Our system is a lot like you, set up quick little pop-up tent, heat the water on the stove (its' stationary in our Teardrop galley), and here's the difference we use a clean outdoor sprayer. We like this system because we just manually pump to get pressure, it doesn't take a lot. Then we don't have to have batteries.
Love the idea of a clean outdoor sprayer. We agree having to rely on batteries can be a pain. We carry an additional 4 "D" batteries with us just in case. Surprisingly 4 extra "D" batteries take up quite a bit of room and weigh more than you would think. Thanks for sharing your setup Karen!
@@mist4926 From Lil Giant I do not know what a clean or a metal outdoor sprayer is. If I ask at the hardware store, will they know what I am talking about?
Great idea!! We use the black and clear shower bags from Walmart - $10. They can heat too much on a sunny day, so I have two plumbed together - one stay cooler. we hang them up and we have the pressure we need. not as much as a pump, but gets the job done. On a cooler day, I'll put them on the car to warm.
@@mist4926 Yup, this is our portable shower too. I looked at a commercial version for about $200 then went to a hardware store and bought a 5-gal metal sprayer for about 1/3 the price. It even has a handy pressure gauge. It's nice because you can adjust the spray from stream to mist. My wife initially thought it would be a dumb idea. The first time we had a shower/ steam bath in our shower tent she changed her mind. Now she raves about it.
I use a rubber door mat as my shower base so I dont have to wear sandals or stand in mud. Rolls up small or lays flat in the truck bed when not In use.
Thank you for sharing that idea. I love it! I just recently started using a Cintas reusable 3x5 mat in front of my tent. Rubber backed with a black carpet surface. I pressure wash it when I get home, good as new. Also added a set of Stanley saw horses that clip together and a 1/2 4x6 piece of plywood to make a quick and easy table. 👍
Thank you so much for the shout out. I'm so behind in watching any of my favorite channels; combination of no/poor connectivity or trying to edit on the go. But as we drove back down to Riley Campground after hiking the Savage River Alpine trail today, my husband said, "do you know this guy, he just gave you a shout out!" LOL. I didn't even know he had downloaded your video. So glad to see your channel has exploded. But even that has its downsides as it makes it harder for you to respond to comments and puts ever more pressure on your time for content, etc. Loving our visit here in Alaska, especially all that sunshine...still can't get used to looking out at night and seeing so much light.
Glad you enjoyed it Arthur. Sometimes just filming the tents and camping gear, get a bit boring for us. We like to use these videos as a bit of a video journal for our family. And sometimes even folks like you enjoy those segments as well, which is really neat to hear.
That is like a giant single use wet wipe right? That does sound pretty simple. Out of curiosity how much do those cost? Sounds like a great solution to staying clean out there.
Playing with Sticks I’ve only used them on two trips so far and they seem to work great. If nothing else I feel fresh when I go to bed and don’t have the campfire smell. Their website is theshowerpouch.com And the price depends on how many you buy at one time. You may be able to get a discount as a UA-camr. Hope this helps! I love your channel.
Thanks for the link and the feedback. Also thanks for the video idea. We would like to pick some up and try them out in the video. Just the idea of getting that campfire smell off of us would be worth it in itself.
We just got a $30 solar bag shower on amazon! It works well! It’s too heavy to clip on the Scamp anywhere and is best when hung in a tree or laid on the car. I was so happy to have it that I took a shower two days in a row! Great video man!!
Hey Elsa. We had a very similar issue with our black solar shower bag. It was too heavy to be held by our original popup privacy tent we had a few years back. Now, that we have the more robust instant tent you saw in the video we have no issues with the weight of the solar water bag. The design of the tent is nice because it distributes the weight of the bag across a suspended shelf on the top of the tent. We are often surprised even here on cold days the solar bag can get that water pretty warm. Thanks for the compliment on the video Elsa, much appreciated!
yes you can also hang an umbrella in the tree upside down and then hang a shower curtain on the umbrella points all the way around, the holes in the curtain are the perfect spacing.
We have a pop up shower, and although we have a shower unit on the outside of our trailer, I like to use a big 1 1/2 to 2 gallon bucket, which I leave in the sun to warm up during the day. Then get a small pot to use as a scoop to rinse with. Simple and works great!
We like this, sounds much more simple than our shower. Someone today suggested painting that bucket black and putting a lid on it. That sounds like a good replacement for our solar shower bag. We spend a lot of time in Asia and the bucket bath gets the job done.
@@PlayingwithSticks We fill a big stainless steel pot with water and place it into a black garbage bag and sit it in the sun. The water gets SUPER HOT! I hope this helps someone. :-)
Thanks for sharing. We grew up with bucket baths at home - my parents are from India. we used fill a bucket with warm water and throw this on ourselves with a jug. When I visited India, as the family didn’t have running hot water, they would heat water in a small pot, have a bucket of cold water and add whatever they needed from the hot water into the bucket to make it warm. Then same as usual bucket bath
That is May's family as well! We have had quite a few comments suggesting we do the "Asian" style bath. With all the time we have spent using this method when traveling in Asia we forgot to try it out for our camping experience. We will have to give it a go this summer.
Great information. We are sizing down from a Class A diesel pusher to a teardrop or square drop as soon as the Class A sells. I love your channel and the professionalism and great information you provide. It has helped me to decide that moving back to our roots was the right decision, and we can't wait for the moment we can do that. For now, we have a pop up tent to camp in our of our Jeep Renegade. Feels great to get back to what we truly love.
We just finished our very first teardrop Trailer vacation in Sweden. We drove 3000 Miles and visit 6 different campgrounds to sleep. Showers were there, next vacation more camping in the wild without showers..... Thanks for the shower info. Greetings from The Netherlands. 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇸✌️
Guido so great to hear you were able to make your maiden journey in your teardrop. 3,000 miles is quite a big adventure for your first trip! After all that distance we are glad to hear you are still excited to get back out there. I remember our first big teardrop trip. It took us almost 5 days to recover from it. Since then we made minor adjustments to our packing list and I am usually itching to get back out there the next day. Glad you enjoyed the shower info. Greetings from the States to you as well.
We use a tent like you have done but for water we took a garden sprayer and painted it black leaving a strip unpainted to see the water level. We then set it our for the day in the sun and attached a kitchen sink sprayer and hose to the sprayer. We pump the pressure up and hang the kitchen sprayer in the tent and active the kitchen sprayer when we want water. Works great. If the water is not warm enough we do as you did by heating it up on the stove.
I also have a similar shower Cabana as yours. But I use a 3-gallon garden plastic pump up sprayer. I sprayed it with black Fusion paint. Lay it out in the sun it gets pretty warm if not I can heat water on the Coleman to add to it. I cut the spray wand off and added an extension of hose with a kitchen sink sprayer on the end. Then I pump it up and wet myself, soap up then pump up and rinse off. Out of the three gallons I can personally get two really good showers and wash my hair. No batteries to worry about. It is so wonderful that you and your family enjoy nature so much and you're bringing your children up to expose them to the Beauties and the wonders of this country. I admire you. You are such a beautiful family.
This is a great show solution! We have used the sprayer in the past, but we have never heard of painting it black to absorb the suns rays. We use a black solar shower, but it requires it to be hung vertically. The pump is great because you can use it in all settings. Washing the little guy would definitely be easier with a pump sprayer vs gravity fed. Thanks for this great solution. These are the type of things that make UA-cam so addictive. We have never really been into the prepper thing. But, the more we get into the various hacks people use it makes us curious how much more we can learn from the prepper community. The internet is like an onion, and we are realizing we have only peeled back the top layer. Thanks for the sweet comment about our family. Your kind words are really appreciated!
I have the exact same setup. I bought everything from home depot and assembled it in 10 minutes. Our family "splurged" and carry around a teak outdoor flooring from ikea so we don't have to step on dirt or grass while rinsing off.
Google "Nemo portable shower" . It's super easy. Asking for a link here for something this specific sounds lazy, or above a simple Google search today? Geez, now I'm annoyed at some people..
Hot shower while camping is a luxury. When we did our trip back to Alaska, we hosed the kids down with cold shower using the built in hose/nozzle from our t@g teardrop. They didn’t like that at all but at least they smelled better. I love the Lightspeed products, I have a half dome type of beach shelter, we used that during our trip, we face the open half towards the t@g for privacy. Water did pool up a little bit because it has a floor, but it drains easily for cleaning and setting up/take down was a lot quicker.
It truly is a luxury. Luu I know we've said in the past that we need to interview you and your family about your trip. When things slow down here we really do have to do that.I think a lot of people on here will find you one of the bravest men ever to take your family of 5 all the way from Arizona to Alaska in a teardrop trailer that you couldn''t even stand up in! You guys are our heroes!
And thanks for chiming in about your lightspeed product. We haven't used their other tents, but like you said the one we have we really love. Even the one we have that has no bottom for showering, the water does catch in the edges a bit as well but it does dry out really quickly.
We just had a chance to watch this video. Just a heads up the tent is much sturdier than it looks. We noticed it was swaying in the video, which is because it has no stakes. Like we said we move it a bit to grassy areas to take showers and then return it back to the Scamp or teardrop for bathroom or mosquito relief. As usual we really appreciate all your creative ideas you have shared with us. We have already received a couple creative shower solutions from the community, please keep them coming!
I use a similar pump at my off grid cabin. Its USB rechargeable and you can take several showers before recharging. I take a very good shower on 3 gal of water or less. 5 gal is a luxury shower
When my wife and I had our first truck camper (1994) I bought brand new 2.5 gallon stainless steel pump up bug/weed sprayer. I bought a dish sprayer head and attached it to the hose on the bug sprayer, I filled it with water, heated on the stove and pumped it up. It worked great! We eventually bought a camp trailer, I sold the shower at a VW show.
Suggestion: tea tree oil rubbed in skin will take itch out of mosquito bite, plus the mosquitoes hate the smell of it. Also; when you have a campfire, burn some sage and rosemary, it will repel many bugs (mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks)...love your channel.
Thank you for this. Our family utilizes tea tree oil quite often, but we haven't heard about using it for bites. Thanks a ton for watching out for us. Looking forward to giving this a try. Also great idea on the campfire sage and rosemary. I bet it also smells amazing!
@@PlayingwithSticks burning sage and rosemary in the campfire does smell good for us, but not the mosquitoes. I do gardening and use these methods to repel many bugs. Happy camping!
I use a collapsible shower bag that holds 2 1/2 gallons of water. Because the bag is dark, I will lay it out in the sunshine and depending on the time of the year it'll be from warm to hot. Because I camp a lot in a teepee, I use a small kids inflatable pool for the floor that I put just inside the doorway of the teepee to stand in. I then hang my camp shower bag above my head from two of the poles that are on each side of the door and I just stand there and shower. I've done this for over 25 years and it works for me.
@@PlayingwithSticks I started camping in a tipi when I started doing American Indian Powwows 28 years ago. Over the years, I found myself doing 6 to 20 powwows a year, 2 to 4 nights at each one. Since I have it fully furnished, I would prefer to stay in the tipi and having to find a way to stay clean, especially during hot months became crucial. These days, I do 7 to 10 powwows a year, 2 to 4 nights each. I will try to avoid doing it in the hot months but still do them mostly in the Fall with some in the Spring. I've learned how to keep clean in temps as low as in the 20's. I still use the same shower bag, along with the pink kiddie's inflatable pool but have had to change out the hose a couple of times due to it's age. In cool and cold weather, I'll hang my shower bag next to the campfire that I keep going all night. In the morning when I shower the water will be warm. And If it's just to cold to do that, I'll resort to bathing out of a pot that's hung over the fire and is used just for bathing. Keep on camping. :-)
@@timdeane2056 How neat. That would is impressive how many Pow Wows you get out to. Those are big events. It is neat to hear that you bathe all the way down to 20 degree days. When it gets that cold here we just stay dirty which isn't that fun, maybe we need to get a bit tougher and try more fall showers this year.
Very similar to your setup. Two room instant shower tent (better for bugs since you can get changed on one room, shower in the other), we use two large collapsible buckets for water, and a rechargeable pump for the shower. The only difference is that we have a hot water heater on our trailer (we have a pop up a frame camper), so heating water is much easier :)
Thanks Natalie for sharing. We have almost purchased the two room tent on multiple occasions. We love that it has a rainfly and we think it would be large enough for us to use as a nice side entry tent. The hot water heater you have really does sound much easier than heating water the way do. Thanks again for sharing what you are using, we know people will appreciate hearing your approach.
