On Board Hot Water for Shower

[Sir Roofy]

stropp,

you don't have cold water over there anyway, so you hardly need it warmed up

I like the thinking.... I was looking at mounting a 12v pump under the bonnet anyway for a water tank, and i could just plumb in an extra pipe in from pre-heated water source and pipe out to shower head and one way valve to the water tank to prevent backflow, then in essence i only have to carry a couple of length of hose, and a shower tent. I just need to work out if i want to go the extra step and plumb in a heat exchanger as well.



Mic

if your going to preheat your water why not just get a 12v bucket shower out of kmart
oraussie disposals $20 bucks

[happygu]

With the one I had - it was connected in series with the car heater. The water temperature could be adjusted by adjusting the heater control on the dash.

Bill,

The shower we used was fixed either by inserting a regulator in the water line to make it work properly or by changing out the pump for a different flow-rate unit, which then enabled the heater controls to make a difference to the actual water temp at the shower head - before that moving the heater controls made absolutely no difference at all.

There is someone else in our club with a Cruiser who has the fixed on-board shower, and he is happy with the performance of his, but I haven't seen him use it on a trip yet either.

My only worry about installing a fixed unit, is that the Climate Control dial only goes from 18 - 32 Degrees, and I am not sure if that actually equates to the same temperature variation of the old style heater controls ( Not sure if Cold is Colder than 18 and if Hot is Hotter than 32... )

I will check out the portable units properly, but I would prefer to have something fixed and mounted in such a way that it doesn't take up too much space and get in the way. I do like Stropp's idea of the hoses and portable pump....

[happygu]

if your going to preheat your water why not just get a 12v bucket shower out of kmart
oraussie disposals $20 bucks

Roofy,

We had a solar shower years ago, and it was, in my opinion, fairly useless....

I am a bit of a space junky, so I would get annoyed about having a bucket with holes in the bottom hanging around with no other uses....

[GUtsy ute]

Everyone likes different setups.

I use a solar shower, and if it's not ideal weather, a half kettle of hot water added to the solar bag is fine.

Not out to start an argument, but IMHO, a gas stove is cheaper to run than a car engine.

Be gentle with meLOL

[happygu]

Everyone likes different setups.

I use a solar shower, and if it's not ideal weather, a half kettle of hot water added to the solar bag is fine.

Not out to start an argument, but IMHO, a gas stove is cheaper to run than a car engine.

Be gentle with meLOL

Thats alright - I love a good argument....

Gas used to be cheap and easy, but these days trying to find somewhere to fill your gas bottle and does want to 'Swap and Go'....... I don't carry a 9kg bottle for camp cooking, so it is getting more difficult.

[happygu]

There have been some really great ideas and contributions to the question, which is absolutely fantastic and it is great to see so many different setups and ways about achieving these.

I really like Cuppa's solution, as this is totally different from most and will suit a whole lot of trayback vehicles as well as those who are travelling full-time. It possibly isn't right for me as I will probably only get a chance to use it twice a year looking at it rationally, and any extra uses would be a bonus, so I need a simpler solution ( which may be going back to the dreaded Solar Shower, but I sort of hope not ).

Thanks to everyone so far.... and hopefully a few more ideas and solutions will pop up too.

Mic