Monday, December 29, 2008

Emergency or Camping Shower

Here's a great way to clean up in the woods--the Camp Shower. If you're like me, a couple of days without a shower starts affecting my mood and there's only so many ways to wash up in the woods most of which are a pain in the neck and use lots of water. One year while camping, there was a guy camped near us that had one of these and my crafty mother looked it over and made one for herself, then this year made one for each of her kids for Christmas. I know, you want my mom, but you can't have her! She's mine!
Anyway, here it is:It is made from a 2 gallon weed sprayer (only use a fresh one--you don't need old weed killer residue in your shower) and a kitchen sink spray nozzle. I'm not sure what hardware you need to hook the hoses together, but I took a picture of it and maybe you can figure it out. OR just ask at your local hardware store and they should be able to fix you up with something that will connect the two hoses together.My mom also has access to an industrial sewing shop and put together a nice little carry bag with shoulder strap and a mesh toiletries pack and washrag hook attached. LOVE IT! To use the shower, heat up some water and fill up the sprayer. Pump the top to put pressure in it and use the sprayer to spray the water. When the pressure gets low, pump it up again.

The guy who we copied this from had a one gallon sprayer and he put it in a black bag in the sun and it would heat itself up. Two gallons has proven to be too much for the sun to heat, but one gallon is not enough for us girls to get clean with, so we've got a two gallon sprayer and have to heat water without relying on solar power to do it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you need more info on what was used for the connector, let me know and I'll get that info from the handy husband who figured it out for me.

ReadyMom said...

I have the new sprayer in my preps, but never thought about adding the alternate kitchen-type sprayer! LOVE that idea!

To help with getting enough water for the 'shower' consider using empty CLEAR beverage/soda/juice bottles. Spray them BLACK (use spray paint specifically for plastic items) and keep them in the sun to heat the water. You'll have several bottles all ready to add to the shower. -k

Anonymous said...

We used this same system 40 years ago when I sailed around the world in a small boat...but with one difference. We got a stainless steel (welded) sprayer (Sears?) and would heat the water right in the open sprayer tank on the stove. When it was warm we hauled it on deck, put the pump back in and took a shower. When not in use for that we used it to rinse dishes in the galley. We had another, smaller unit we used in the head as a bidet...worked great and the girls loved it. We seldom used TP, just had towels to dry off. This is common practice in Europe and South America.
regards, Everyman