I’m a little late on this video... also not sure if someone mentioned it all already? But when we dry camp we can use a few gallons for all 6 of us the whole time camping. We have a system similar to this but we run it through a filter and just reuse the water. So we have a basin we stand in. Then on the suction part of the pump is the 1st filter then on the outlet side it runs through another filter and pumps out from there. So we reuse the water over and over. I bought a water tester and it’s actually pretty clean and gets the job done when water is limited. We also fill a black pouch and let that sit in the sun all day. Then it’s nice and warm for showers later in the day. Otherwise we warm it like y’all did.
Nobody has mentioned your system yet. Lately we have had folks reach out and share with us a popular video on UA-cam called the 1 hour shower. Very similar to your setup. Love you setup by the way. We will definitely be stealing this idea in the near future :) Thanks for sharing with everyone. I know they will appreciate it!
My system is a lot like yours. I use a 2 room shower tent and the same Zodi shower pump. I also use a cheap 12 quart stockpot from Walmart. I heat only as much water as I need on the stove right in the stockpot and drop in the pump. I hand hold the shower head and just drop it back into the pot so the water recirculates and I don't have to keep shutting it off while showering. When not in use the pot holds the pump, a silicone trivet to set it on plus soap and other shower needs. The stockpot comes in handy for lots of other things too. My a-frame pop-up camper has a water heater but I never use it.
Great idea on putting the shower head back in the bucket. Totally makes sense, but we never even thought about it. As you can see in our video we had to bend down quite far to turn off the pump. Thank you so much for this advice! Those A-frame trailers are pretty cool. We love watching Slim potato heads videos. We just had a major contributor to this community's postings upgrade from a teardrop to an a-frame.
@@PlayingwithSticks Question if you can...I need a new shower tent and was looking at the Lightspeed that you have but found mixed reviews. Has it been durable for you and does it handle wind well? The lazy part of me really likes the instant set up part and this one has a lot of room inside. I also just discovered a product called Lunatec Aquabot. Essentially its a pressurized water bottle. I can take a full shower with 64 ounces of water plus I use it to wash my hands, brush teeth, do dishes, wash mud off things and even put out out my campfire. They have an extension hose adapter that really makes it versatile. Extremely handy device that saves a lot of water.
@@wallywal6139 Sorry for the delay on this response. I thought I replied, but I must have accidentally deleted it. We are really surprised to hear the Lightspeed tent has some bad reviews. Honestly the tent is pretty overkill for a popup shower. The pole system is incredibly strong. Unlike the other tents we highlight on this channel we never baby the Lightspeed tent. We through it around, pack it up sometimes without drying it, use it on a daily basis...and we have had no issues with it. We get a lot of questions about wind. Unfortunately most the boondocking locations in Alaska are sheltered from wind by large mountains and trees. So we really haven't had the chance to test the wind. However, our little blue $30 pop up shower constantly blows over in small gusts. We definitely have not had the Lightspeed blow over. And the SPACE! Like you mentioned it is quite large. We often have all three of us in the tent with our camp chairs, our small camp table, and the heater on cold days. The aquabot seems like a pretty neat product. One of our favorite UA-camrs for outdoord product testing is Taras Kulakov "the CrazyRussianHacker." He convinced us that it was a pretty great product. We would love to try one out some time.
Suggestion: to avoid having your feet in the mud or sand (when there's no grassy area), I always carry a polthene cut to the size of the inside of the tent and that has some holes of 1 inch diameter to instantly drain. Easy to fold, no weight and cheap
sorry. I just realize that I made a typing mistake. The wright word is polYthene. A simple plastic flexible sheet. So now you know that you're not naive :) :) :)
I use a portable shower with a USB rechargeable battery powered that pumps the water from 2 gallon collapsible dish pan. It cost about $30 about 6 months ago. For a tent I just open the front passenger door of van with shade still on window & windshield, then magnet a tarp back to rear corner. Water ratio is 1/3 hot to 2/3 cold. It’s enough water because I turn off pump between wet down, lather & rinse.
Thanks for sharing your setup Karin. Would you happen to know the brand of your usb rechargeable pump. Sounds like a great pump that we think a lot of folks may be interested in. Love the door shower. We are very similar in that we take water breaks between the lather and rinse. Again, thank you for sharing this unique idea.
It’s stashed out in the micro camper van awaiting another adventure. My order section says the brand name is KEDSUM, however there were several on Amazon that looked just like it (orange pump bulb) so I had the impression they were all made in same factory in China & rebranded for sale. I went with one that shipped 2 of the USB battery parts so I had back-up power, but I did get several uses out of one charge so I don’t know if that was needed. One that plugs into the vehicle’s 12v socket would have worked ok, too. Also, I tested it at home in the shower before I took it camping while I experimented on how much water was needed. It gave good pressure, so I was surprised at using less than the 2 gallons.
Thanks Karin for sharing. We had looked at these on Amazon a few days ago. We were wondering if they were the style you use. Thanks for this feedback. With the Zodi pumps on backorder it is good to know there is another option out there for folks. And your option sounds like it may be better anyways because of the USB power and yours didn't break like ours did on the first use :)
@@PlayingwithSticks I also have one of those orange rechargeable showers - we haven't been out camping with it yet but I use it to add water (5ish gallons at a time) to a couple of awkward-placed fishtanks, and it lives on my gardening bench as my outdoor sink, with a hardware store bucket for a reservoir. It's still halfway through its first charge and has moved probably 25 gallons. One thing to watch for is that it's got such a large bathroom-shower-type head with good pressure that it goes through water very quickly, which is nice when I'm putting 5 gallons of water into a fishtank in just a few minutes, but could be frustrating if you have very limited hot water and aren't very efficient turning it off every second you don't need it.
Ive been wanting to try a hoolahoop with a shower curtan on it as the blind. and just bucket with a sprayer and valve on it. i think a 3 to one pully would make it very easy to lift that into a tree.
That is a great idea. Yes, you really could just use a rope throw like we do for putting a bear proof canister up in a tree. Again, great idea, so simple!
I have used the same set up with a zodi for 20 plus years. It’s simple and it works. I did make a LiPo adapter and pack a 10ah LiPo in my saddle bags and charge it with a solar panel (roll)
I don't known what its called but we have the black bag that you fill with water and put in the sun to warm up. If it's in the sun all day, it can be very warm. What a treat and it's free!
We carry the same bag around as well. I believe they are called solar showers. We don't get to use ours is often as we would like, because it is often overcast and rainy up here. But yes we love "free" and trying not to use additional resources to heat the water. Thanks for sharing your setup Christine!
Thanks. I just purchased my first shower kit cuz with Covid I still want to camp but not thrilled about using public showers. So got the tent, portapotty and shower kit for fairly cheap. Tent was thirty and portapotty was $20, and shower (bag system) was $10. Thanks for link to the other lady’s video too
Good point on the bathrooms. We have ran into quite a few folks on here who are feeling the same way. $60 by the way is great. Especially beings most of these items have multiple uses. From She to Me is such a great resource. Glad you were able to check here channel out.
My favorite shower solution was a 2 gallon pump sprayer. I cut off the wand and used a barb close nipple and a couple of hose clamps to attach a kitchen sprayer to the hose from the pump sprayer. I would heat up the water and pour it into pump sprayer. Pump it up and take your shower. The interesting thing is that, turning the water on and off as needed, you could frequently get an entire shower using only 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of water.
"Did you just video me?" In husband voice "Yes I diiid." I like to use a tote lid as a floor just to keep the feet out of the mud and without flip flops. Need the lid anyway and it doesn't hurt it. A shower when camping after a warm day hike feels so awesome and outdoor showers in general are extra special regardless, especially when they are wide open. Sometimes I just string up a tarp wall and sing "The hills are alive with sound of music..." until a family member throws something at me. Oh and I love the big sports/camp towels that are like shammies. Dry off super fast in the sun and will even dry out under rain cover, just takes longer. Super easy to wash too.
That’s a great suggestion on the lid. It beats the one I’m about to share because it’s dual purpose. Another Option is a hot water heater drip pan. Perfect size for camp, but not dual purpose. This summer we’re going to go a bit glampy and try out a teak wood shower mat. We see many people use them and rave about them, so we thought it was time to try it out.
@@PlayingwithSticks 🤣 If that scene in the movie was accurate, she would be busy swatting all of the bugs away while she attracts all of the mosquitoes with the CO2 she emits from her beautiful pipes.
@@PlayingwithSticks Home depot rubber garage floor matts with the holes in them also work great and don't get ugly overtime like teak. But teak is way more stylin' and nature like.
I'm sorry, I'm old and lazy these days, I went straight for the aquaheat lithium Ion/gas shower. It's brilliant but expensive. It has pass-though charging which is great if you are near a vehicle. You can also connect it to a 5 or 7kg gas bottle, great for the family. It's campsite only and needs backup power supply after 4 or 5 short showers. Solar will give a decent charge in two days. I take it to the beach fishing,shower on the back of my wagon for 10 minutes before leaving is awesome. Rods and buckets, dogs the lot, all washed with a rain-head shower experience. It's very comfortable.
I like the idea of a pump shower like you have, much better than hoisting a bag of water up into a tree. However I do find the solar hot water bags to be amazing and they will heat your water up to a temp that is too hot to use without dilution in about an hour.
I use a 19L HDPE jerrycan (which I use two others as water storage for the van) with a garden sprayer hand pump mounted into the large 96mm screw lid. I put about 10 L cold water in the jerrycan, add about 3-4 L of boiling water and pressurize the jerrycan with the hand pump. Near the bottom of the jerrycan is a 3/4 inch thread which I have fitted a quick connect coupler into which I can connect a piece of garden hose and a more or less standard sprayer head. The sprayer head has a valve which lets me control how much water I use and when. The sprayer has several of these typical garden spray patterns which are very nice for showering as well. I made a piece of plywood which I can strap to a tree trunk onto which I can attach the sprayer and use it as a regular shower head. I have yet to find/get a shower cubical tent so I tend to shower right there and then out in the open, maybe with my swim trunks on depending on the level of isolation the locale is. I use home made soap which is like Dr. Bronners a castile soap but in a bar form.
I think this is the way we want to go in the future. We really like the idea of a jerry can and a garden sprayer. We just ran into a neat combination of our shower and your shower this week at a local box store. It is called the Illu-Mist Battery Powered Sprayer. It is a garden sprayer but with a rechargeable lithium battery in it to power the pump. Paint it black to attract the sun, add the plywood to strap to the tree like your system and you have a pretty nice little hands free shower setup.
I have the full zodi I bought second hand and it’s awesome. The way I use it is with a bucket also. I run the burner and just put the shower head into the bucket, thus re heating the water into the bucket. I’m a little afraid that I might get scalded by the temp coming out of the shower so thus way I heat the entire bucket to a nice temp that’s not too hot then turn off the burner and shower as usual…works great…also I have used the shower bags that are solar. Let them rest on the dash of the car for a few hours and it’s ready…cheap and easy..also recommended!
I don't remember what they are called, but you can buy a weed sprayer at the store, the kind with the pump, and paint It flat black. Set it in the sun and it will heat the water, then use the sprayer for your shower.
The 'full Zodi" is well worth the money. Much less hassle and everything's in one place, plus you don't need to use a camping stove. I like your pop-up tent tho, that's nice.
I currently use gallon water jugs for showering. If I want hot water, I set it out in the sun for an hour. I plan on putting in a gravity fed shower in my van.
In the vane of emergency prepping I have created free hot water for showers/laundry. Take the rectangle kitty litter jugs and I painted front and one side with flat black paint, filled it with water and the sun heated it up to very hot in a little time. They are light weight and easy to carry with a handle and cap. Good Luck Get prepared!
Great little idea. Thank you Susan. I'm hoping you don't know something we don't regarding our need to prep. But, with all going on today I can actually imagine it being closer than I ever thought.
Never would have thought of this. Great suggestion! In another video of ours "Our 14 Favorite Teardrop Trailer Tips and Tricks" ua-cam.com/video/JMbS7B9G-pc/v-deo.html we mention using a drip pan for the bottom of water heaters for catching the water and keeping you out of the mud. But your fold-able version sounds much more efficient.
I got a solar shower for £7 on Amazon. Just leave it in the sun to warm up l actually bought 2 as they were so cheap to make sure you don't run out before you get rinsed off. Although being in Northern Ireland we don't get as much sun as we would like but even having it lukewarm makes such a difference. Happy camping everyone.
