Creative expedition shower setups?

[lx450landcruiser]

a few ideas for those thinking about making there own showers.

I had a discussion on my last moab trip about cheap do it yourself showers and we came up with a few ideas, some of which im told have worked.

1. building a pvc pipe frame and attaching it to your roof rack or roof. this would be black and you could decide how much water you want based on the diameter you use. the nice thing about this is you can fill it up and wheel all day with it (letting it heat up) other options for this set up could be to pressurise the system with a simple quick disconect and your OBA however shouldnt be nessesary if you park your truck at and angle.

2. building a coil copper tube that you submerge in boiling water on your camp stove (basically similar to most camp shower heat exchangers out there)

also thoughts about wrapping coil copper pipe around exhaust pipe (i.e. header) but not sure if that woul dbe good for the exahaust or stay hot enought for long enough.

 

[spressomon]

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


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


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


.

Lee...my Helton works perfectly...zero leaks...and simple, quick and easy to get a nice hot shower taken anytime. I fabbed a bracket that I mounted on the fender to hold the Helton along with another easy bracket for the 12V receptacle that powers the pump.

 

[cody c]

i checked out another mud members setup the other day it was real slick, he had a plumber friend build a heat exchange unit, using a copper coil inside a larger piece of copper pipe. the coolant runs through the pipe and the shower water through the coil, hes got a water tank under neath and a 12 volt pump that turns on automatically when pressure drops (water is turned on). he goes by mickido if you want more info.

 

[cbmontgo]

I think that the beauty of the $ 6 solar shower is that it is inexpensive, effective, and SIMPLE. It worked perfectly for the trip that we took.

 

[spressomon]

I think that the beauty of the $ 6 solar shower is that it is inexpensive, effective, and SIMPLE. It worked perfectly for the trip that we took.

How would it work if you are on an exploring type run and camping in different places each night? I tried one many years ago when based camped in the Snowy Range just West of Laramie at 10,500 and couldn't get it to heat consistently from one day to the next.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Lee...my Helton works perfectly...zero leaks...and simple, quick and easy to get a nice hot shower taken anytime. I fabbed a bracket that I mounted on the fender to hold the Helton along with another easy bracket for the 12V receptacle that powers the pump.

I've seen the install, it is very clean.

 

[toy_tek]

I've considered building a little system with some copper tubing around the exhaust manifold as previously mentioned and a 12v wiper fluid pump. Run the engine for a few minutes while showering.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Coleman and Primus sell these compact propane powered and 12V camp hot water systems with accurate temperature settings.
About the size of a large wine cask
http://www.campingworld.com.au/products/hygiene/index.htm