We used to do the solar shower thing, and I've also been known to use public or fee showers on the road. For in-camp showering I've got a nice little rig that I'm using these days. I have a Zodi Hot Tap shower heater which sits atop your normal 1lb bottle of propane. It has a submersible pump and a battery pack. The pump sits in the water reservoir. With the pump started, the heater lit, and the nozzle in the reservoir, hot water recirculates through the heater and it warms up quickly. Can easily get too hot for me. The idea is to pick up the nozzle to wet yourself, then return it to the reservoir when soaping, then pick it back up and rinse off. This conserves water, but I don't like showering one-handed so I mount the nozzle on one of Zodi's Shower Poles, which lets a fellow use both hands for soaping and scrubbing and rinsing, and I put a 3-way valve in the line feeding the nozzle so that when water from the nozzle is not needed the water is diverted back into the reservoir. For privacy we use one of these: http://www.campausa.com/shower_enclosure.htm and the heater sits outside for safety. There is an opening in one wall near the floor for the hoses. It sets up and breaks down quickly. If there is wind it has tie points for guy lines. It has stood up to some strong wind gusts w/o damage. It has a snap-in floor but I dislike standing in the muddy soapy puddle (just fussy, I guess) so a Cabela's Shower Deck provides a nice floor and a handy carrying case for shower items. The whole thing breaks down into three small packages: the hardshell water reservoir carries the heater, pump, hoses, and battery pack. Its lid snaps off and becomes a base for the propane bottle. The shower pole goes into the enclosure's storage bag, and the little shower deck closes up fairly small. -- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano KG6RCR |
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