shower question...

[TNONMYMIND]

to those of you who do dispersed and remote camping...

what do you do for showering facilities?

Is there one particular portable shower/privacy tent that is better than the others, and do any of you use them at all?

not too fond of getting into a pond or lake much higher than my ankles so need an
alternative other than the campground showers when available...
what other options are out there...

[05Kingquad700]

Re: shower question...

We picked up a shower enclosure from Wally World, it is probably an Ozark Trail variety. It stood up to 50 mph + winds. We were impressed. I have tried the solar shower bags and not real impressed. I was thinking of making a shower from a weed sprayer. You can look up those online. I seen a shower with a cedar blank that goes underneath the shower and looks really cool. Look at shower enclosures on amazon and read the reviews.

[TNONMYMIND]

Re: shower question...

thanks for the response KingQuad...have looked at what's available online and got confused about which one was
the best solution...all have good points and bad, biggest negative is the water source(bag or ?)...tried the
solar shower bag in the past but they are too heavy to handle...
will have to keep looking for a better alternative...anybody have any ideas or know of other sites that give suggestions
for DIYers to create?

[TNONMYMIND]

Re: shower question...

Hogsnapper; thanks for that idea...vaguely remember reading somewhere else about using the pump sprayer...
looked online at couple of other sites for the pump sprayers, one of them had a 3 gallon sprayer for less than $30

how good is the pressure once you modify the nozzle...
what kind of floor does your shower tent have?
the ones with a tub style floor, how do they drain?
the ones with no floor at all will they create a mudhole when being used for more than one day?
or do you move the location each time?

sorry for all the questions...just need to know the right way to do these things, before I create more problems
for myself...or am I overthinking this

[Johnny Test]

Re: shower question...

I carry my shower facilities in one hand: baby wipes, then off they go into the fire.

-Johnny

[tchiarito]

Re: shower question...

I found a camping "shower" idea at instructables.com. It is a large laundry detergent bottle with a large cap/opening. Poke several holes in the cap, and, most importantly, VENT the thing with a small tube that goes from a hole somewhere near the top of the bottle (mine is just in the center of the cap), into the bottle all the way to the bottom. If you don't do this, you don't get an even flow of water out the top. I just hold the bottle upside down over my head and let the water run down. 1 bottle gives me a complete shower: wet down, soap up, rinse. I sometimes heat the water, but in Florida summertime camping, the cool water is preferable! And, NO ENCLOSURE! Shower out in nature! And, Johnny Test's baby wipe method works also.

[CMPR1966]

Re: shower question...

My last camping trip was a four day trip to ride bicycles and some moderate hiking. As the rest of the family enjoyed the campground shower, my only shower consisted of 20 minutes in the pouring rain rigging a tarp over parts of our campsite. This was an effective way to wash the only clothes I wore that weekend. If I had planed this, I could have save some time packing extra stuff. HA HA

[Nickadeamus]

Re: shower question...

I put hot water in a plastic wash pan for dish’s then go put on my swimming shorts use a cup and dump water all over me then wash myself and shampoo my hair and then using the cup I just dump more water on myself until the soap is gone, simple and quick. I have done this in the winter also but need to say I have a wood burning stove in my tent that keeps it warm so as I run in from the freezing cold of the northern Pa. woods on a November or December night I warm up fast. It only takes me a few min. to wash myself in the cold not the 30 min. I take at home.

[Malamute]

Re: shower question...

I've used a solar shower in the past. It worked petty well, but it sounds like yours may be too big to handle. It may work fine to get the water warm though. Using a pulley or rope to raise it may work also.

I was just out in the woods, didn't have an enclosure.

[tplife]

Re: shower question...

+2 for the SolarShower, warm, compact, easy to use. We just put on loose bathing suits and go for it!!! :cool:

[Coopersnest]

Re: shower question...

Where did you get the Solar shower? Looks nice!

[TNONMYMIND]

Re: shower question...

COOPERSNEST: the picture (upon closer inspection) looks to be a standard make solar shower like coleman...
it appears to have what may be a towel flung over the unit...at least that's what it looks like to me, I could be wrong...
Wally World carries a solar shower similar to that in the camping supplies area...minus the towel,of course...

haven't completely figured out my set-up...plan to use the shower facilities at the camping areas as available...
may not need a backup plan in the beginning...

TPLIFE: I like your idea of hanging the bag from a tree when available, may modify that idea to include
an open-top home-made shower enclosure(I'm shy even with a bathing suit on)...don't want to gross out
the wildlife...haha

[tplife]

Re: shower question...

Where did you get the Solar shower? Looks nice!

I picked it up at a local SportChalet. It is a Stearns Solar Shower, a 2.5 gallon model. It costs twice as much as a knockoff like the Colemans, but if you inspect them you will quickly see why. Tnonmymind, no, I don't buy Coleman Products other than stoves or lanterns, things they actually make. Their other products are useable but totally junk for our use as they never hold up.

[TNONMYMIND]

Re: shower question...

Sorry TPLIFE: wasn't trying to imply that the one in the picture was a coleman model from Walmart...
It looked to me like it had similar features as the coleman ones...
appreciate you clarifying what brand it was/is...

the one we had at one point in time was a walmart "special" and for whatever reason we left it hanging in our backyard
for an extended length of time...it finally bit the dust when the rubber handle broke so we pitched it...that's been afew years ago...

are all the solar bags on the market similar in design, the ones I've looked at on the internet appear to be similar...

again, sorry for giving the wrong impression about what I saw...

[tplife]

Re: shower question...

No worries TNONMYMIND, we're all friends here. You're right, the features are simililar, it's just the bladder thickness, reinforcement points, hanging dowel, and rope that are different. That makes all the difference in the world, as ours has been in constant use since about 2001.