1973Guppie
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- Joined
- Jan 31, 2003
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- "the whale's vagina", CA
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- www.noahsarkstlc.com
I thought I would post up how I built a solar shower for my roof rack. I saw the roadshower product but it was too expensive for me at $350 and not in stock. I looked around and found this aluminum box that is normally used to feed animals water I think:
Diamond Plated 5-Gallon Aluminum Mounted Water Storage Tank | www.kotulas.com | Free Shipping
It is aluminum. I found a shrader valve at mcmasster carr and taped the metal with threads carefully. This allows me to pressurize the tank with my onboard compressor. A bicycle pump or air cartridge would work as well. The cap that came with it would not hold pressure. I found that a stock 80 gas caps works and holds pressure. I had an old coil hose and purchased a low flow shower head for the end of it. I painted it with one can of duplicolor bed liner. Make sure to sand down the aluminum for adhesion purposes.
I used the shower 2x this past long weekend in the sierras. Some biodegradable camp soap and a few shots from my air line and the pressure is good. It also helps that it uses gravity as well. The water is luke warm. It was really nice to be able to shower after a long day hike in the parking lot before I headed on the long ride home. I have a zodi hot water shower that I have never liked much. I sourced a smaller submersible pump that will fit in the inlet and plan to recycle the water with it to get it warm when I need a hot shower. Most of the time though I am fine with a luke warm shower. Most likely the warm showers will be for the kids. I only get one long shower out of the box. I plan to keep a couple jerry cans full of water for when I need to refill it. I usually fill the jerry cans and the box with the radiator water at the gas station on my last fill up before arriving at my destination.
let me know if anyone has any questions. All in all I spent around $125 for the unit with paint and everything. No leaks so far and hoping I will get several years usage out of it.
Diamond Plated 5-Gallon Aluminum Mounted Water Storage Tank | www.kotulas.com | Free Shipping
It is aluminum. I found a shrader valve at mcmasster carr and taped the metal with threads carefully. This allows me to pressurize the tank with my onboard compressor. A bicycle pump or air cartridge would work as well. The cap that came with it would not hold pressure. I found that a stock 80 gas caps works and holds pressure. I had an old coil hose and purchased a low flow shower head for the end of it. I painted it with one can of duplicolor bed liner. Make sure to sand down the aluminum for adhesion purposes.
I used the shower 2x this past long weekend in the sierras. Some biodegradable camp soap and a few shots from my air line and the pressure is good. It also helps that it uses gravity as well. The water is luke warm. It was really nice to be able to shower after a long day hike in the parking lot before I headed on the long ride home. I have a zodi hot water shower that I have never liked much. I sourced a smaller submersible pump that will fit in the inlet and plan to recycle the water with it to get it warm when I need a hot shower. Most of the time though I am fine with a luke warm shower. Most likely the warm showers will be for the kids. I only get one long shower out of the box. I plan to keep a couple jerry cans full of water for when I need to refill it. I usually fill the jerry cans and the box with the radiator water at the gas station on my last fill up before arriving at my destination.
let me know if anyone has any questions. All in all I spent around $125 for the unit with paint and everything. No leaks so far and hoping I will get several years usage out of it.