Weve used the Zodi on our off the grid property for years, they're awesome and worth every single penny!!! We use duct tape to secure the battery box...yup, ours broke, too. The hubs rigged the Zodi to pipe and a better shower head. We dont use the water heater, we prefer heating water on the stove.
My shower tent is a popup type. Love the fast up/down, but it cannot support ANY weight, so no hanging even a little hose. My next shower tent will be like yours or one of the easy up floor-less screen rooms doing double duty.
We also have the flimsy popup like you. We tend to use it more as a changing room and a place to use the toilet. Like you said it can be quite tough hanging items on there and can get very awkward on windy days. If our heavy duty pop up had a bug screen on one side it would be our everyday tent. It is big enough to fit all 3 of our camp chairs in there and stays very warm during fall and early winter camping. We thought about modifying the door to add a little screen to it.
Playing with Sticks, Ha! Yeah! My fear is my little floor-less shower tent blowing away while in use! Staking it is mandatory with one line tied to the truck. I think I will put a couple of cords inside tied corner-to-corner to stand on to keep it from blowing away while in use! Yeah. I like that.
You got us laughing there. We had the same thought with the shower that "She to Me" made. It is a great simple shower, but we could also see something come unattached like the suction cups and you are showing off that birthday suit to the world!
We use 2 gallon sprayers. Like the kind you use for spraying chemicals on your lawn. We just buy them new. For about $10 each. We fill them with water and they set in the sun all day and get warm. We find that usually one two gallon sprayer is all we need for both of us. And we have forgotten to set them in the sun. So in that case we just heat water. Usually 2 small sauce pans is enough to get the entire 2 gallons warm. It’s a nice shower. Leslye
Leslye this sounds great! Nice and simple. Add a bit of black paint to those sprayers and you can probably get them heated up even faster. Thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated!
I use a metal pail, to collect water then heat it on the fire. I store the pail inside of my luggable loo bucket. Also have an air pressurized camp shower that has a trigger on the shower head. Less than 35 bucks at Canadian Tire
Smart storing the pail inside the luggable loo. As for the air pressurized shower do you happen to know the brand on that? Here in the States there only seems to be $80 plus pumps such as the Helios. Would love to find a $35 option.
You might consider getting an energizer rechargeable battery kit. I bought mine at Costco. The benefit is that the kit comes with AA and AAA batteries. It also comes with adapters for C and D batteries. This allows a AA battery to power a D or C battery device. My reasoning is that A and AAA batteries are easy to find whereas D and C batteries are sometimes not as common
Walmart has a rechargeable(I think it's 20 volt tool batt) backpack sprayer my friend has with a RV shower head with on/off . I got the 15 gallon 12 volt sprayer for ATVs for my truck setup, she likes a long shower so make her happy . Being in Southern Nevada, most of the year we solar heat water. Painted tank black with a sight stripe .
Now that sounds like a good setup. You are the first person to mention this. You are also the first person to mention adding a sight stripe. Makes sense.
@@RipsterSA When I painted the semi clear garden sprayer , I put a piece of tape down the side, top to bottom so after painting remove tape now I have what we call a sight glass for boat fuel tanks. Just shows water level. Hope I didn't over explain.
We have black solar shower bags, we fill them in the evenings for the next mornings shower. We leave the bags on large boulders and let them soak up the sun the next morning. By 10 am, if the weather is good the bags should be nice and warm. About 70-80 degrees.
Love the idea of filling them in the evenings for the next morning's shower. Also like the tip of setting them on large boulders. We typically hang our solar shower bag and sometimes it is warm by shower time and sometimes not so much. Here in Alaska getting it warm can sometimes be a challenge. We will definitely have to try out the boulder trick.
I have a little Cargo trailer for camping...but no shower. I purchased a Camplux water heater which I have plumbed in so I can run hot water to an outdoor shower via a water hose and also will have hot water in the camper. It's easy to remove when not in use like in transit or for storage.
Love the idea of converted cargo trailers. We have heard great things about the Camplux water heaters. Thanks for sharing your system. I could see us upgrading some day to a system similar to yours.
We use this system but have a plastic box with a tube attached to the side to let out the water away from the tent no mud and use toweling dressing gowns as wrap around towels bit more comfortable coverage
i have the same setup minus the tent. I have the same battery powered shower, however use a home depot bucket, and heat the water like you using the stove. Shower in my swim suit like your doing. Anyways, I sold my t@g last week, and now own an aliner aframe popup.
Thanks Eric for sharing your setup. We thought we were unique. I'm going to say great minds think alike :) Any chance I could interview you or correspond with you about your switch to the Aliner? The intention would be to make a video about it. We could keep it completely anonomous, minus if anyone reads this reply obviously. I think a great video would be "Why I sold my teardrop and bought an A-Liner." With this channel we really want to help people have a general idea of what works great and the not so great on small camper trailers. It is fun to hear the perspectives on others about why they chose a teardrop over a Casita or why they switched from the Casita to an A-Liner, etc. If that isn't something you would be interested in doing, our feelings won't be hurt :)
I'm not sure about doing a video interview, but thanks for asking. I wished I could off have kept the teardrop but I only have room for one camper in the garage. I didn't want to pay for RV storage, I needed something that would fit in the garage. Now here are my reasons. I was only comfortable in the teardrop when having attached the 5x7 PahaQue tent to the door. A place to stand and change clothes, and store my gear. It was taking me about an hour half setup time for doing the tent and getting camper level and situated. Picking a camping spot was time consuming as well as I needed to pick a spot which had room for tent, and a site that was not paved. I stay in campgrounds, like national forest campground and state parks, I have not boondocked as I have not felt comfortable yet about not having other campers nearby. Some state parks in CO are having the camping site paved, so in those cases I managed to use them by parking it with one side of camper on the grass/gravel, and still able to get the tent up, and the camp host usually didn't mind The last couple camping trips there was heavy wind, and that pretty much sold the deal, it was miserable time when tent is blowing all around. I wish I could off done like your are doing having both teardrop and scamp. I had the teardrop four years, it was not easy decision selling it, I will miss the outside kitchen area.. The Aliner may not be good in wind either, so time will tell I'm I made a mistake, ha ha
Thanks for sharing your reasons Eric. It's funny today is the first day we camped at a state park that had asphalt parking. We pulled out the side entry tent and said how are we supposed to keep this in place? We ended up moving it up to another grassy location away from the teardrop, which we were fortunate to have space here but now we don't have a side entry. It's funny because then we pulled out the phone to check the comments tonight and you shared the very same issue. We even filmed the incident so you'll see it in one of the videos this year. It is so tough to find a trailer that does everything. So far we haven't found one and that's why using the scamp and the teardrop for different style trips has worked the best for us. I may be wrong, but I thought I've seen quite a few videos of slim potato head where he didn't have too much issues in the wind with his A Liner. But I remember him being worried a lot, but come morning everything was fine. but then again I haven't watched all of his videos, so there may be some where he lost the battle. We're looking forward to hearing how the transition goes for you. Thanks as usual for sharing your insights.
We use the essentially the same set up at our off grid cabin. We have a regular size bathtub with shower curtain and we set up a 20 can size ice chest on a small table next to the tub. We bought the whole Zodi system but ditched the heater part and heat a large pot of water to near boiling on camp stove. We then dump that in to the ice chest by the tub and then add cold water until we get it to desired temp. I love the Zodi pump because the batteries last forever. I get a ton of showers out of the 4 D size batteries. To conserve water I placed a hose clamp on Zodi hose to restrict the flow that comes out of the shower head and it allows you to take more time before water runs out in ice chest. That looks like a great set up for out in the field. Have you guys used Hipcamp for spots yet?
Love hearing you chucked out the heater. We always wondered if we made the wrong decision not buying it. You made our day! We are fairly familiar with Hipcamp, but we have never used it. Wonder if there are quite a few hosts in Alaska participating in it. Guess we have to put this on our list to find out. Thanks Eric for reminding us about HipCamp.
We do so many things similar to you and your family. Very similar shower set up. I use a black 5 gallon bucket for the shower water. If I am lucky to have a sunny/warm day then the water is already warm for us, if not then I add heated water from my Coleman like you. I have a little rechargeable shower set up I found on Amazon a couple years ago. $40, works great and came with 2 rechargeable batteries which will last numerous showers between the 2 of them. Have a Green Elephant pop up shower tent. Thanks for the content.
I'll just make a comment here and I have not gone RVing yet. However I do live in a very well known tourist area and I have gone tent camping in years past. Some places we camped had showers and some places didn't. If it is very warm/hot weather, cold showers actually feel mighty good. It might take your breath for the first few seconds but your body temp adjusts to a cold shower rather quickly. Some times what we would do is get buckets of the cold water and let the buckets sit in the sun. It doesn't take long for the sun to warm up buckets of water.
i believe the long haul trucker has this set up for the onboard sleeping cab. i saw one cab that will sleep two, queen size and all the neat home away from home comfort. the cab about the size of the VW Nest
We have a Camplux tankless water heater that is mounted on the side of my homemade trailer. It requires a separate 12v pump and power or you can just connect a garden hose to it if you're at home. You can connect a standard shower head to the heater. The water heater itself was about $120, the Shurflo 12v pump was about $75. We also use a easy popup changing tent as a shower room. We use the same setup for washing dishes, hands, feet, and keep things clean around camp. The pump has an auto shut off function and will automatically shut off/turn on depending if you turn the shower head on or off. The setup has been working extremely well for us especially during cold season. You just turn on the water and get instant hot water like at home and without waiting.
Now that sounds like a great setup James. And for less than $200 that is a pretty decent permanent solution. We would love to have hot water on demand or the option to turn off the pump straight from the shower head. Thanks for sharing James!
@@PlayingwithSticks You're welcome. There is a bit more work for the initial setup but it makes the camping experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone especially with kids. I have four kids ranging from 14 to 2 years old. :)
We are adding one more child to the mix in the next month. I can imagine a setup like yours will continue to pay off as our family grows. Thanks James.
@@playingoutside It is looking that way. I'm assuming I will be kicked out into the side tent. May and the boys will get the teardrop. Thanks for the congratulations James!
I do essentially the same thing for a shower but I use a pumpless gravity setup (either a bag or a bucket ppulled up on a tree branch) but honestly, for myself as opposed to my fiancée, I just use empty one gallon water bottles and pour it over myself. When I lived in Hawaii we “showered” in a bathroom with a floor drain in it, by just using a one pint measuring cup to pour sink water over ourselves and I totally got used to it. If the water’s warm enough, you dont get cold because its such a blast and it really rinses the soap out well and thoroughly. Sometimes I spend hours and dollars coming up with elaborate solutions and find just doing something dumb and simpe works best.
Love your Vids !!! #Alaska is a world of its own!!! such exquisite natural beauty and that water looked so clean wow !!! Your family is super Adorable and Love ur content !!! More please !!!
I bought a Coleman Hot water on Demand hot water faucet (Hot Water Heater) + Shower Head + I splurged & bought the Adapter for the Water Hose..It did come standard with a Water Filteration Kit for use in Rivers & Streams..
Love the fact that it comes with a water filtration kit. Our worry with our system is how long the pump will last will all our silty water up here. Thanks for sharing about your Coleman setup Kimberlee.
My shower is a Wolfwise portable pop up shower tent. Location is close to the back and side of my pickup. The 5 gal shower bags (2) sit on the top of the 2019 F150 pickup with an A.R.E. shell to absorb the sunlight, warming the water. (I am retired USAF of 24 years and not every shower was with warm/hot water!!!) An old black front door welcome mat I’ve had for years is my shower floor. The shower doubles as the potty house via a dedicated Homer’s 5gal bucket with appropriate liners and powders, and paper. Water, scent free soap, and shampoo flow out the bottom down a crudely dug drain ditch. The waste from the potty (sprinkled with powder for coagulation) gets double bagged and placed in a dedicated collapsible camping trash bag type canvas can and hung about 7 to 8 feet above the ground from a tree, at least, 30 steps away from camp and 3 to 5 feet (if possible) from the owner tree. Our fresh water supply is contained in 2 to 3 Homer buckets (stay dependent) with the screw top lids. The buckets are prepped with Clorox wipes beforehand for sanitation purposes and water brought from home! Any water not used is brought back and freely donated to our garden. (Hey, we had to pay for it!) Before departing the site, a thorough inspection is completed and the water ditch is repaired! All told, I take anywhere from 5gal to 30gal with me and the better half. Ok, the dog, too! It’s all dependent upon the planned stay!
