pain to install, require a running engine and add to the things that can possibly leak coolant or water on your rig :confused:


I am looking to devise a camp shower that has a fairly fast heat-up time, is capable of heating..say, 10 gallons of water per use, and uses very little or no fuel to operate. Kinda the best of all of the camp shower worlds.

Weight and space will also be taken into consideration, but I have a feeling that by the time I am done with this little "project" , $$$ will be the MAIN issue :crybaby:


Stay tuned, I actually have ( at least I think) a good idea to make washing/showering in camp a bit more tolerable and safer.


.
 
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