Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Camp shower recommendations

I built this one last year. Some copper pipe and fittings, a 12V pump, a small battery, a solar panel and a steel pot for water. Custom trucker themed shower mats optional.




Tending the water heating system.

We rigged up a shower head on a water hose, hung over a tree limb. Used a 12 volt RV pump in a 20 gallon water jug. RV pump had leads and clips to connect to truck battery.

5 gallon bucket of warm water and a red solo cup works best for us.

Done that too, beats hell out of being stinky!

Our camp consists of 3 house trailers pushed together and connected there’s 4 showers that I know of and I ain’t been in the Yat trailer.

They work real well for car camping. I used to meet up with a bunch of friends from up and down the west coast. One of the gals has real long hair, past her butt. She had a 2 burner Zodi. After about 3 years I caved in ("real men bathe in the crick") and tried it ... it's GOOD. Set it up inside one of the biggest "privacy shelters" (aka shiitter shacks) you can find with a piece of cheap indoor outdoor carpet for a floor .. especially good on gravel. I bought the one burner unit .. probably a mistake. I run the water through it twice, once as a pre-heat, the second time to shower. I'm done with the creek outside of July / August.

If you want to do it on the cheap, get the Zodi pump / showerhead / hose, heat water over the campfire, and mix with creek water to reach whatever temperature floats your boat ... use a cheap 5 gallon bucket to hold the hot water while you shower.

The "shiitter shacks" are good amusement .. watching people try to re-fold them for transport. They'd make a preacher cuss.

Tom

After supper.... Warm up some water on the stove in a large pot.... put it on the tailgate... get the foam cup from McDonalds drive thru coffee out of the cup holder in the dash of the pick up... throw the truck floor mat down to stand on... have a dry towel with in reach. Keep the soap on the tailgate so you don't loose it.

You will sleep like a baby that night....

I have used the bag showers quite a bit as well as having jugs of water set near enough a camp fire to heat up. The bag showers will get hot enough to burn you if they stay in the sun all day. Not an idea combo, but beats stinking or being covered in dust.

Splurged with the zodi extreme. Switched out the head with a cheap sink sprayer.

They've gotten me through a few deer seasons.

I tent camp at tbe farm in tbe summer. Bought a new red 5 gallon plastic gas jug with the safety nozzle. . I drilled several holes in the end of the safety nozzle, and one breather hole in tbe top of the jug. I fill it with well water in tbe morning and put it in the sun. Throw it up on the toolbox of the pickup in the evening for a hot shower...in summer. By mid September it may still be a little cool.

When the sun doesn't heat water in a bag, I turn to a two quart tea kettle or a cast iron kettle steamer and put them over or near a campfire, on a Coleman camp stove, on a wall tent wood stove or on a wood stove in a cabin. Have even heated water to fill the bag with a coffee pot. Cold weather be damned.

Good idea, Roundoak. Hot showers are way better than cold ones on a camping trip.

Best thing you can do is buy a 6gal RV water heater and build a box for it, propane tank, and demand pump with spliter, regular shower faucet. Once its done, its done.

The best thing to remember about all of the other methods is its harder to regulate the temperature so its better to shower during the day with the sun hitting the shower tent.

And these Hoo-Ahhs work well especially if you are bald headed or have short hair

http://www.hoo-ahhs.com/

I have had good luck with solar showers, though I am working on getting a RV pump and a sistern for an actual shower system. In the past we have used gallon sized water jugs near the camp fire. A shower is always refreshing even if its not as good as home.

You guys using a 12v pump - here's another use for it. I have a spare pump and I got a water filter similar to this one with a filter small enough to handle gut bugs. I got some plastic hose and rigged it so I can drive to the creek and filter water into 5 gal jugs. Back at camp I can pump or dump them into my RV tank when I'm running low or just have them on hand for extra clean water.
HINT: when setting it up, put the filter AFTER the pump, not before. If you put it before, the pump can't suck any water through it. It can push it through just fine.

That’s what I use also.

The Zodi is the cat's meow, switched to them at all my caribou camps, and there were no complaints but lots of complements!

I grew up with out running water in the winter we had a wash tub in the kitchen, stand in it and pour water over yourself in the summer time the river and a bar of Ivory soap. Saw my first shower when I played football in high school. I spent three years living in a tent in midlife and went back to pouring warm water over myself. On long camping trips I still use that method and pack a straight razor for trimming up. I did splurge and buy a battery powered hair clippers for my hair cuts.

Have used the clean bug sprayer for last few years. It works fine.

GreggH