I just bought a 35gal tank I’ll put on the back of a cargo carrier and use a expandable water hose to fill it up with pump if no spout is available. I’ll use my Coleman shower (new pvc + poster conversion to save water coming soon) to heat it up or run my portable sink (video on my channel) to wash dishes. I use a huge jumper pack or car to recharge anything needed.
Playing with Sticks Sink + potential: ua-cam.com/video/w84Of7ETD5k/v-deo.html The shower is still being thought out. Camping setup v.1 ua-cam.com/video/y4Br8o2uq00/v-deo.html
No shower yet. Sponge bath and occasional $10 truck stop shower. I did buy a small outside tankless heater like for a barn. It is HUGE. Setup each time is a real pain. It would be great for a camper.
Old video, but if anybody reads these- Theres a kit that was available(google search shows its still out there) called the Synergy Sit Shower Shave kit. Mounts underhood, Uses the vehicle antifreeze thru a heat exchanger to heat fresh water pushed by a 12v pump. $300. 25 yrs ago i built my 1st DIY system, and 8yrs ago i built the 2nd DIY for my cummins powered vintage grand wagoneer. I used an oil cooler for an inboard boat engine- it has 2 tanks,1 inside the other, 2 fittings on each tank- an inlet and an outlet. The concept is that lake water circulates thru the outer tank which cools the oil circulating thru the inner tank, cooling the oil. I plumbed mine into the vehicle cooling system, and run fresh water thru the inner tank with a 12v rv water pump mounted under the hood, using a 1.4 gpm shower head. Start the car, when engine gets hot, start circulating fresh water thru the system, back into the supply bucket until you get the temperature you want. Then wash. No extra fuel to carry, no loose pump bouncing around, no bags to hang in the sun. Works even when its freezing outside, and has 40psi water pressure, just like home. CAUTION- you cannot stop pumping water while showering, as the water in the exchanger will get EXTREMELY hot. And if its cold, always carry rv antifreeze to flush the freshwater system to prevent freezing damage. I hope SOMEBODY reads all this 😂😂😂
You may want to consider adding a stick of 3 or 4" PVC painted black to the top of your Scamp. a 10ft stick of 3' will hold 3.7 gallons and the sun can heat it up during the day at least warm so you dont use as much propane and time heating on the stove. I plan to buy a portable propane instant hot water heater for mine. You can find them for less than $300 and they dont take up too much room.
Pretty much the same setup here. We have the shower pump version that plugs into a 12V socket and I have an extension cord for it. If I can't reach the trailer to plug in, I just move my car close enough to plug in. Takes the batteries out of the equation. We usually have 1 to 1/2 gal of boiling water for a 5 gal bucket and that allows for long and steamy hot showers for 2 people. So yes, it's amazing how little water you really need to take a shower. BTW: putting a lid on your pots will heat the water quicker. Another related tip: my wife really wants her hair blower out there. The battery in the trailer could run the 1300W for a while but I consider it a waste of a limited resource we might need elsewhere which the solar panels have to replenish (i.e. I rather be able to heat the trailer than blow dry hair). That said, a cold hair blower uses only 100W or so - which a 100Ah battery can maintain for a long time. Buy a small travel blower with either a cold setting or a cold shot button ( and in the later case use insulation tape and a small washer to tape that button into permanently pressed mode). Using a small portable 200W inverter she can at least blow dry with cold air, which works reasonably well and doesn't give her the fizzy look of air dry. Of course, all that depends on your hair type. Great video as usual!
Okay, we are both laughing here. We said to each other this morning, with this topic Uwe is going to have a hard time providing his regular insightful comments. We were definitely wrong! The one that we should have caught on our own was putting the lids on the pots. Thanks for the reminder on that. And for the 12volt plug we originally thought why would you want a plug that is hard to reach your power source? But, you are right, why would you want to have to rely on batteries when you have an entire deep cell battery that can go days on end without charge. Throw solar into the mix and you have pretty constant supply of electricity, at least we do here in Alaska with the 24 hour sun. Also great tip on the blow dryer. We have the travel blow dryer, but didn't realize using the cold button reduces the load down to roughly 100 watts. We would never have considered using a blow dry out here...until now. Thanks as usual for the great insights. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@PlayingwithSticks Glad I could come up with something :-) About the blower: if you run it on an obviously undersized 200W inverter (or anything less than the around 1300W rating of the blower), make sure you can't accidentally turn on the heat setting - it will blow the fuses on the inverter. That's why I tape the cold button in place, so no matter what my wife does it will not do any harm. While we're at it: we also have a plastic mirror with a suction cup to stick on the side of the trailer or a car window - you know, blow drying is nice but you want to see the results - plus it's nice for me for shaving since I'm the old school blade and soap shaver.
We were just watching a video from "Camp and Camera" where he realized they needed a mirror as well. Thanks for reminding us about the mirror, because even though we have been doing this for a few years we still haven't added one to our gear list. Also thanks for explaining why you tape down the cold button. Originally we thought it was as a reminder, but it makes sense now so you don't accidentally blow the only fuse you have. Great reminder also to bring backup fuses for your inverter.
My system is the same except for 2 things. Different shower brand ( acetel) and I fill my 5 gallon container at the beginnng of the day and sit it n the sun. It’s ready wi5 5 gallons good warm water whenever I need for shower, dishes, feet before going in camper. And it cost no time or propane😍
I put my 5 gallon jerry can directly on the gas stove, then I put it on top of my camper and let the gravity do the job, no need for fancy showers with pumps.
Found this awesome shower container with pump online. That's probably what I will be using for a while when camping. I like it so will be getting it. I plan on camping mostly in National Parks with all the amenities though but in case I'm beach camping I will have that Handy for shower and the light washing I may need to do.
Shower with a little hand pump is perfect for a backup situation. We carry around our little black solar shower with us everywhere, we don't use it that often but when we do it feels so good!
Cool set up. I use a quick pop up shower tent by "Leader Accessories". Its pretty awesome. For water pressure, I purchased a 2 gallon hand pump bug sprayer at Home Depot.. cut the wand off.. and attached a sink sprayer. It works pretty awesome. I usually heat up about 3/4 of a gallon on my stove.. and add it to the other 1.25 gallons of cold water remaining in the container. It makes for a nice comfortable shower temp. Also, I put a kids inflatable pool in the shower tent. It keeps us from stepping on the dirt and from getting the ground all muddy. When we're done.. we just drag the pool out from the tent and dump it on an area we won't be standing on. Anyway... cool video.
Thanks for sharing this Joe. The hand pump method sounds very simple and efficient. You are the first person to mention using an inflatable kid's pool. Great idea! We have the same pop-up shower tent as you. We didn't highlight it in this video. But we often use it inside our side entry tent as our changing room. It also comes in handy as a shower tent, but it is a little too flimsy to hold our uv solar water bag. We also did not highlight the solar shower in this video, but is another great tool to bring along if trying to consume energy.
I tried the Zodi system, but didn't cut it. Definitely a much more expensive system but we went with the Mr Heater Basecamp B.o.s.s XCW20 Instant Hot Water Portable Shower, they also have two lesser models. but it works the best for us, Great to wash dishes with hot/warm water. Just another option.
Great to hear. We really like the idea of items that are dual purpose. Shower and dishes sound like a great combo. Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Kramer was showering and prepping food at the same time.
We used to use a battery operated shower/sprayer, but we found it emptied our bucket (just like yours) too quickly. Now we've gone really low tech and just use a 12 ounce cup. Two cups for getting wet, two for rinsing off soap and shampoo, and another two for rinsing off conditioner and/or extra soap.
We are pretty interested in the Helio shower. We are hoping to come across someone who has one at a campground that we can try it out. If you have time let us know how the Helio is working for you. We would love to know.
I use a stainless steele pest/weed sprayer. heats up on a butain cooker. Only uses about 2/3 liters of Water Per shower. When travelling in Australia the only water you have with you is the water you carry. My wife and I can shower plus 2 kids with only 7 liters of water.🇦🇺
We have never heard of a stainless steel version. That is a great idea. We will have to see if they sell them here in the States. Do you know what brand yours is?
It's a generic kind of pest prayer. It's called "capital stainless steel sprayer" I bought it from Bunnings which is our hardware supply chain. It cost $79AUD. I'll have to do a video.
I use stainless steel buckets 3 1/2 gal. I bought on Internet for 11$ a piece ! You heat directly on propane stove and use digital thermometer a 100 degrees Fahrenheit feels great !
Thanks Richard. He really is quite the helper. He's just hitting the stage where he's almost too much of the helper and wants to do everything himself now. It is fun to watch, even if it does take us three times as long now to do anything.
Boundarytec sells a shower coil system that attaches to a shower bag (2 bags included) that you can heat by fire or stove top with the coil piece. It heats the water in the shower bag, has a temp control knob and you do not need any batteries or any kind of electrical device, just a fire or camp stove. The shower bags fold flat and the coil and hose take up minimal space. Check it out.
I think if you have a black tank it will heat up and then you can pump it over yourself... that's my theory based on what I saw at summer camp as a kid haha :) This is pretty cool, thank you
Our system is a lot like you, set up quick little pop-up tent, heat the water on the stove (its' stationary in our Teardrop galley), and here's the difference we use a clean outdoor sprayer. We like this system because we just manually pump to get pressure, it doesn't take a lot. Then we don't have to have batteries.
Love the idea of a clean outdoor sprayer. We agree having to rely on batteries can be a pain. We carry an additional 4 "D" batteries with us just in case. Surprisingly 4 extra "D" batteries take up quite a bit of room and weigh more than you would think. Thanks for sharing your setup Karen!
you can also use a metal outdoor sprayer keep near fire to warm till needed
@@mist4926 From Lil Giant I do not know what a clean or a metal outdoor sprayer is. If I ask at the hardware store, will they know what I am talking about?
Great idea!! We use the black and clear shower bags from Walmart - $10. They can heat too much on a sunny day, so I have two plumbed together - one stay cooler. we hang them up and we have the pressure we need. not as much as a pump, but gets the job done. On a cooler day, I'll put them on the car to warm.
@@mist4926 Yup, this is our portable shower too. I looked at a commercial version for about $200 then went to a hardware store and bought a 5-gal metal sprayer for about 1/3 the price. It even has a handy pressure gauge.
It's nice because you can adjust the spray from stream to mist. My wife initially thought it would be a dumb idea. The first time we had a shower/ steam bath in our shower tent she changed her mind. Now she raves about it.
I use a rubber door mat as my shower base so I dont have to wear sandals or stand in mud. Rolls up small or lays flat in the truck bed when not In use.
Thanks for sharing this Bobby. Great suggestion. Light and affordable.
Good idea. I wouldn't necessarily think of that the first time around. Or shower shoes could work I guess.
Bobby, or you could use a rubber car floor matt? Save taking a extra item with you?
Wear crocs in the shower
Thank you for sharing that idea. I love it! I just recently started using a Cintas reusable 3x5 mat in front of my tent. Rubber backed with a black carpet surface. I pressure wash it when I get home, good as new. Also added a set of Stanley saw horses that clip together and a 1/2 4x6 piece of plywood to make a quick and easy table. 👍
Thank you so much for the shout out. I'm so behind in watching any of my favorite channels; combination of no/poor connectivity or trying to edit on the go. But as we drove back down to Riley Campground after hiking the Savage River Alpine trail today, my husband said, "do you know this guy, he just gave you a shout out!" LOL. I didn't even know he had downloaded your video. So glad to see your channel has exploded. But even that has its downsides as it makes it harder for you to respond to comments and puts ever more pressure on your time for content, etc. Loving our visit here in Alaska, especially all that sunshine...still can't get used to looking out at night and seeing so much light.
I'm happy for you 😊
Refreshing to see parents teaching their children and spending quality time. Awesome..... we appreciate you
The little guy carrying his bucket???? ❤❤❤❤❤ so adorable little camper. Lucky woman with her two guys to take care of her.
Pulled up your video for shower solutions and forgot all about it while smiling ear to ear watching your little man help. Too cute and God bless.
Glad you enjoyed it Arthur. Sometimes just filming the tents and camping gear, get a bit boring for us. We like to use these videos as a bit of a video journal for our family. And sometimes even folks like you enjoy those segments as well, which is really neat to hear.
I got tired of carrying all that equipment and all the work that went with it and now use the Shower Pouch. Very happy so far.
That is like a giant single use wet wipe right? That does sound pretty simple. Out of curiosity how much do those cost? Sounds like a great solution to staying clean out there.
