I bought a 2-1/2 gallon black collapsible bucket with lid. Leave it out in the sun to absorb heat, bam! Hot water, or at least warm. That volume is easy enough for most people to handle (~20#), vs over 40# for 5 gallons of water.
I've seen something that looks like a collapsible "drum" big enough for you to sit in it. When you sit in it, the walls go up to your shoulders so you can full body shower in it without getting your surroundings wet. When you're done, you can connect a hose to its drain and direct the gray water into anything.
You can get a similar shower pump but with a heater that sits in the bucket of water and heats it up. 😃. Love the bucket and putting everything inside it.
I watched a man who came from an area of Africa that was very hard hit by drought. This was on a show (I don't remember the name) on video. He was demonstrating how to take a complete shower/bath in a quart of water. He had on boxer shorts, and that was all. He held the jar of water over his head and put about a half cup of water on his body, and rubbed it all over. Then he did it again, but this time took soap and rubbed it all over his wet body. Then he doused another half cup, and worked the soap again. Then he started to rinse, using half cup at a time, several times in a row, while using his hands to scrub the whole time. By the time he (and his hair) got thoroughly soaked, soaped and soaked again, he was finished and still had water left over, which he drank as a finale. He was totally clean and dried off with a towel. Showers don't need to be water-intensive, as he demonstrated, and if you use a soap that rinses fast, like glycerin soaps, you don't need a lot of water to get the soap off. If you are in an area with people, even without a portable shower pod (I love those), you can shower as long as you have some shorts or a bathing suit on. Just take care of the private areas later with a soapy wash cloth left over from your shower. I think that a "tent" of lightweight plastic (dropcloth) that tied around your neck or even draped over your head and hung to the ground would serve the same purpose, and you can do it all. It would have two arm holes if needed. Underneath with you, you could have your table or a plastic chair to sit in, and you could get it all done and see what you're doing, too. The plastic could be dried and stored in another plastic bag. We make things too complicated I think. Black/blue plastic drop cloths come in handy for SO many things, like pinning them up between tree trunks for a bit of privacy from the "neighbors," for having a place you and your dog can sit outside when it's muddy, to drape over your cooking equipment/grill so it doesn't get wet, or to hang up to block the sun. If I were on the road or camping, I would have a stash of about five of these, and they are dirt cheap at Home Depot or even Walmart. If you get the ones with grommets, you can tie them up to tree branches to make a "tub" for hand washing your clothes. Thank you for the video. Very interesting!
I have the same shower setup in my van 🚐 to make it easier I sit on a stool inside of the dog bath & I use a USB portable water heater immersion stick to have a warm shower 🚿
I put together your suggested camp shower: dog pool; bucket & immersible pump. Tried it today for the first time. It worked fine and I came out clean and refreshed. Must admit that being an amputee (left, above knee) did add to the challenge but I did complete the task without further injuring myself. My quick review is that I’m glad I bought the system and have room for it in my van. Do I plan to use it on a regular, every shower day basis? Not a chance! It’s too difficult for me. However if I’m a week away from my last shower and the prospects of a conventional shower don’t look good, I will happily pull out my camp shower and heat up a bucket of water. Thanks for the original review and i really like having an emergency solution at hand.
Sorry I didn't see this sooner - thanks for the real world review. :) I don't use it daily either, but after a bit, wipes and sink baths aren't enough.
Yes! I thought of doing this, but what I've found is that a sit down shower doesn't really splash that much. What little bit escapes I can just towel up with the same towel. But for folks standing, the hula hoop curtain is a very inexpensive and effective way of containing the water.
If there's a running board or running step at the inside of the van, drill a hole. The water poured on the running board is below the floor of the main van.
One of the things I do before a road trip/ camping is get a low haircut so I use less water. I can usually bath , including washing my hair with about .75 gals water.
Excellent shower system. I already have the pop up tent and more I know how to put together a good portable system that I can use outside this summer. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to more videos like this one. New sub here.
Run the used water through a simple water purifier & you have clean water for the next shower. Search clay pot water purifier (or any bucket with aquarium clay medium.) & Get a scum buddy to trap the soap scum first ( hot tub tool, looks like a sponge to pick up body oils)
Thanks! What a shame that kitchen sprayer comes out so fast and straight. Love how it just turns off automatically when released though. Is there one that the water comes out like the orange one but has the "automatic" shutoff feature of the kitchen sprayer? Neither of those two are ideal but the combo of the two would be perfect. Thanks
This one came with both the kitchen sprayer and the shower head. The shower head does require you to press a button to turn it off, but it’s not too onerous.
Are you by any chance within hours of driving from Chicago? I would love to see your van in person, and maybe get few ideas about conversion. I started conversion recently and having some trouble deciding how to proceed.
@@jeffwagg I am 60515 - Downers Grove. Working in my area tomorrow till 2pm, any chance I could meet you (or rather your van, haha) tomorrow pm, or on Sunday? I would come where you tell me to come
If you try using this method in your vehicle, I think you are gonna hate it because you are guaranteed to end up with water all over. Good idea, but not inside IMHO!
@@jeffwagg Well now, that would be better I recon. I'm on the verge of living out of my car so I suppose I'll be going to them if I'm close enough, or rigging up an outside system like you showed.
The sink is a $4 dog water bowl from Ikea. It was a pain to drill the hole for the drain with a hole saw, but once that was done, I just used the Camco drain and it drained into a 5 gallon jerry can.
I don’t mind cold showers so I might not be the best judge, but a 2:1 ratio of cold to hot works for me. A meat thermometer could be used to get a consistent temp. It does cool off quickly so don’t delay in taking your shower.
