The Monsoon has hit pause and it’s gone back to being sunny and really sweaty hot every day. Fine, there are advantages and disadvantages but you know what? I really like taking showers. And someday there’ll be a new water heater at Ian’s place but in the meantime sitting around wishing I could have a real wash is not getting me anywhere. I decided that, despite my doubt about their efficacy, a possible little of something was better than a definite lot of nothing.
So…I did something I’d always dismissed as useless.
I bought one of those five-gallon camping shower bags.
And I cleaned out the Lair’s shower tub, which over the past nearly eight years has been taken over by water bottles and dog food sacks and mummified spider carcasses, and I rigged up a way to hang the bag – and bottom line, it works. It’s not my friends’ glorious shower in the Big City, but it works well enough. Better than nothing. Should have done it years ago.
Now I need to find a shower curtain. Pretty sure the local dollar store has those.
When I was a kid, My Dad rigged a 55 gallon barrel on our roof, painted it black and filled it with water. By sunset in the late spring, summer and early fall, the water was perfect for an outside shower. Those were the showers I remember as being the best in my life.
It might be I’m better off just doing that. Wouldn’t put it on the roof, but I could build a rack beside the rear wall. It’s in full sun all day.
Nice, I’ve used something like this when camping. BTW, the painted black 55 gallon drum idea ain’t bad.
Hi Joel I did the black drum shower at a permanent campsite I had a long time ago , rigged it up on a tall cedar outhouse type structure , the roof caught rainwater , there was an old wood ladder mounted on one side in case I had to dump a couple of 5 gallon buckets in it during dry spells … the rainwater made the best showers though … no additives , Pat
And a solar oven like various loyal readers have mentioned will make shower-ready water even faster. I believe some of us have mentioned the shower bag once or twice, also… (harrumph mumble grumble) Glad you have a warm-water shower, Joel.
You are out in the middle of nowhere, behind at least one ridge, and you’re worrying about a shower curtain? Why?
If you’re really gonna do this, make a water tower rig, 4 legs, lower shower base platform, upper water tank platform with black tank on top, and just use old trailer siding or roof tin to close in the sides, if you need the sides closed in, from about a foot up to about 5 feet up (basically a 4′ panel.)
But… still… One of the great joys of being in the back beyond is not having to worry during hot weather about peeping neighbors. I mean… You’re a HERMIT, fer gosh sakes. 🙂
But he’s got a dog, Beans. And if Laddie has a thing for sausage, well…
I want a curtain because at present I’m splashing water on the bathroom floor.
Buddy of mine has an offgrid cabin for summer use. He lays a 100′ coil of black garden hose on his roof to give him hot(!) water for showers. I’ve long thought that a couple hundred feet of cheap black garden hose, laid out on black driveway, and hooked up to a 55-gallon drum would make a thermal siphon that would heat a lot of water really well.
You uptown, classy mountain hermits always have the best. I just heat a 5 gal. bucket over a fire (or set in the sun) and then pour it in a metal watering can. Pull it up high enough on the back porch and enjoy. Yours looks pretty swell though!
I bought one of those because they were cheap and I was frequently too lazy or tired after work to walk to the shower house when we were in the camper all summer. It ended up working great! Who new.
😀 I’ve been sponge-bathing in the kitchen sink since moving here, heating water in an old saucepan. The cabin has a perfectly good shower tub but no hot water: I’m embarrassed it took this long to get around to trying one of these.
Ah, I understand now. You’re showering inside. Okay,
Actually Joel, I also “sponge-bath” mostly, because I have to run my well water through a Berkey in order for it to be usable and a sponge-bath takes a lot less water. Glad to see another hermit “moving on up”.
This guy has built a nice hot water generator, might be worth looking at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErggOZt5B6E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyjuGVc7504
And his channel is FULL of wisdom.
I’ve seen people on boats (similar situation) use a garden sprayer modified to have an marine shower head. (You can turn the water off, because boats have severe limits on water consumption.) And you get pressure. And in the winter, you can heat water on the stove – providing you have enough propane (or maybe wood in your case)
I just use a new garden sprayer with a shower head attachment and fill it with 1/2 hot water and 1/2 cold. Pump it up and stand in the shower area and let it flow. Great for a thoroughly cleansing shower without wasting a lot of water.