Playing with Sticks I’ve only used them on two trips so far and they seem to work great. If nothing else I feel fresh when I go to bed and don’t have the campfire smell. Their website is theshowerpouch.com And the price depends on how many you buy at one time. You may be able to get a discount as a UA-camr. Hope this helps! I love your channel.
Thanks for the link and the feedback. Also thanks for the video idea. We would like to pick some up and try them out in the video. Just the idea of getting that campfire smell off of us would be worth it in itself.
We just got a $30 solar bag shower on amazon! It works well! It’s too heavy to clip on the Scamp anywhere and is best when hung in a tree or laid on the car. I was so happy to have it that I took a shower two days in a row! Great video man!!
Hey Elsa. We had a very similar issue with our black solar shower bag. It was too heavy to be held by our original popup privacy tent we had a few years back. Now, that we have the more robust instant tent you saw in the video we have no issues with the weight of the solar water bag. The design of the tent is nice because it distributes the weight of the bag across a suspended shelf on the top of the tent. We are often surprised even here on cold days the solar bag can get that water pretty warm. Thanks for the compliment on the video Elsa, much appreciated!
yes you can also hang an umbrella in the tree upside down and then hang a shower curtain on the umbrella points all the way around, the holes in the curtain are the perfect spacing.
mist That sounds like a really good idea!
@@mist4926 wow! great hack
Ahawo
We have a pop up shower, and although we have a shower unit on the outside of our trailer, I like to use a big 1 1/2 to 2 gallon bucket, which I leave in the sun to warm up during the day. Then get a small pot to use as a scoop to rinse with. Simple and works great!
We like this, sounds much more simple than our shower. Someone today suggested painting that bucket black and putting a lid on it. That sounds like a good replacement for our solar shower bag. We spend a lot of time in Asia and the bucket bath gets the job done.
@@PlayingwithSticks We fill a big stainless steel pot with water and place it into a black garbage bag and sit it in the sun. The water gets SUPER HOT! I hope this helps someone. :-)
Thanks for sharing. We grew up with bucket baths at home - my parents are from India. we used fill a bucket with warm water and throw this on ourselves with a jug. When I visited India, as the family didn’t have running hot water, they would heat water in a small pot, have a bucket of cold water and add whatever they needed from the hot water into the bucket to make it warm. Then same as usual bucket bath
That is May's family as well! We have had quite a few comments suggesting we do the "Asian" style bath. With all the time we have spent using this method when traveling in Asia we forgot to try it out for our camping experience. We will have to give it a go this summer.
Great information. We are sizing down from a Class A diesel pusher to a teardrop or square drop as soon as the Class A sells. I love your channel and the professionalism and great information you provide. It has helped me to decide that moving back to our roots was the right decision, and we can't wait for the moment we can do that. For now, we have a pop up tent to camp in our of our Jeep Renegade. Feels great to get back to what we truly love.
We just finished our very first teardrop Trailer vacation in Sweden. We drove 3000 Miles and visit 6 different campgrounds to sleep. Showers were there, next vacation more camping in the wild without showers..... Thanks for the shower info. Greetings from The Netherlands. 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇸✌️
Guido so great to hear you were able to make your maiden journey in your teardrop. 3,000 miles is quite a big adventure for your first trip! After all that distance we are glad to hear you are still excited to get back out there. I remember our first big teardrop trip. It took us almost 5 days to recover from it. Since then we made minor adjustments to our packing list and I am usually itching to get back out there the next day. Glad you enjoyed the shower info. Greetings from the States to you as well.
Keep up the good work, we love all the information about camping!
We use a tent like you have done but for water we took a garden sprayer and painted it black leaving a strip unpainted to see the water level. We then set it our for the day in the sun and attached a kitchen sink sprayer and hose to the sprayer. We pump the pressure up and hang the kitchen sprayer in the tent and active the kitchen sprayer when we want water. Works great. If the water is not warm enough we do as you did by heating it up on the stove.
Love this diy shower you have. You are the first person to suggest leaving a strip unpainted to see the water level. Great idea!
I also have a similar shower Cabana as yours. But I use a 3-gallon garden plastic pump up sprayer. I sprayed it with black Fusion paint. Lay it out in the sun it gets pretty warm if not I can heat water on the Coleman to add to it. I cut the spray wand off and added an extension of hose with a kitchen sink sprayer on the end. Then I pump it up and wet myself, soap up then pump up and rinse off. Out of the three gallons I can personally get two really good showers and wash my hair. No batteries to worry about. It is so wonderful that you and your family enjoy nature so much and you're bringing your children up to expose them to the Beauties and the wonders of this country. I admire you. You are such a beautiful family.
This is a great show solution! We have used the sprayer in the past, but we have never heard of painting it black to absorb the suns rays. We use a black solar shower, but it requires it to be hung vertically. The pump is great because you can use it in all settings. Washing the little guy would definitely be easier with a pump sprayer vs gravity fed. Thanks for this great solution. These are the type of things that make UA-cam so addictive. We have never really been into the prepper thing. But, the more we get into the various hacks people use it makes us curious how much more we can learn from the prepper community. The internet is like an onion, and we are realizing we have only peeled back the top layer. Thanks for the sweet comment about our family. Your kind words are really appreciated!
I have the exact same setup. I bought everything from home depot and assembled it in 10 minutes. Our family "splurged" and carry around a teak outdoor flooring from ikea so we don't have to step on dirt or grass while rinsing off.
@@BeesBirdsBiscuits The teak flooring sounds like an upgrade we should be looking into. Thank you for sharing Nicole!
I use a Nemo Shower, fill early in the day and sit in the sun...Sometimes you have to be careful because the water can get very hot.
Love those Nemo Showers. That is impressive that it gets so hot you have to be careful. Thank you for sharing Sonya!
I love my Nemo shower!
Google "Nemo portable shower" . It's super easy.
Asking for a link here for something this specific sounds lazy, or above a simple Google search today?
Geez, now I'm annoyed at some people..
Hot shower while camping is a luxury. When we did our trip back to Alaska, we hosed the kids down with cold shower using the built in hose/nozzle from our t@g teardrop. They didn’t like that at all but at least they smelled better. I love the Lightspeed products, I have a half dome type of beach shelter, we used that during our trip, we face the open half towards the t@g for privacy. Water did pool up a little bit because it has a floor, but it drains easily for cleaning and setting up/take down was a lot quicker.
It truly is a luxury. Luu I know we've said in the past that we need to interview you and your family about your trip. When things slow down here we really do have to do that.I think a lot of people on here will find you one of the bravest men ever to take your family of 5 all the way from Arizona to Alaska in a teardrop trailer that you couldn''t even stand up in! You guys are our heroes!
And thanks for chiming in about your lightspeed product. We haven't used their other tents, but like you said the one we have we really love. Even the one we have that has no bottom for showering, the water does catch in the edges a bit as well but it does dry out really quickly.
In the Army, each person got 5 gal metal Jerry can painted black and you placed the can in the sun all day. Come evening, you had a nice warm shower.
Love this idea. Simple and effective.
Reason 3,543 why civilized men dont/cant join the army.
We just had a chance to watch this video. Just a heads up the tent is much sturdier than it looks. We noticed it was swaying in the video, which is because it has no stakes. Like we said we move it a bit to grassy areas to take showers and then return it back to the Scamp or teardrop for bathroom or mosquito relief. As usual we really appreciate all your creative ideas you have shared with us. We have already received a couple creative shower solutions from the community, please keep them coming!
Can you tell us what brand is the pop-tent? Thanks!
Finally a video that shows how these showers work! Thank you and your beautiful family.
Glad you enjoyed it! We’re excited to make another one this spring using a tankless water heater. Just showing people the options
I use a similar pump at my off grid cabin. Its USB rechargeable and you can take several showers before recharging. I take a very good shower on 3 gal of water or less. 5 gal is a luxury shower
The USB rechargeable sounds great. It doesn't take a whole lot of water to get a great shower does it? Thanks for sharing your setup Mike.
When my wife and I had our first truck camper (1994) I bought brand new 2.5 gallon stainless steel pump up bug/weed sprayer. I bought a dish sprayer head and attached it to the hose on the bug sprayer, I filled it with water, heated on the stove and pumped it up. It worked great! We eventually bought a camp trailer, I sold the shower at a VW show.
That is a great idea. Love that you can just throw it on the stove. Eliminates one more step of using the pots and pans. Thanks Dave!
Suggestion: tea tree oil rubbed in skin will take itch out of mosquito bite, plus the mosquitoes hate the smell of it. Also; when you have a campfire, burn some sage and rosemary, it will repel many bugs (mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks)...love your channel.
Thank you for this. Our family utilizes tea tree oil quite often, but we haven't heard about using it for bites. Thanks a ton for watching out for us. Looking forward to giving this a try. Also great idea on the campfire sage and rosemary. I bet it also smells amazing!
@@PlayingwithSticks burning sage and rosemary in the campfire does smell good for us, but not the mosquitoes. I do gardening and use these methods to repel many bugs. Happy camping!
EVERYTHING THE HARD WAY. But I'm commenting from 5years hindsight, and you're still pioneers `this far on.
I use a collapsible shower bag that holds 2 1/2 gallons of water. Because the bag is dark, I will lay it out in the sunshine and depending on the time of the year it'll be from warm to hot.
Because I camp a lot in a teepee, I use a small kids inflatable pool for the floor that I put just inside the doorway of the teepee to stand in. I then hang my camp shower bag above my head from two of the poles that are on each side of the door and I just stand there and shower. I've done this for over 25 years and it works for me.
Thanks for sharing this Tim. You are definitely the only person we know who uses a Teepee on the regular. Sounds amazing!
@@PlayingwithSticks I started camping in a tipi when I started doing American Indian Powwows 28 years ago.
Over the years, I found myself doing 6 to 20 powwows a year, 2 to 4 nights at each one. Since I have it fully furnished, I would prefer to stay in the tipi and having to find a way to stay clean, especially during hot months became crucial.
These days, I do 7 to 10 powwows a year, 2 to 4 nights each. I will try to avoid doing it in the hot months but still do them mostly in the Fall with some in the Spring.
I've learned how to keep clean in temps as low as in the 20's.
I still use the same shower bag, along with the pink kiddie's inflatable pool but have had to change out the hose a couple of times due to it's age.
In cool and cold weather, I'll hang my shower bag next to the campfire that I keep going all night. In the morning when I shower the water will be warm.
And If it's just to cold to do that, I'll resort to bathing out of a pot that's hung over the fire and is used just for bathing.
Keep on camping. :-)
@@timdeane2056 How neat. That would is impressive how many Pow Wows you get out to. Those are big events. It is neat to hear that you bathe all the way down to 20 degree days. When it gets that cold here we just stay dirty which isn't that fun, maybe we need to get a bit tougher and try more fall showers this year.
Very similar to your setup. Two room instant shower tent (better for bugs since you can get changed on one room, shower in the other), we use two large collapsible buckets for water, and a rechargeable pump for the shower. The only difference is that we have a hot water heater on our trailer (we have a pop up a frame camper), so heating water is much easier :)
Thanks Natalie for sharing. We have almost purchased the two room tent on multiple occasions. We love that it has a rainfly and we think it would be large enough for us to use as a nice side entry tent. The hot water heater you have really does sound much easier than heating water the way do. Thanks again for sharing what you are using, we know people will appreciate hearing your approach.
I’m a little late on this video... also not sure if someone mentioned it all already? But when we dry camp we can use a few gallons for all 6 of us the whole time camping. We have a system similar to this but we run it through a filter and just reuse the water. So we have a basin we stand in. Then on the suction part of the pump is the 1st filter then on the outlet side it runs through another filter and pumps out from there. So we reuse the water over and over. I bought a water tester and it’s actually pretty clean and gets the job done when water is limited. We also fill a black pouch and let that sit in the sun all day. Then it’s nice and warm for showers later in the day. Otherwise we warm it like y’all did.
Nobody has mentioned your system yet. Lately we have had folks reach out and share with us a popular video on UA-cam called the 1 hour shower. Very similar to your setup. Love you setup by the way. We will definitely be stealing this idea in the near future :) Thanks for sharing with everyone. I know they will appreciate it!
My system is a lot like yours. I use a 2 room shower tent and the same Zodi shower pump. I also use a cheap 12 quart stockpot from Walmart. I heat only as much water as I need on the stove right in the stockpot and drop in the pump. I hand hold the shower head and just drop it back into the pot so the water recirculates and I don't have to keep shutting it off while showering. When not in use the pot holds the pump, a silicone trivet to set it on plus soap and other shower needs. The stockpot comes in handy for lots of other things too. My a-frame pop-up camper has a water heater but I never use it.
