I'll keep my creature comforts. I like having my own bathroom, and especially at 68 years old, I like having my own real porcelain flush toilet. I'm up several times a night and I'll be damned if I'm going outside to do my business. And I don't care one iota to slog around a nasty canister full of body wastes. I'd quit camping first. Now I don't even have to bring a flushing wand inside. I flush my black water tank from the outside with a rotary spray nozzle I mounted in the black tank. It's a white glove job now to dump the tank and flush it out.
And fwiw, I also have the outside shower as well. It's handy for rinsing off things like muddy boots and stuff. I replaced the cheapo POS mixing valve with one that has a quick disconnect fitting on it, so I can use any hose/nozzle combination I want to, rather than the cheesy low flow junk one that came with it.
1. As a general rule I don’t dump gray water on the ground. From an EPA perspective it’s sewage and needs to be treated I wouldn’t want it my drinking water.
2. I don’t need to take outdoor showers I have a small wet bath that seems to work. I’ve never given much thought the bathing outside. However, as a general rule I have consideration for my neighbors who really might not want to look at me naked. It’s not a matter of my privacy, but a matter of their’s.
3. I love my outdoor shower. I put it on the front door side. I use it the hose down things like my fishing gear and I don’t want to flood the neighbors front yard so I flood line and washing down my dear.
I replaced the outside faucet on the Casita with a quick release type, and a long coiled hose, and also the inside bathroom faucet, which then had a quick release articulated nozzle so I could make things fit. Both inside and outside worked very well.
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2019 Big Foot 25RQ with cargo box, onboard Cummins LP 2500 generator, solar panels, and 2019 Ram 2500 4x4, 6.7L Cummins with ARE Shell.
The showers were closed at mammoth cave np this year so we used a pop up tent and a plastic storage tote to catch the water. Then poured the water into the scamp sink. Wasn't ideal, but it worked well and it was better than no shower at all. Surprisingly, it only took about 2 - 2.5 gallons for 2 showers, warmed water up on the stove.
New experiences and overcoming obstacles is part of the charm of RVing.
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2019 Big Foot 25RQ with cargo box, onboard Cummins LP 2500 generator, solar panels, and 2019 Ram 2500 4x4, 6.7L Cummins with ARE Shell.
I'm planning on mounting my shower heater, hose, and and propane tank to a two wheeler hand truck for portability, but also wonder where / when I would use it. I even have 200 feet of intake hose to run from any water source, but where to drain?? Haven't used it camping yet.
(Currently using the camp water heater to heat my large kiddie pool! Not current, current, but in June!
For toilet, we use a porta potty, and an instant pop up hunting blind / tent. Instant up if you need to go! Can't quite stand up, but don't need to.
It sits right outside the boler at the back. Great for middle of the night.
Lasts the weekend with 4 people.
Porta potty has a few galloons holding tank. We just bring it home to empty. We rarely use the park facilities.
I prefer a camper with a shower in the cabin. I loved my BF 19’s marine bath, but my husband prefers the BF21’s separate shower. Can’t imagine using an external camping shower, and storage tent.
We used our trailer’s outside faucet/shower for the first time to rinse off our puppy this summer. He was in a pond that was chemically treated for pond scum. It worked so well, I plan to use it to shampoo them in the future. I doubt I’d use the outside shower when not hooked up to a water source, unless there is an emergency.
I’ve spoken with people who like to wash pots n’pans & dishes outside. It’s not a bad idea, but you’d need to plan for this - i.e., a clean surface for the dishes & a portable sink, etc.
Specialized green soap & shampoo should alleviate any grey water concerns.
I do camp on private grounds & one of the first things I discuss with the owner is grey water disposal. Most owners show me where to locate the grey water hose. As I said I invest in camp soap when boon-docking.
We have a tiny wet-bath, and shower every 2 to 3 days. I used our outside shower once, but found I used lots more water than with the inside shower. Inside, I fill the sink with the water while it's getting to the right temperature. Then I wash hair, and wet and soap myself down with water from the sink, so it gets double and triple used. Clean water to rinse. Much more water-efficient inside.
Hi all, For those of you that only have an outdoor shower set-up....do you use it? What did you set up for privacy and do you dispose of the water somewhere or just let it run into the ground? I've been strongly leaning toward a Happier Camper and figured we would just get a popup tent for a luggable loo and outdoor shower. From my research though, it seems that outdoor showers are problematic. Some have said that national parks will not allow you to use them because of grey water run off. I'm really not interested in collecting the water and disposing of it after....seems like a huge pain. So, what do those of you with an outdoor shower option do?
