So I would like some real life experience on a good camp shower.

I will have water. But not pressurized water. Looks like the disposable small propane bottle will be the fuel.I do not need something to pack in. It will be used in more of a permanent camp type situation. Would like some thoughts. I need something that will be a joy to use and efficient. Idea's.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: old rugged cross,

The black camp shower bags that they sell for sailboaters work pretty good.

We got by with solar shower bags for years but we couldn't always count on sunny days plus they got punctured occasionally. We finally bought a Zodiac Extreme shower. It heats 3 gallons of water in about 10 minutes and surprisingly both my wife and I get a satisfactory hot shower from one fill. It is a simpler system than the other Zodiac showers which require batteries for a pump. We are more than happy with our choice.


https://www.hotcampshowers.com/inc/sdetail/453

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Like you, I am considering something semi-permanent for a cabin with a water source:


Direct Link:
www.YouTube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=cnaPp586By0&feature=emb_logo

Link to their US online store:
www.Joolca.com/
.

There was a local guy that hook d one up that was heated by his Jeep engine. It made Jeep or 4 wheel magazine. His company is off road connection. I bet you can google the article. Or call the guy. They are located in Fultondale Alabama.

thanks guys. Ohioup, I did look at that one. I have a couple propane burners that I could use. could heat water in a large kettle I have and use a new plastic weed sprayer for about $20 total and have virtually the same thing as long as I did not heat the water above maybe 90 degrees.

Joolca looks good but way too expensive.

Old Rugged Cross,

I looked into this problem thoroughly as I thought my wife's main impediment to camping was lack of hot, running water.

The best closest thing for small scale use is a Coleman Hot Water on Demand system. Propane powered heat and a little pump. Other companies make similar setups.

The next option is a Zodi Portable Hot Shower. It's not as "all-in-one" as the Coleman system, but, at the same time, seems more robust. There's an option for a two burner model.

For myself. I went whole-hog. I bought the Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater. It's like the Hottap posted above, but bigger. It's propane powered (runs off of 20lb bottles for certain, I've not tried adapting to the 1 lb canisters), and provides truly instant hot water. It's designed for cabins and RVs and the like. You'll need running/pressurized water. For that, I bought a 50psi RV water pump and have it wired to a 35ah 12 volt sealed lead acid battery (aka, "Golf Cart Battery").

On the camping trips I've taken it on, I've either used a hose directly to a pressurized tap to turn cold tap water to hot water without the pump and battery. I've also run the pump and battery from a pair of 7.5 gallon plastic jerry cans.

The water runs HOT. I have an adapter that restricts the flow down to a half gallon per minute (to preserve water when running from containers), and I have to run the heater at the minimum heat setting to not scald myself. But, it works.

All in all, I think I spent $250ish for all the fittings, hoses, battery, pump, wiring/fuse harness.

I tossed everything into a plastic bin, using a large HDPE cutting board as a "subframe" to bolt the pump motor and battery down, and added a 12 volt cigarette port so I can use the battery to power other things.

To charge, I use a car trickle charger to recharge the battery. At some point, I'll add a charge controller for solar, but I estimate that I get 60 minutes of continuous runtime off of the battery. The bottleneck, at this point, is refilling water jugs.

It's also really convenient to leave hooked up by the sink and have hot water to do dishes.

There are many YouTube videos. Search Camping Hot Water Showers.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The black camp shower bags that they sell for sailboaters work pretty good.

I used those during extended field exercises in the Army. They worked well for me and they were cheap. I would usually have 2 of them in case one broke. It was great being able to shower at the end of a long day. The water does get very hot if it can get some exposure to the sun. They’re cheap around $10 each.

I bought one of the instant propane fired water heater ones from a company out of Summerville S.C. last year.... and it works 'okay' you can adjust the flow and temperature on the unit and it comes with a shower head.... in other words you just hook a cold water line up to it and then adjust the temperature of the water coming out to what you like. Now with that said, when I first used it you could make the water too hot, now after a year you have to turn the heat dial all the way up and the water flow down to get the water 'reasonably' hot.

I think one of these propane ones is what the OP was wanting to know about. I like them, but they can be temperamental. the reason I bought the one I did was I thought they were made in the U.S. specifically down near Charleston ... when the box arrived is said made in China on the side.....

Link to original video: https://youtu.be/bqCADT54lXM

We camped next to to older couple who showed the owner built unit they had used for decades.
30 gallon galvanized trash can sitting near fire pit; copper coil in among the burning wood. Flexible hose to fittings he put in wall of can. Could dip out whatever they needed. Said they had camped for weeks at a time, using only firewood they would have used anyway. Pretty ingenious.

Is this for use in a structure or outside?

We had a 300gal tote in an elevated frame with a compact water heater, fed into a cheap shower enclosure in the corner of the camphouse.

Gravity fed, so no real pressure, but a hot shower is nice to have.

We've since added an inline pump (removable when we're not there) so we now have water pressure in the camp house.

ORC, Sounds like you already have a good inexpensive option.

A UP woods neighbor uses an ATV sprayer system (reservoir + 12V pump) which he plumbed to an cheap shower stall. He just has to heat water for the reservoir. His cabin is bigger than ours. We really don't have room for such a setup in our little cabin. We place the heated Zodi water tank on our 4'X 4' back porch for our showers.

Thanks guys, good info.

I thought about an atv sprayer like this one. Add a cheap atv battery

https://www.northerntool.com/s..._200624833_200624833

But the zodi tank and burner might be the best option.

What about a cheapish shower enclosure ?

A friend has a cabin on an island without electricity. For his wood burning stove I built some loops out of 1/2" stainless steel pipe. He drilled two holes in the cast iron stove.

I was told that the system works great. Once the fire gets going, the hot water automatically circulates and heats his entire hot water tank relatively quickly. The loops included three 180 degree turns. The width of the stove was about 16".

You didn’t tell us your camping situation. It might help us steer you in the right direction.

I am building our second overland camping rig based on my Gladiator Rubicon with an Alu-Cab canopy.
Lik you I want a water heater and have been thinking something like the electric one Andrew St. Pierre White is using in his Australian build. Go to 7:45 to find out his thoughts...
https://youtu.be/_nyZSV2M4wg

It is an established dry camp with some infrastructure and buildings, etc. I have permanent access to non-pressurized potable water. I will eventually work on getting a storage unit and getting it pressurized. There are some components already on site. But it is not going to be set up any time soon. I do not have short term plans for a conventional style hot water heater.

would like to keep this hot water shower system and facility to under $250 max. Less would be better.

We are talking about six to eight, maybe 10 showers total a week, max

So it needs to handy, clean, simple and enjoyable.

Heating 3 gals of water on a propane heater every other day seems like it would be doable. I would think five minutes and you would have 100 degree water.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
So I would like some real life experience on a good camp shower.

https://www.amazon.com/WaterSt...id=1588888729&sr=8-2

I've used jugs similar to these and find the clear containers heat water up faster than the black ones. Somewhat counter-intuitive, but water strongly absorbs infrared so absorbs throughout the container while the black ones absorb only at the surface.

I have this Zodi that we use during deer camp... It's pretty good, for what it is, but be aware that this won't provide a lot of water pressure. 3 guys in and out of the shower tent can be done with that and a 5 gal pail of water. We usually let the water circulate for a bit to warm it up. In the past we've even had to bust through a bit of ice in the pail - those mornings we let it circulate a bit longer .


We use something like this as a shower room.

ETA: The setup we have is simple and effective, but I would not call it enjoyable