Great idea on putting the shower head back in the bucket. Totally makes sense, but we never even thought about it. As you can see in our video we had to bend down quite far to turn off the pump. Thank you so much for this advice! Those A-frame trailers are pretty cool. We love watching Slim potato heads videos. We just had a major contributor to this community's postings upgrade from a teardrop to an a-frame.
@@PlayingwithSticks Question if you can...I need a new shower tent and was looking at the Lightspeed that you have but found mixed reviews. Has it been durable for you and does it handle wind well? The lazy part of me really likes the instant set up part and this one has a lot of room inside. I also just discovered a product called Lunatec Aquabot. Essentially its a pressurized water bottle. I can take a full shower with 64 ounces of water plus I use it to wash my hands, brush teeth, do dishes, wash mud off things and even put out out my campfire. They have an extension hose adapter that really makes it versatile. Extremely handy device that saves a lot of water.
@@wallywal6139 Sorry for the delay on this response. I thought I replied, but I must have accidentally deleted it. We are really surprised to hear the Lightspeed tent has some bad reviews. Honestly the tent is pretty overkill for a popup shower. The pole system is incredibly strong. Unlike the other tents we highlight on this channel we never baby the Lightspeed tent. We through it around, pack it up sometimes without drying it, use it on a daily basis...and we have had no issues with it. We get a lot of questions about wind. Unfortunately most the boondocking locations in Alaska are sheltered from wind by large mountains and trees. So we really haven't had the chance to test the wind. However, our little blue $30 pop up shower constantly blows over in small gusts. We definitely have not had the Lightspeed blow over. And the SPACE! Like you mentioned it is quite large. We often have all three of us in the tent with our camp chairs, our small camp table, and the heater on cold days. The aquabot seems like a pretty neat product. One of our favorite UA-camrs for outdoord product testing is Taras Kulakov "the CrazyRussianHacker." He convinced us that it was a pretty great product. We would love to try one out some time.
@@PlayingwithSticks Thanks for taking the time to reply. I sure appreciate it!
Suggestion: to avoid having your feet in the mud or sand (when there's no grassy area), I always carry a polthene cut to the size of the inside of the tent and that has some holes of 1 inch diameter to instantly drain. Easy to fold, no weight and cheap
Okay, this is going to show our naivety... what is a polthene?
sorry. I just realize that I made a typing mistake. The wright word is polYthene. A simple plastic flexible sheet. So now you know that you're not naive :) :) :)
I admire you and your family. Very happy and respectful and loving. Cheers!
Thank you so much Sammy! Comments like this make our day.
I use a portable shower with a USB rechargeable battery powered that pumps the water from 2 gallon collapsible dish pan. It cost about $30 about 6 months ago. For a tent I just open the front passenger door of van with shade still on window & windshield, then magnet a tarp back to rear corner. Water ratio is 1/3 hot to 2/3 cold. It’s enough water because I turn off pump between wet down, lather & rinse.
Thanks for sharing your setup Karin. Would you happen to know the brand of your usb rechargeable pump. Sounds like a great pump that we think a lot of folks may be interested in. Love the door shower. We are very similar in that we take water breaks between the lather and rinse. Again, thank you for sharing this unique idea.
It’s stashed out in the micro camper van awaiting another adventure. My order section says the brand name is KEDSUM, however there were several on Amazon that looked just like it (orange pump bulb) so I had the impression they were all made in same factory in China & rebranded for sale. I went with one that shipped 2 of the USB battery parts so I had back-up power, but I did get several uses out of one charge so I don’t know if that was needed. One that plugs into the vehicle’s 12v socket would have worked ok, too. Also, I tested it at home in the shower before I took it camping while I experimented on how much water was needed. It gave good pressure, so I was surprised at using less than the 2 gallons.
Thanks Karin for sharing. We had looked at these on Amazon a few days ago. We were wondering if they were the style you use. Thanks for this feedback. With the Zodi pumps on backorder it is good to know there is another option out there for folks. And your option sounds like it may be better anyways because of the USB power and yours didn't break like ours did on the first use :)
@@PlayingwithSticks I also have one of those orange rechargeable showers - we haven't been out camping with it yet but I use it to add water (5ish gallons at a time) to a couple of awkward-placed fishtanks, and it lives on my gardening bench as my outdoor sink, with a hardware store bucket for a reservoir. It's still halfway through its first charge and has moved probably 25 gallons. One thing to watch for is that it's got such a large bathroom-shower-type head with good pressure that it goes through water very quickly, which is nice when I'm putting 5 gallons of water into a fishtank in just a few minutes, but could be frustrating if you have very limited hot water and aren't very efficient turning it off every second you don't need it.
Ive been wanting to try a hoolahoop with a shower curtan on it as the blind. and just bucket with a sprayer and valve on it. i think a 3 to one pully would make it very easy to lift that into a tree.
That is a great idea. Yes, you really could just use a rope throw like we do for putting a bear proof canister up in a tree. Again, great idea, so simple!
I have used the same set up with a zodi for 20 plus years. It’s simple and it works. I did make a LiPo adapter and pack a 10ah LiPo in my saddle bags and charge it with a solar panel (roll)
Thank you for the heads up on the collapsible water bucket.
You are most welcome Eileen!
I don't known what its called but we have the black bag that you fill with water and put in the sun to warm up. If it's in the sun all day, it can be very warm. What a treat and it's free!
We carry the same bag around as well. I believe they are called solar showers. We don't get to use ours is often as we would like, because it is often overcast and rainy up here. But yes we love "free" and trying not to use additional resources to heat the water. Thanks for sharing your setup Christine!
Thanks. I just purchased my first shower kit cuz with Covid I still want to camp but not thrilled about using public showers. So got the tent, portapotty and shower kit for fairly cheap. Tent was thirty and portapotty was $20, and shower (bag system) was $10. Thanks for link to the other lady’s video too
Good point on the bathrooms. We have ran into quite a few folks on here who are feeling the same way. $60 by the way is great. Especially beings most of these items have multiple uses. From She to Me is such a great resource. Glad you were able to check here channel out.
My favorite shower solution was a 2 gallon pump sprayer. I cut off the wand and used a barb close nipple and a couple of hose clamps to attach a kitchen sprayer to the hose from the pump sprayer. I would heat up the water and pour it into pump sprayer. Pump it up and take your shower. The interesting thing is that, turning the water on and off as needed, you could frequently get an entire shower using only 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of water.
"Did you just video me?"
In husband voice "Yes I diiid."
I like to use a tote lid as a floor just to keep the feet out of the mud and without flip flops. Need the lid anyway and it doesn't hurt it.
A shower when camping after a warm day hike feels so awesome and outdoor showers in general are extra special regardless, especially when they are wide open. Sometimes I just string up a tarp wall and sing "The hills are alive with sound of music..." until a family member throws something at me.
Oh and I love the big sports/camp towels that are like shammies. Dry off super fast in the sun and will even dry out under rain cover, just takes longer. Super easy to wash too.
That’s a great suggestion on the lid. It beats the one I’m about to share because it’s dual purpose. Another Option is a hot water heater drip pan. Perfect size for camp, but not dual purpose. This summer we’re going to go a bit glampy and try out a teak wood shower mat. We see many people use them and rave about them, so we thought it was time to try it out.
I’m pretty serious on the channel, but I have my sound of music moments as well. And there are definitely things thrown at me from time to time. 😂
@@PlayingwithSticks 🤣 If that scene in the movie was accurate, she would be busy swatting all of the bugs away while she attracts all of the mosquitoes with the CO2 she emits from her beautiful pipes.
@@PlayingwithSticks Home depot rubber garage floor matts with the holes in them also work great and don't get ugly overtime like teak. But teak is way more stylin' and nature like.
I'm new to your CHANNEL, but I'm enjoying all of your videos!
I'm sorry, I'm old and lazy these days, I went straight for the aquaheat lithium Ion/gas shower. It's brilliant but expensive. It has pass-though charging which is great if you are near a vehicle. You can also connect it to a 5 or 7kg gas bottle, great for the family. It's campsite only and needs backup power supply after 4 or 5 short showers. Solar will give a decent charge in two days. I take it to the beach fishing,shower on the back of my wagon for 10 minutes before leaving is awesome. Rods and buckets, dogs the lot, all washed with a rain-head shower experience. It's very comfortable.
I like the idea of a pump shower like you have, much better than hoisting a bag of water up into a tree.
However I do find the solar hot water bags to be amazing and they will heat your water up to a temp that is too hot to use without dilution in about an hour.
I use a 19L HDPE jerrycan (which I use two others as water storage for the van) with a garden sprayer hand pump mounted into the large 96mm screw lid. I put about 10 L cold water in the jerrycan, add about 3-4 L of boiling water and pressurize the jerrycan with the hand pump. Near the bottom of the jerrycan is a 3/4 inch thread which I have fitted a quick connect coupler into which I can connect a piece of garden hose and a more or less standard sprayer head. The sprayer head has a valve which lets me control how much water I use and when. The sprayer has several of these typical garden spray patterns which are very nice for showering as well. I made a piece of plywood which I can strap to a tree trunk onto which I can attach the sprayer and use it as a regular shower head.
I have yet to find/get a shower cubical tent so I tend to shower right there and then out in the open, maybe with my swim trunks on depending on the level of isolation the locale is.
I use home made soap which is like Dr. Bronners a castile soap but in a bar form.
I think this is the way we want to go in the future. We really like the idea of a jerry can and a garden sprayer. We just ran into a neat combination of our shower and your shower this week at a local box store. It is called the Illu-Mist Battery Powered Sprayer. It is a garden sprayer but with a rechargeable lithium battery in it to power the pump. Paint it black to attract the sun, add the plywood to strap to the tree like your system and you have a pretty nice little hands free shower setup.
I have the full zodi I bought second hand and it’s awesome. The way I use it is with a bucket also. I run the burner and just put the shower head into the bucket, thus re heating the water into the bucket. I’m a little afraid that I might get scalded by the temp coming out of the shower so thus way I heat the entire bucket to a nice temp that’s not too hot then turn off the burner and shower as usual…works great…also I have used the shower bags that are solar. Let them rest on the dash of the car for a few hours and it’s ready…cheap and easy..also recommended!
I don't remember what they are called, but you can buy a weed sprayer at the store, the kind with the pump, and paint It flat black. Set it in the sun and it will heat the water, then use the sprayer for your shower.
The 'full Zodi" is well worth the money. Much less hassle and everything's in one place, plus you don't need to use a camping stove. I like your pop-up tent tho, that's nice.
We completely agree with you. That really was just us being frugal. Sometimes our frugality getrs a little out of control.
I currently use gallon water jugs for showering. If I want hot water, I set it out in the sun for an hour. I plan on putting in a gravity fed shower in my van.
That is a great tip. To add to this great comment another suggestion is painting those gallon water jugs black.
In the vane of emergency prepping I have created free hot water for showers/laundry. Take the rectangle kitty litter jugs and I painted front and one side with flat black paint, filled it with water and the sun heated it up to very hot in a little time. They are light weight and easy to carry with a handle and cap. Good Luck Get prepared!
Great little idea. Thank you Susan. I'm hoping you don't know something we don't regarding our need to prep. But, with all going on today I can actually imagine it being closer than I ever thought.
If you use a cheap foldable dog tub, you can shower without worrying about mud. Great video.
Never would have thought of this. Great suggestion! In another video of ours "Our 14 Favorite Teardrop Trailer Tips and Tricks" ua-cam.com/video/JMbS7B9G-pc/v-deo.html we mention using a drip pan for the bottom of water heaters for catching the water and keeping you out of the mud. But your fold-able version sounds much more efficient.
I use an inflatable kiddy pool. It works perfectly.
Or just put a tarp down
Use a foldable 'picket fence'.
I have an inflatable kiddie pool I actually found at the side of the road in a free pile. Works great and folds up to nothing.
I got a solar shower for £7 on Amazon. Just leave it in the sun to warm up l actually bought 2 as they were so cheap to make sure you don't run out before you get rinsed off. Although being in Northern Ireland we don't get as much sun as we would like but even having it lukewarm makes such a difference. Happy camping everyone.
Thanks for sharing Kerry! We agree, they work wonders.
That's nice! I hate camping when I'm not able to shower and feel gross. Definitely buying this for future use.
Weve used the Zodi on our off the grid property for years, they're awesome and worth every single penny!!!
We use duct tape to secure the battery box...yup, ours broke, too. The hubs rigged the Zodi to pipe and a better shower head.
