one gallon shower in "comfort"

[Haole Hiker]

For you Boondockers who want to save water. My FF16 has the Shower/Toilet in the back and the Water Heater in the front. I am one who want's his shower every night before I go to bed. It just irked me when I had to run water waiting for the Hot Water to get to the shower, wasting water and filling up my Grey Tank. Again on Bob Wells Cheap RVing site I saw a guy who had made a shower for his Van from a battery powered Garden Sprayer. A light went on in this 70 year old head. "Being as how" I am a thrifty sort I thought why not do this with a Hand Pump Bug Sprayer in my existing Shower? IT WORKS! And it's so simple!

Here's how: I bought a Lowes Generic 2Gal (now I'm going to get a one Gal)bug sprayer , I think it was $15. I cut short the wand as much as I could and still have the system usable. I used an Ice Pick to gouge out the plastic water outlet holes so more water would come out but not to much.

I filled up my Whistling Tea Kettle. which holds about 1/2Gal before overflowing from the Whistler, with tap water and dumped it in to the Sprayer. I filled it up again and put it on the Burner, heated it to boiling and dumped it into the sprayer to mix with the cold. Pumped the Sprayer up Stepped into the Shower and set it on the Commode. Wet down, soaped up, rinsed off. Nice long rinse too.

Some observations:
-This process had the added advantage of heating up the Cabin while heating the water. (make sure you have good ventilation) Nice during cool evenings.
-Washing your hair takes the most water so shorter hair means less water used.
-Hose isn't really long enough so you will have to pick up the sprayer to get water where you want it but you have to hold it anyway since it's a bit unstable.
- 1 to 1, cold to boiling water mix may be to hot for some, so be careful!
-I'm thinking of removing the Hot Water Tanks since the shower was all I used it for.

I am really happy with this set up. I just used it 3 times in Yosemite. HH

[profdant139]

HH, the other huge advantage of your device is that it does not use the pump, which uses a lot of electricity.

And here is a hint -- if you have little or no hair, you use even less water. Go ahead -- ask me how I know.

One more hint -- instead of regular bar soap, I use slightly-diluted Dr. Bronner liquid soap, sold at health food type stores. It is expensive, but a little goes a long way -- you just use a few drops. It rinses clean with very little water. (All of these hints are important while boondocking or dry camping -- not important if you are in an RV park with full hookups.)

The only caveat on the Dr. Bronner is to get lavender or any scent other than peppermint -- the peppermint flavor is kind of intense, and I can tell you from painful personal experience that it causes you to have a minty fresh feeling in some very strange places that were not designed to be minty fresh. (If I knew how to add a "startled face" emoticon, I would do so at this point.)

[Haole Hiker]

Thanks for the poignant advice Dan. Just ordered the Soap off Amazon on your recommendation. I'm sure that the Lavender will give me a nice manly smell that will make the Bears swoon. As for the hair, I've still got some, but the line keeps going farther and farther back. I keep trying to get a buzz cut, but my dear wife says NO!!! Last NOV I sent her off to Winter Quarters and as soon as she was gone I cut my hair with my clippers to one inch and took off on a one month Road Trip. Man was that nice. Took two more months to grow back enough that she wasn't frowning at me but it was worth it not to have the hassle. I tell her real men are bald but she's not buying it.

Thanks for all the info and your great sense of humor. HH

[michellep]

Hey, you reminded me I have this battery operated shower, and your idea about using the sprayer tank is ingenious! The pump runs off 4D cells and also has a 12V plug adapter. Use the electric pump as long as the batteries last, then move on to the hand pump on the sprayer tank! LOVE IT!

I just tried it in the kitchen sink and it works like a champ. Not a REALLY strong stream, but hey - life's a trade-off...

Thanks for the memory jog.

[profdant139]

I wonder if they make rechargeable D batteries. With your solar setup, you may be able to use the surplus electricity during the day to charge them up?

[michellep]

And I just recently bought a new sprayer tank and the shower pump fits right down the hole!

Remove the sprayer hose until it's needed for less stuff to tangle up...

[michellep]

Originally Posted by profdant139

I wonder if they make rechargeable D batteries. With your solar setup, you may be able to use the surplus electricity during the day to charge them up?

Or I could just use the 12V outlet in the truck...

I'll go look for rechargeable Ds.

I also have a small solar foldable charger. Wonder what its max charge is. Lots to look into. I can be clean AND smell like peppermint...

[FFX160_CT]

I recently purchased one of those solar shower bags. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to this summer. Of course, that assumes you have a sunny day, and the heat lasts until you tuck yourself in at night! I personally don't mind a cool shower.

[michellep]

I have one of those solar shower bags. It's more than difficult (like impossible) to drain completely and it's always wet, which to me, is an invitation for a bacteria party. I don't use mine and actually just found it today when I looked around for that portable battery shower.

I tried putting sticks in there to prop it open with the drain open and it never did dry out completely.

[FFX160_CT]

Good to know, I had read some feedback like that. Thanks

[profdant139]

Ditto on the difficulty of drying those bags -- I also stuck in a stick, with no luck.