The problem is that most camping areas have prohibitions for putting gray water on the ground. Therefore, any water used by the outdoor shower should be collected and disposed of properly, like at a dump station. That’s pretty inconvenient.
I have read all the posts and did not see any comments on Solar Showers. I have a shower tent...quite roomy and a 5 gallon SS which I hoist to the roof of my Scamp 13. A porta potty sits in the corner. A SS gets quite hot at times so timing is important. My concern is that if the SS uses water from the campground's faucet then why did the CG provide tap water in the first place. Taking that logic to extreme then the rules say that the lake must be drained after humans swim in it. As for National Parks, we no longer have a nation.
I have read all the posts and did not see any comments on Solar Showers. I have a shower tent...quite roomy and a 5 gallon SS which I hoist to the roof of my Scamp 13. A porta potty sits in the corner. A SS gets quite hot at times so timing is important. My concern is that if the SS uses water from the campground's faucet then why did the CG provide tap water in the first place. Taking that logic to extreme then the rules say that the lake must be drained after humans swim in it. As for National Parks, we no longer have a nation.
We had one of those "Solar Shower" things that I bought many years ago, and I have since gotten rid of it as being rather useless where we live. (BTW, it just rained 2 inches yesterday alone.) If you live where the sun shines all the time, I suppose it would be a great alternative. If you live in the PNW, (like us,) just step outside...you'll have a fresh water shower almost every day.
If you're dependent on the sun to warm it up, you'll need to get used to cold showers. People in Washington don't tan, we rust. Same reason I never invested in anything to do with "solar power panels" for electrical use. Just sayin'.
At Cottonwood campground in Big Bend National Park you may wash your dishes in a pan and walk to the fence and discard your dish water. There is non-potable water available, but nowhere to hook your camper up to potable fresh water. The do have osmosis filtered water available for drinking. It takes about a minute to get a gallon.
OTOH, while we could throw our dish water over the fence, we were told we could not use our outdoor shower. Makes sense to me. The dish water is distributed, but shower water is next to the campers and eventually will ruin the site.
Previous Eggs -2018 Escape 5.0 TA, 2001 Scamp 16' Side Bath, 2007 Casita 17' Spirit basic, no bath, water or tanks, 2003 Bigfoot 25B25RQ, that we regreted selling
It appears to me that the outside shower that is behind a door on the camper is for hosing off your feet and body when in a swimsuit. Just a convenience to get the loose sand/dirt off B4 going inside.
It appears to me that the outside shower that is behind a door on the camper is for hosing off your feet and body when in a swimsuit. Just a convenience to get the loose sand/dirt off B4 going inside.
I will respectfully say this is not entirely true. If you read my first post on this thread (#2), just because an outside shower is behind the door does not make it any less useful than one on the opposite side of the trailer. When I ordered my Escape, while speaking to him on the phone, I asked Reace, the owner and founder of Escape if he could install an outdoor shower low and as far back as possible on the door side. He said he had never done it but due to the proximity of the water lines to the sink, he would. After that, others did the same as it had been discussed on the Escape Forum. Escape now offers the optional outside shower on either side of the trailer, or on both sides, if that is what the customer wants. Location does not define its usefulness. Escape has a history of turning customer’s special requests into new options.
I will respectfully say this is not entirely true. If you read my first post on this thread (#2), just because an outside shower is behind the door does not make it any less useful than one on the opposite side of the trailer. When I ordered my Escape, while speaking to him on the phone, I asked Reace, the owner and founder of Escape if he could install an outdoor shower low and as far back as possible on the door side. He said he had never done it but due to the proximity of the water lines to the sink, he would. After that, others did the same as it had been discussed on the Escape Forum. Escape now offers the optional outside shower on either side of the trailer, or on both sides, if that is what the customer wants. Location does not define its usefulness. Escape has a history of turning customer’s special requests into new options.
We are looking into purchasing a new FG trailer and if we do , it will have an outside shower on both the passenger and driver’s side of the trailer .
The current two year waiting period for a FG trailer coupled with Covid 19 will probably be the tipping points in our decision.
I should have said behind a Hatch not a door. The Hatch can be anywhere on the RV. By saying behind a door it seamed to comfuse. I appoligize for the confusion.
I have tried a lot of different shower solutions. Here is some accumulated experience.
I first used solar showers a good bit. But it is hard to get a bag full of 3 to 5 gallons of hot water up high enough to shower under it. And the standard little shower head that also serves as a valve is very difficult to turn on and off with soapy hands. And getting the temperature right is tough.