We dont use the water heater, we prefer heating water on the stove.
The offgrid property sounds fun. Every Alaskan's dream!
My shower tent is a popup type. Love the fast up/down, but it cannot support ANY weight, so no hanging even a little hose. My next shower tent will be like yours or one of the easy up floor-less screen rooms doing double duty.
We also have the flimsy popup like you. We tend to use it more as a changing room and a place to use the toilet. Like you said it can be quite tough hanging items on there and can get very awkward on windy days. If our heavy duty pop up had a bug screen on one side it would be our everyday tent. It is big enough to fit all 3 of our camp chairs in there and stays very warm during fall and early winter camping. We thought about modifying the door to add a little screen to it.
Playing with Sticks, Ha! Yeah! My fear is my little floor-less shower tent blowing away while in use! Staking it is mandatory with one line tied to the truck. I think I will put a couple of cords inside tied corner-to-corner to stand on to keep it from blowing away while in use! Yeah. I like that.
You got us laughing there. We had the same thought with the shower that "She to Me" made. It is a great simple shower, but we could also see something come unattached like the suction cups and you are showing off that birthday suit to the world!
We use 2 gallon sprayers. Like the kind you use for spraying chemicals on your lawn. We just buy them new. For about $10 each. We fill them with water and they set in the sun all day and get warm. We find that usually one two gallon sprayer is all we need for both of us. And we have forgotten to set them in the sun. So in that case we just heat water. Usually 2 small sauce pans is enough to get the entire 2 gallons warm. It’s a nice shower. Leslye
Leslye this sounds great! Nice and simple. Add a bit of black paint to those sprayers and you can probably get them heated up even faster. Thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated!
I use a metal pail, to collect water then heat it on the fire. I store the pail inside of my luggable loo bucket. Also have an air pressurized camp shower that has a trigger on the shower head. Less than 35 bucks at Canadian Tire
Smart storing the pail inside the luggable loo. As for the air pressurized shower do you happen to know the brand on that? Here in the States there only seems to be $80 plus pumps such as the Helios. Would love to find a $35 option.
You might consider getting an energizer rechargeable battery kit. I bought mine at Costco. The benefit is that the kit comes with AA and AAA batteries. It also comes with adapters for C and D batteries. This allows a AA battery to power a D or C battery device. My reasoning is that A and AAA batteries are easy to find whereas D and C batteries are sometimes not as common
Walmart has a rechargeable(I think it's 20 volt tool batt) backpack sprayer my friend has with a RV shower head with on/off . I got the 15 gallon 12 volt sprayer for ATVs for my truck setup, she likes a long shower so make her happy . Being in Southern Nevada, most of the year we solar heat water. Painted tank black with a sight stripe .
Now that sounds like a good setup. You are the first person to mention this. You are also the first person to mention adding a sight stripe. Makes sense.
@@PlayingwithSticks Jaya the Cat Hello Hangover is good
What exactly is a "sight stripe"?
(I tried Goggle but got nothing.)
@@RipsterSA When I painted the semi clear garden sprayer , I put a piece of tape down the side, top to bottom so after painting remove tape now I have what we call a sight glass for boat fuel tanks. Just shows water level. Hope I didn't over explain.
@@slamboy66. Not over explained. I've not seen that before. Seems good to have. Thanks.
I use a USB-powered shower setup (you can find tons of Amazon for $20-$35). Better than batteries and charge lasts for 5+ showers easily!
We have black solar shower bags, we fill them in the evenings for the next mornings shower. We leave the bags on large boulders and let them soak up the sun the next morning. By 10 am, if the weather is good the bags should be nice and warm. About 70-80 degrees.
Love the idea of filling them in the evenings for the next morning's shower. Also like the tip of setting them on large boulders. We typically hang our solar shower bag and sometimes it is warm by shower time and sometimes not so much. Here in Alaska getting it warm can sometimes be a challenge. We will definitely have to try out the boulder trick.
I have a little Cargo trailer for camping...but no shower. I purchased a Camplux water heater which I have plumbed in so I can run hot water to an outdoor shower via a water hose and also will have hot water in the camper. It's easy to remove when not in use like in transit or for storage.
Love the idea of converted cargo trailers. We have heard great things about the Camplux water heaters. Thanks for sharing your system. I could see us upgrading some day to a system similar to yours.
We use this system but have a plastic box with a tube attached to the side to let out the water away from the tent no mud and use toweling dressing gowns as wrap around towels bit more comfortable coverage
Great ideas here Christine. Did you build the box with the tube yourself?
i have the same setup minus the tent. I have the same battery powered shower, however use a home depot bucket, and heat the water like you using the stove. Shower in my swim suit like your doing. Anyways, I sold my t@g last week, and now own an aliner aframe popup.
Thanks Eric for sharing your setup. We thought we were unique. I'm going to say great minds think alike :) Any chance I could interview you or correspond with you about your switch to the Aliner? The intention would be to make a video about it. We could keep it completely anonomous, minus if anyone reads this reply obviously. I think a great video would be "Why I sold my teardrop and bought an A-Liner." With this channel we really want to help people have a general idea of what works great and the not so great on small camper trailers. It is fun to hear the perspectives on others about why they chose a teardrop over a Casita or why they switched from the Casita to an A-Liner, etc. If that isn't something you would be interested in doing, our feelings won't be hurt :)
I'm not sure about doing a video interview, but thanks for asking. I wished I could off have kept the teardrop but I only have room for one camper in the garage. I didn't want to pay for RV storage, I needed something that would fit in the garage. Now here are my reasons. I was only comfortable in the teardrop when having attached the 5x7 PahaQue tent to the door. A place to stand and change clothes, and store my gear. It was taking me about an hour half setup time for doing the tent and getting camper level and situated. Picking a camping spot was time consuming as well as I needed to pick a spot which had room for tent, and a site that was not paved. I stay in campgrounds, like national forest campground and state parks, I have not boondocked as I have not felt comfortable yet about not having other campers nearby. Some state parks in CO are having the camping site paved, so in those cases I managed to use them by parking it with one side of camper on the grass/gravel, and still able to get the tent up, and the camp host usually didn't mind The last couple camping trips there was heavy wind, and that pretty much sold the deal, it was miserable time when tent is blowing all around. I wish I could off done like your are doing having both teardrop and scamp. I had the teardrop four years, it was not easy decision selling it, I will miss the outside kitchen area.. The Aliner may not be good in wind either, so time will tell I'm I made a mistake, ha ha
Thanks for sharing your reasons Eric. It's funny today is the first day we camped at a state park that had asphalt parking. We pulled out the side entry tent and said how are we supposed to keep this in place? We ended up moving it up to another grassy location away from the teardrop, which we were fortunate to have space here but now we don't have a side entry. It's funny because then we pulled out the phone to check the comments tonight and you shared the very same issue. We even filmed the incident so you'll see it in one of the videos this year. It is so tough to find a trailer that does everything. So far we haven't found one and that's why using the scamp and the teardrop for different style trips has worked the best for us. I may be wrong, but I thought I've seen quite a few videos of slim potato head where he didn't have too much issues in the wind with his A Liner. But I remember him being worried a lot, but come morning everything was fine. but then again I haven't watched all of his videos, so there may be some where he lost the battle. We're looking forward to hearing how the transition goes for you. Thanks as usual for sharing your insights.
Watching y’all helps take away the anxiety from today’s lifestyle for a little while... thank you so much.
Yay! Love hearing comments like this Danny. Glad to hear it is bringing a bit of calm into someone's life. Crazy times we are living in.
I use a 2-1/2 gallon solar heated water bag hung from a collapsible PVC pole (looks like a coat rack). Sponge bath on cloudy days....
We use the essentially the same set up at our off grid cabin. We have a regular size bathtub with shower curtain and we set up a 20 can size ice chest on a small table next to the tub. We bought the whole Zodi system but ditched the heater part and heat a large pot of water to near boiling on camp stove. We then dump that in to the ice chest by the tub and then add cold water until we get it to desired temp. I love the Zodi pump because the batteries last forever. I get a ton of showers out of the 4 D size batteries. To conserve water I placed a hose clamp on Zodi hose to restrict the flow that comes out of the shower head and it allows you to take more time before water runs out in ice chest. That looks like a great set up for out in the field. Have you guys used Hipcamp for spots yet?
Love hearing you chucked out the heater. We always wondered if we made the wrong decision not buying it. You made our day! We are fairly familiar with Hipcamp, but we have never used it. Wonder if there are quite a few hosts in Alaska participating in it. Guess we have to put this on our list to find out. Thanks Eric for reminding us about HipCamp.
Presentation and explanations are superb.👌👍
Thank you so much!
We do so many things similar to you and your family. Very similar shower set up. I use a black 5 gallon bucket for the shower water. If I am lucky to have a sunny/warm day then the water is already warm for us, if not then I add heated water from my Coleman like you. I have a little rechargeable shower set up I found on Amazon a couple years ago. $40, works great and came with 2 rechargeable batteries which will last numerous showers between the 2 of them. Have a Green Elephant pop up shower tent. Thanks for the content.
Very cool set up. Your little fam is really adorable. I love your wife and son.
I live in FLA; using the solar sun shower and gravity.
I'll just make a comment here and I have not gone RVing yet. However I do live in a very well known tourist area and I have gone tent camping in years past. Some places we camped had showers and some places didn't. If it is very warm/hot weather, cold showers actually feel mighty good. It might take your breath for the first few seconds but your body temp adjusts to a cold shower rather quickly. Some times what we would do is get buckets of the cold water and let the buckets sit in the sun. It doesn't take long for the sun to warm up buckets of water.
i believe the long haul trucker has this set up for the onboard sleeping cab. i saw one cab that will sleep two, queen size and all the neat home away from home comfort. the cab about the size of the VW Nest
We have seen a few trucks that are pretty luxurious. When you are on the road that often I would want the same setup as well.
We have a Camplux tankless water heater that is mounted on the side of my homemade trailer. It requires a separate 12v pump and power or you can just connect a garden hose to it if you're at home. You can connect a standard shower head to the heater. The water heater itself was about $120, the Shurflo 12v pump was about $75. We also use a easy popup changing tent as a shower room. We use the same setup for washing dishes, hands, feet, and keep things clean around camp. The pump has an auto shut off function and will automatically shut off/turn on depending if you turn the shower head on or off. The setup has been working extremely well for us especially during cold season. You just turn on the water and get instant hot water like at home and without waiting.
Now that sounds like a great setup James. And for less than $200 that is a pretty decent permanent solution. We would love to have hot water on demand or the option to turn off the pump straight from the shower head. Thanks for sharing James!
@@PlayingwithSticks You're welcome. There is a bit more work for the initial setup but it makes the camping experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone especially with kids. I have four kids ranging from 14 to 2 years old. :)
We are adding one more child to the mix in the next month. I can imagine a setup like yours will continue to pay off as our family grows. Thanks James.
@@PlayingwithSticks oh yeah congratulations on the new addition. I assume the tear drop is a little too small for the family at this point? :)
@@playingoutside It is looking that way. I'm assuming I will be kicked out into the side tent. May and the boys will get the teardrop. Thanks for the congratulations James!
I do essentially the same thing for a shower but I use a pumpless gravity setup (either a bag or a bucket ppulled up on a tree branch) but honestly, for myself as opposed to my fiancée, I just use empty one gallon water bottles and pour it over myself. When I lived in Hawaii we “showered” in a bathroom with a floor drain in it, by just using a one pint measuring cup to pour sink water over ourselves and I totally got used to it. If the water’s warm enough, you dont get cold because its such a blast and it really rinses the soap out well and thoroughly. Sometimes I spend hours and dollars coming up with elaborate solutions and find just doing something dumb and simpe works best.
Love your Vids !!! #Alaska is a world of its own!!! such exquisite natural beauty and that water looked so clean wow !!! Your family is super Adorable and Love ur content !!! More please !!!
Thank you so much! Love getting these really nice comments. You made our day!
We have been looking for something JUST like this! Thanks for always recommending great products!
Glad this video was helpful. We have also heard great things about the Helios. We think that is what it is called.
I bought a Coleman Hot water on Demand hot water faucet (Hot Water Heater) + Shower Head + I splurged & bought the Adapter for the Water Hose..It did come standard with a Water Filteration Kit for use in Rivers & Streams..
Love the fact that it comes with a water filtration kit. Our worry with our system is how long the pump will last will all our silty water up here. Thanks for sharing about your Coleman setup Kimberlee.
