Portable camp shower systems....

[MissTaco]

Hey all, I'm working on plans for turning my 99 4runner into an expedition rig, and I was curious if y'all had portable showers? Anything crazy? I saw a website called www.hotcampshowers.com and wondered if anyone was using one of them? Any ideas would be great! Thanks!

[PAToyota]

Since you mention Toyota, Chris Geiger wrote an article years ago about setting one up: Camp Shower

For some reason I'm having difficulties with the link. Let me know if it works for you.

[MissTaco]

Originally Posted by PAToyota

Since you mention Toyota, Chris Geiger wrote an article years ago about setting one up: Camp Shower

For some reason I'm having difficulties with the link. Let me know if it works for you.

Thank you! Link worked fine for me

I would love if anyone had any pics of one of these set up or anything, thanks all.

[tacomamike]

Originally Posted by MissTaco

I saw a website called www.hotcampshowers.com and wondered if anyone was using one of them?

I have this, it's awesome! If you don't have the water flowing like crazy you can get a decent shower out of a five gallon bucket.

Regards,
....Mike

[brewchief]

I've got one of the single burner zodis, works sweet, I can get two or three decent showers out of 5 gallons easy. Only issue I have with it is the pump, mine has failed twice now, I'm going to find something better pump wise this time.

[wheelerfreak]

Originally Posted by brewchief

I've got one of the single burner zodis, works sweet, I can get two or three decent showers out of 5 gallons easy. Only issue I have with it is the pump, mine has failed twice now, I'm going to find something better pump wise this time.

That's what we use too. Runs off either the disposable propane cylinders and can be adapted to the larger ones as well. I actually prefer that setup to the style that uses a heat exchanger on one of your vehicle coolant lines.

[roscoFJ73]

Ive got one of these Coleman hot water units. Very compact and weighs about 22lb.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/COLEMAN-PORTA...ayphotohosting

I was looking at the vehicle mounted hot water kits but in the end I decided I didnt want any thing attached to the engine.

They say you can make a cup of coffee if you turn the knob up high.
Next time the power goes off I will have hot showers

[p14175]

I made a heat exchanger that utilized the engine cooling system that worked really well. Kind of like this writeup.

http://biobug.org/jeep/zj/shower/

[dbreid]

I have the hot water shower you posted in the first one. VERY nice. It is really easy to install, and you can get two showers out of a 5 gallon bucket (me and the gf) if you control the water. Run a little, soap up, run a little more, etc. I als o use a bucket at some of the camp sites which have water faucets, but not showers. I stick the bucket under the faucet, and shower till I feel done.

Pretty nice setup!

[OX Driver]

LOVE my Zodi single. Wanted the double but settled for the single and now I'm glad. It's a much smaller package and it does a fine job. I see now that Wal-Mart has them even cheaper in a soft case. I would not hesitate to go this rout again. On a resent trip we had it set up in a natural shallow cave we dubbed the enclave of serenity. It was truly the best shower of my life. For this kind of reason I think it is superior to an on-board style. Also we sometimes have to use the Jeep to go get watter to bring back to camp. I have a 6gal jug I use to bring water but then use a collapsible canvas bucket to hold it for the shower as having a big open top makes it easy to manage. You need to be able to put the head back into the supply in order to save watter because the water must always be flowing. You can't just shut off the water and keep the gas on. Zodi is cheap, easy to use, and Does a great job. What more could you want. All these years of “roughing it”... So nice to go to bed fresh after a long day on the dusty trail.

[MissTaco]

thanks for the info guys!

[crashnzuk]

I have an automatic transmission radiator in my manual transmission Jeep. I have been thinking about using the internal trans cooler as a shower heat exchanger. All I would need is a pump and some hoses. Might be an option for others as well depending on how your rig is set up.
Travis..

[cruiseroutfit]

I run the Helton units on both my Tacoma and FJ40, I'm a bit biased as I sell them but its a great unit or kit depending on how you have it setup. They make several different heat exchangers (Aussie built) with varying amounts of wraps inside the shell for different efficiency rates. Their shower heat exchanger will hear water to ~80-100* on first pass (lots of factors including start temp, coolant temp, etc), whereas their hot water heat exchanger will heat water up to 150+ degrees on a single pass with a operating temp motor.

On my Tacoma I utilize the factory dash heater knob to control the output temperature of the unit, very slick


(note our water source is the cooler water for the weekend )

[GPERX4]

I also have the single burner Zodi and with the price of fuel I'm glad I didn't go with the engine heat exchanger. It will also work great when I leave the Jeep at home and take the Polaris Ranger out.

[cruiseroutfit]

Originally Posted by GPERX4

I also have the single burner Zodi and with the price of fuel I'm glad I didn't go with the engine heat exchanger. It will also work great when I leave the Jeep at home and take the Polaris Ranger out.