I modified a new 1-gallon garden pump sprayer with a shower head and that worked pretty well. You have to keep squeezing the valve for water to come out but it shuts off easily and works well with soapy hands. You have to stop and pump a few times during a shower. And yes, 1 gallon is enough.
I have used two submersible pump showers. One has rechargeable batteries in the pump housing (USB charging cable) and the other has a long cord and plugs into a 12V power port. Both work okay but pump a lot of water fast, which goes through too much water. And the switch is not on the shower head so it wastes a lot of water to fumble around to find the switch (its on the pump on one and on the cord on the other). I used them only once or twice and don't use either of them anymore. They make good transfer pumps, though, like emptying the hot tub.
We have an outside shower on the Snoozy and that is nice in remote spots or private sites where we can let the grey water flow onto the ground. These are usually sites where nobody else camps and there is not an environmental issue. I have modified the ports with quick release hoses, a decent shower head, and a cutoff valve at the shower head. This works great.
When using our teardrop trailer, we recently bought this shower. https://www.amazon.com/OYOOQO-Portab.../dp/B07STJH3RH
This thing is fantastic. It has a big, sturdy valve on the shower head handle, you can heat up water for it however you want to, its rechargeable, the components are all high quality, you can stow soap, shampoo, and components in a tray inside it, and it has a sturdy handle so you can haul it to wherever you want to take a shower. Its awesome. It does pump a little more water than is ideal for me, but the valve works so well that you can easily turn it on and off to save water.
Regarding grey water management, I camped at Burning Man for 10 years where no grey water disposal is allowed and leaks have to be cleaned up. One solution is to evaporate the water to a sludge and haul that out, but that is a real pain (but the homemade evapotrons we used are really interesting). What I finally evolved to is showering in an enclosure with a waterproof floor, standing in an inflatable kiddie pool. When done, pour the water in the pool into a wash basin, then from the wash basin into a one-gallon jug using a funnel. Sponge up any loose water and put that in the jug too. Cap the jug and take it home or to a waste station/toilet. You can use water from 1-gallon jugs and just put the grey water back in the same jug when finished. All of that may sound like a lot, but is really pretty easy, clean, and legal. You could do that in a National Park.
Trailer: Happier Camper HC1 (Subaru Outback Stranded Me)now towing with RAM 1500 Ecodiesel Major overkill.
California
Posts: 125
Quote:
Originally Posted by chabang
Hi all, For those of you that only have an outdoor shower set-up....do you use it? What did you set up for privacy and do you dispose of the water somewhere or just let it run into the ground? I've been strongly leaning toward a Happier Camper and figured we would just get a popup tent for a luggable loo and outdoor shower. From my research though, it seems that outdoor showers are problematic. Some have said that national parks will not allow you to use them because of grey water run off. I'm really not interested in collecting the water and disposing of it after....seems like a huge pain. So, what do those of you with an outdoor shower option do?
We generally would use the showers and rest rooms at the camp grounds but during the virus times it is nice to have other options. We purchased a two room shower tent from CORE, and a portable water heater from Mr. Heater. (the one that uses D batteries.) I have used it at a California State Park and twice at Forest Service campgrounds. We set it up near the back perimeter of the camp site and have not had any problems. We use the camp site rest rooms during the day, and at night use a portable toilet in the Happier Camper.
We have a wet bath which is our primary shower area, however, we have also an outside shower. We have taken outside showers, both letting it run on the ground and capturing it in a plastic bin, depending on the camping area rules.
I use a camplux on demand water which connects to our propane tanks for hot water for both inside and outside showering. We also have a cassette toilet for pee and a luggable loo for the other stuff and a portable toilet seat for fox hole boondocking activity. We also carry extra water in collapsible water jugs which are nice because they don't take up too much room when collapsed. This type of jug might be a good solution for you if you have to carry your water to a disposal area. You can carry fresh water in some of them and grey water in others. The net volume is the same, so you are not using up much additional space carrying it. You can also store them in your bin. In your case I would probably have a shower tent, plastic bin, water heater/shower of some kind and some collapsible water jugs. Don't forget, half the fun of camping is figuring this stuff out!
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Your heirs will inherit money and stuff when you are gone. You can only save or spend money, but you can do things with stuff, so they are going to inherit stuff!
I use the collapsible water jugs too and find they typically last only two or three years before they develop pinhole leaks. They're pretty inexpensive to replace so there's okay. It's just a tradeoff for the convenience.
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Past owner of 1995 13' Casita, 1994 16' Casita, 2012 Parkliner, 2002 17' Bigfoot.
2008 Casita Spirit Deluxe
Terragrin
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