My shower is a Wolfwise portable pop up shower tent. Location is close to the back and side of my pickup. The 5 gal shower bags (2) sit on the top of the 2019 F150 pickup with an A.R.E. shell to absorb the sunlight, warming the water. (I am retired USAF of 24 years and not every shower was with warm/hot water!!!) An old black front door welcome mat I’ve had for years is my shower floor. The shower doubles as the potty house via a dedicated Homer’s 5gal bucket with appropriate liners and powders, and paper. Water, scent free soap, and shampoo flow out the bottom down a crudely dug drain ditch. The waste from the potty (sprinkled with powder for coagulation) gets double bagged and placed in a dedicated collapsible camping trash bag type canvas can and hung about 7 to 8 feet above the ground from a tree, at least, 30 steps away from camp and 3 to 5 feet (if possible) from the owner tree. Our fresh water supply is contained in 2 to 3 Homer buckets (stay dependent) with the screw top lids. The buckets are prepped with Clorox wipes beforehand for sanitation purposes and water brought from home! Any water not used is brought back and freely donated to our garden. (Hey, we had to pay for it!) Before departing the site, a thorough inspection is completed and the water ditch is repaired! All told, I take anywhere from 5gal to 30gal with me and the better half. Ok, the dog, too! It’s all dependent upon the planned stay!
NICE Set Up and Inexpensive. Food for thought Thank You for Sharing !!!! 🤘
Glad you enjoyed it Ben.
I just bought a 35gal tank I’ll put on the back of a cargo carrier and use a expandable water hose to fill it up with pump if no spout is available. I’ll use my Coleman shower (new pvc + poster conversion to save water coming soon) to heat it up or run my portable sink (video on my channel) to wash dishes. I use a huge jumper pack or car to recharge anything needed.
We couldn't find the video. We found the "Best Camping Video." Any chance you could send us the link?
Playing with Sticks
Sink + potential:
ua-cam.com/video/w84Of7ETD5k/v-deo.html
The shower is still being thought out.
Camping setup v.1
ua-cam.com/video/y4Br8o2uq00/v-deo.html
No shower yet. Sponge bath and occasional $10 truck stop shower.
I did buy a small outside tankless heater like for a barn. It is HUGE. Setup each time is a real pain. It would be great for a camper.
When going for a week or longer we love the truck stop shower as well. Up here it is the "Harbor Master"shower, but virtually the same thing.
Playing with Sticks, Sounds like “Harbor Master” shower could go on the video idea list!
We will add that to the video list. Thanks for the idea. Coming up with topics can be tough. We never even thought of this one.
Old video, but if anybody reads these-
Theres a kit that was available(google search shows its still out there) called the Synergy Sit Shower Shave kit. Mounts underhood,
Uses the vehicle antifreeze thru a heat exchanger to heat fresh water pushed by a 12v pump. $300. 25 yrs ago i built my 1st DIY system, and 8yrs ago i built the 2nd DIY for my cummins powered vintage grand wagoneer.
I used an oil cooler for an inboard boat engine- it has 2 tanks,1 inside the other, 2 fittings on each tank- an inlet and an outlet. The concept is that lake water circulates thru the outer tank which cools the oil circulating thru the inner tank, cooling the oil. I plumbed mine into the vehicle cooling system, and run fresh water thru the inner tank with a 12v rv water pump mounted under the hood, using a 1.4 gpm shower head. Start the car, when engine gets hot, start circulating fresh water thru the system, back into the supply bucket until you get the temperature you want. Then wash. No extra fuel to carry, no loose pump bouncing around, no bags to hang in the sun. Works even when its freezing outside, and has 40psi water pressure, just like home.
CAUTION- you cannot stop pumping water while showering, as the water in the exchanger will get EXTREMELY hot. And if its cold, always carry rv antifreeze to flush the freshwater system to prevent freezing damage.
I hope SOMEBODY reads all this 😂😂😂
You may want to consider adding a stick of 3 or 4" PVC painted black to the top of your Scamp. a 10ft stick of 3' will hold 3.7 gallons and the sun can heat it up during the day at least warm so you dont use as much propane and time heating on the stove.
I plan to buy a portable propane instant hot water heater for mine. You can find them for less than $300 and they dont take up too much room.
You could also jump in the lake to get mostly clean then soap up and rinse off with hot water
Now that just sounds too easy 😂
That portable shower is pretty slick.
Really is isn't it. Built like a tank, plenty of room (enough to use on cold days with our chairs and heater, and goes up in seconds).
Great info filled video. Can't wait to catch up on watching your videos. Yall are precious!!! Keep making great vids!!
Somehow we missed this comment. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for the sweet comment!
Pretty much the same setup here. We have the shower pump version that plugs into a 12V socket and I have an extension cord for it. If I can't reach the trailer to plug in, I just move my car close enough to plug in. Takes the batteries out of the equation.
We usually have 1 to 1/2 gal of boiling water for a 5 gal bucket and that allows for long and steamy hot showers for 2 people. So yes, it's amazing how little water you really need to take a shower.
BTW: putting a lid on your pots will heat the water quicker.
Another related tip: my wife really wants her hair blower out there. The battery in the trailer could run the 1300W for a while but I consider it a waste of a limited resource we might need elsewhere which the solar panels have to replenish (i.e. I rather be able to heat the trailer than blow dry hair). That said, a cold hair blower uses only 100W or so - which a 100Ah battery can maintain for a long time. Buy a small travel blower with either a cold setting or a cold shot button ( and in the later case use insulation tape and a small washer to tape that button into permanently pressed mode). Using a small portable 200W inverter she can at least blow dry with cold air, which works reasonably well and doesn't give her the fizzy look of air dry. Of course, all that depends on your hair type.
Great video as usual!
Okay, we are both laughing here. We said to each other this morning, with this topic Uwe is going to have a hard time providing his regular insightful comments. We were definitely wrong! The one that we should have caught on our own was putting the lids on the pots. Thanks for the reminder on that. And for the 12volt plug we originally thought why would you want a plug that is hard to reach your power source? But, you are right, why would you want to have to rely on batteries when you have an entire deep cell battery that can go days on end without charge. Throw solar into the mix and you have pretty constant supply of electricity, at least we do here in Alaska with the 24 hour sun. Also great tip on the blow dryer. We have the travel blow dryer, but didn't realize using the cold button reduces the load down to roughly 100 watts. We would never have considered using a blow dry out here...until now. Thanks as usual for the great insights. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@PlayingwithSticks Glad I could come up with something :-) About the blower: if you run it on an obviously undersized 200W inverter (or anything less than the around 1300W rating of the blower), make sure you can't accidentally turn on the heat setting - it will blow the fuses on the inverter. That's why I tape the cold button in place, so no matter what my wife does it will not do any harm.
While we're at it: we also have a plastic mirror with a suction cup to stick on the side of the trailer or a car window - you know, blow drying is nice but you want to see the results - plus it's nice for me for shaving since I'm the old school blade and soap shaver.
We were just watching a video from "Camp and Camera" where he realized they needed a mirror as well. Thanks for reminding us about the mirror, because even though we have been doing this for a few years we still haven't added one to our gear list. Also thanks for explaining why you tape down the cold button. Originally we thought it was as a reminder, but it makes sense now so you don't accidentally blow the only fuse you have. Great reminder also to bring backup fuses for your inverter.
My system is the same except for 2 things. Different shower brand ( acetel) and I fill my 5 gallon container at the beginnng of the day and sit it n the sun. It’s ready wi5 5 gallons good warm water whenever I need for shower, dishes, feet before going in camper. And it cost no time or propane😍
Love the idea of sitting the water out at the beginning of the day. Great suggestion Carol!
I put my 5 gallon jerry can directly on the gas stove, then I put it on top of my camper and let the gravity do the job, no need for fancy showers with pumps.
So simple. Love this. Wonder where we can find a metal jerry can up here?
Found this awesome shower container with pump online. That's probably what I will be using for a while when camping. I like it so will be getting it. I plan on camping mostly in National Parks with all the amenities though but in case I'm beach camping I will have that Handy for shower and the light washing I may need to do.
Shower with a little hand pump is perfect for a backup situation. We carry around our little black solar shower with us everywhere, we don't use it that often but when we do it feels so good!
Cool set up. I use a quick pop up shower tent by "Leader Accessories". Its pretty awesome. For water pressure, I purchased a 2 gallon hand pump bug sprayer at Home Depot.. cut the wand off.. and attached a sink sprayer. It works pretty awesome. I usually heat up about 3/4 of a gallon on my stove.. and add it to the other 1.25 gallons of cold water remaining in the container. It makes for a nice comfortable shower temp. Also, I put a kids inflatable pool in the shower tent. It keeps us from stepping on the dirt and from getting the ground all muddy. When we're done.. we just drag the pool out from the tent and dump it on an area we won't be standing on. Anyway... cool video.
Thanks for sharing this Joe. The hand pump method sounds very simple and efficient. You are the first person to mention using an inflatable kid's pool. Great idea! We have the same pop-up shower tent as you. We didn't highlight it in this video. But we often use it inside our side entry tent as our changing room. It also comes in handy as a shower tent, but it is a little too flimsy to hold our uv solar water bag. We also did not highlight the solar shower in this video, but is another great tool to bring along if trying to consume energy.
Your kid is literally too damn cute.
Thanks Andrew. We appreciate the compliment. He really does make these outdoor adventures so much more fun.
No kidding..kid is as cute as they come
Yep
I tried the Zodi system, but didn't cut it. Definitely a much more expensive system but we went with the Mr Heater Basecamp B.o.s.s XCW20 Instant Hot Water Portable Shower, they also have two lesser models. but it works the best for us, Great to wash dishes with hot/warm water. Just another option.
Great to hear. We really like the idea of items that are dual purpose. Shower and dishes sound like a great combo. Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Kramer was showering and prepping food at the same time.
We used to use a battery operated shower/sprayer, but we found it emptied our bucket (just like yours) too quickly. Now we've gone really low tech and just use a 12 ounce cup. Two cups for getting wet, two for rinsing off soap and shampoo, and another two for rinsing off conditioner and/or extra soap.
Great simple solution. That is even easier than the solar shower. Thanks for sharing Christina.
This is great! I’ll be using these tips and tricks dispersed camping this spring :)!
Nice I have the zodi shower system and I just purchased the Helio shower.
We are pretty interested in the Helio shower. We are hoping to come across someone who has one at a campground that we can try it out. If you have time let us know how the Helio is working for you. We would love to know.
We use a Zodi propane shower for our hot showers, and the Helio for rinsing dishes, washing hands, quick spray showers in warm weather, etc....
Your little one is adorable.. 💜
Great video! That little guy is such a good helper!
He wants to help out with everything! She is definitely in that stage where he wants to be dad 😆
I have a blue instant pop up that I use for a shower/ shitter combo sorta like a wet bath.
We might have the same one as you. There are no poles? We love how that style packs away so easily.
Wait so you potty and shower in the same bucket?
Haha. I could see how you came to that conclusion. He was actually talking about the pop-up tent.
@@PlayingwithSticks lol oh
I use a stainless steele pest/weed sprayer. heats up on a butain cooker. Only uses about 2/3 liters of Water Per shower. When travelling in Australia the only water you have with you is the water you carry. My wife and I can shower plus 2 kids with only 7 liters of water.🇦🇺
We have never heard of a stainless steel version. That is a great idea. We will have to see if they sell them here in the States. Do you know what brand yours is?
It's a generic kind of pest prayer. It's called "capital stainless steel sprayer" I bought it from Bunnings which is our hardware supply chain. It cost $79AUD. I'll have to do a video.
I use stainless steel buckets 3 1/2 gal. I bought on Internet for 11$ a piece ! You heat directly on propane stove and use digital thermometer a 100 degrees Fahrenheit feels great !
That is a great idea. We love the simplicity of placing it straight on the stove..
Cute kid and a good helper too.
Thanks Richard. He really is quite the helper. He's just hitting the stage where he's almost too much of the helper and wants to do everything himself now. It is fun to watch, even if it does take us three times as long now to do anything.
Boundarytec sells a shower coil system that attaches to a shower bag (2 bags included) that you can heat by fire or stove top with the coil piece. It heats the water in the shower bag, has a temp control knob and you do not need any batteries or any kind of electrical device, just a fire or camp stove. The shower bags fold flat and the coil and hose take up minimal space. Check it out.
I think if you have a black tank it will heat up and then you can pump it over yourself... that's my theory based on what I saw at summer camp as a kid haha :) This is pretty cool, thank you
That is a great suggestion. And you are right, it works well!