FWIW an idling motor can take as little as a 1/2 gallon per hour, considering it takes just a few minutes to pre-heat say 5 gallons of water, its pretty efficient. I'm already buying gasoline, the last thing I want to have to keep buying is non-refillable propane bottles. My method is simple. Pull into camp, park the rig, get camp set up and then start the motor again and take a shower before it cools down, again you can heat up a 5 gallon Scepter can with your motor running for just a few minutes.

The Zodi units are great little units don't get me wrong. For me it came down to one more thing to pack and the efficiency I wanted. Its not at all uncommon for 10+ people to use my shower at camp, with a Scepter MWC you can drop the pickup right into the can without even pulling it out of the trailer for example, from there we heat it up and start taking showers. For those that do have Zodi units, look into an upgraded 12V shower pump unit. The downfall imo of the Zodi is the weak water supply, upgrade to a bit faster pump that can run off a cig lighter or battery pack and your in business. One other thing with the Zodi, be very careful not to let them run out of water while the burner is on, they WILL suffer melt down, I've watched it happen and read reports of others having the same issue. Keep a good water supply ahead of them.

Also, heat exchangers can be mounted to ATV's, I see your argument on not knowing what rig you'll be using, I solved that by adding a heat exchanger to both rigs

[Jeffb_79]

http://www.jeepshots.com/tech/shower.html

Here ya go, looks simple and inexpensive compared to most bought units.

[GA_ZUKI]

super simple one to build mostly if several are showering. take a 2gal metal pail and coil about 25ft of copper inside with the ends coming out poke some holes in the side at the bottom (top) to allow the heat to flow. set it on top with the bottom on top of a trukey fryer and turn the water on and adjust the flow. the pail will hold in the heat and the coils will heat the water. i will tell you this you can run 25 people through with no problem as long as you have gas and water flowing.

[FearMe]

Go for the Zodi. My wife and I even use it at home when the power has gone out.

[tshell]

You can find a nice selection of shower systems on cabelas.com ...for an upscale, walkin mobile solutions.... try these Portable Showers

[Antichrist]

I have a single zodi that I've been using for about 7 years or so. I like it because of how versitile it is.

[SOCALXJ]

We run a zodi extreme. It's reliable and simple. Fire up the burner and pump away. Basically it's a glorified bug sprayer.

[BAGDADEXPRESS]

Lately water quality safety especially when heated has become news.

If water quality is unknown then filtering it is the best way to go before heating to shower with.

Heating water of questionable quality perhaps even contaminated with any of dozens of chemicals and even antibiotics these days can and will cause health issues from being absorbed into the body through the skin.

[sjustice64]

we have 3 zodi units and love em. all have the hard case that can be doubled as a water container. I bought the water hose adapter for when we have access to a water spigot, works MUCH better than the pump. as mentioned before make sure you have water flowing before you turn on burner and keep it running for about 10-15 seconds after you turn off burner as it helps in cooling quickly.

[cykovski]

Another Zodi single burner user here- have only used it on on two short trips, but so far it's been a crowd pleaser.

The first trip I ran it with Zody's 6V, D-cell powered pump, and it wasn't enough volume for the butt cold weather we had. The exchanger kept up with the anemic flow easily, so you had scorching hot water, but not enough to keep you warm. Freezing one side of the body, and burning the other.

That trip inspired a shower system upgrade, and the setup is now primo- all the hot showers you want, if there's water for 'em.

I'm trying to get across the most info I can here, without being too wordy, bear with me.

Battery- I quit screwing around and brought a decent sized deep cycle. After a five day trip that averaged 4 people showering per day, the battery was at just over 50% charge capacity remaining. 25 min. average shower time X 20 showers = 500 minutes pump run time.

Pump- submersible from RV/ Trailer supply store. Packaging claimed it would pump up to 3 gpm, testing at home showed it flowing at about .9 gpm. Perfect, then. I wanted to be able to drain a five gallon bucket or two with one shower. I knew the flow was still too high for the heat exchanger to raise the temp much, so I added a couple of 1/4" restrictors, and that brought the flow down to around .4 gpm, or around 12 minutes to drain one bucket. I added some spade terminals and a switch to the pump lead.

Does anybody give a squirt? Anyways, here's some pics. The redwood platform is good for keeping the feet clean. The propane goes a long ways, we used maybe 2 gallons for twenty showers- not shabby. I use a length of tie wire to hang the shower head, makes it easily adjustable.

testing in the garage...


the pump- water line to the Zodi, power cord to the switch/ battery.

[OX Driver]

Cool setup if a bit bulky. I like the lantern riser off the tank. I may try something like that on my trailer.