Onboard shower .....

Workshop and Technical tips & tricks.
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mistericeman
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:44 pm

Onboard shower .....

Post by mistericeman » Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:43 pm

Not sure IF this will be of any interest to folks on here BUT following on from our trip to Scotland last year ...the only thing i really missed when wild camping was a steaming hot shower .....
Ablutions were admirably dealt with with a short handled ex military spade and some solitude (Apologies to the lobster boat on it's way back in on THAT morning BUT I truly expected the headland to be deserted :embarassed: )

ANYWAY ....as part of the preparations for this years trip I intend to have fitted a pull out awning to the Foley roof rack AND a semi onboard shower system .....

My intention is to fit one of these diaphragm pumps with it's inbuilt pressure switch to stop the pump when the shower head flow switch is operated.

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Into one of the rear wheel boxes and wired into the leisure battery
piped up to a couple of these bulkhead fittings....

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Fitted with quick disconnect hose fittings to enable a supply pipe and a shower hose and head to be connected

And stuck to a suitable smooth surface with one of these ...

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I'm intending to line a small ammo tin with 1/2" copper tube salvaged from work to provide a heat exchanger that will sit on top of the coleman petrol cooker that always travels with us ....

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The base cut out and replaced with mesh to allow storage of shower head and hoses inside to keep it all tidy .


IF anyone is interested I'll update things as I get a bit further on (As soon as my Manflu lurgy clears )

I've already done the ebay hard work lol
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RMS
Posts: 2236
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:02 am
Location: Near Wakefield, UK, in God's own Country!

Re: Onboard shower .....

Post by RMS » Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:54 pm

Steve has a shower plumbed into his Carawagon.

It uses a heat exchanger HERE plumbed into the heater hose and a stainless steel feed tank under the passenger seat.

There's a proper shower head just inside the rear door, with a shower hose so could be used inside his awning or in a pop-up shower/toilet tent, or au-natural if you're into that sort of thing :whistle:

Obviously only provides hot water when the engine has been running, but if touring, would work well for a nice hot/warm shower after a day's driving.

Cheers,
Robin.
1967 109" Carawagon 200TDi
1972 109" SW Carawagon 2.5NA
1958 109" Carawagon 2.25P (project)
1972 109" Carawagon 200 or 300TDi (project)
1974 Dormobile 2.25D (project)
(Robin on S2C forum)
mistericeman
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:44 pm

Re: Onboard shower .....

Post by mistericeman » Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:00 pm

I did consider a heat exhanger AND even making my own by chopping various bits of large fridge pipe about OR wrapping soft drawn copper around the exhaust manifold BUT

Decided on the coleman cooker route as I didnt want to have to have the engine running for a peaceful shower AND to be able to control temperature by adjusting the Coleman (It's so cheap to run it's negligible) We used less than a gallon of unleaded for all cooking and lighting (Plus a splash or so for fire lighting ;-) )over a week in Scotland last year .
jerryd
Posts: 395
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:44 pm
Info: "the pom down under"
Location: Qld Australia

Re: Onboard shower .....

Post by jerryd » Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:32 pm

I've fitted a cold shower and running water to the sink in my dormobile, I've fitted the pump into the passenger side wheel arch and the shower control is cut into the rear side panel so that the plumbing of it backs into the wheel arch also. I had a custom tank made that fits between the chassis / outriggers under the seat box and it holds 42 litres.
The sink tap also has a filter so it should be okay to drink :cheers:

At the moment the shower is only cold water, but I was thinking of one of these to get hot water -

http://www.jtsonline.com.au/facts/duoetto/

Although a heat exchanger in the engine bay would be a good idea also and take up less room. I've also thought about just having a water container up on the roof as it doesn't take long to get hot here in the sun :cactus: , but not sure how to get it into the hot tap and have pressure :stars:
Gromit
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:26 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Re: Onboard shower .....

Post by Gromit » Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:55 am

Jerry,
The first on-board 4WD shower I came across was Glind http://www.glind.com.au/store/packs-sys ... st-popular Comes with heat exchanger, pump, fittings etc.
Piranha make a similar unit http://www.piranhaoffroad.com.au/produc ... -universal
Just found that Bushranger supply one as well http://www.bushranger.com.au/hot_water_shower.php

The only part that needs some thought is the heat exchanger, the rest is a pump, some wiring, tubing & fittings.


Colin
1956 Series I 86" hardtop
1960 Series II LWB ute (sold)
1965 Series IIa Dormobile
1970 Series IIa GS
1976 Series III SWB with Isuzu 2.4
1981 Series III FFR
1995 Defender Tanami
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