Shower and Bathroom possibilities

[Lloyd Christmas]

Hi All,

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time reading this site lately. It really is addictive. I have fallen in love with teardrops but have a little problem....the wife. "I'm not getting a camper without a shower." I think you see my dilemma. First, I will ask a stupid question, I believe. Has anyone ever put a shower in a teardrop? I am now probably looking at converting a Cargo trailer. I know a shower can be had there but doesn't look so easy there either. I have a Yukon with a 5.3 and Jeep Grand Ch. with a Hemi (5.7) so I'm guessing I can pull a converted 6x12. But, does a cargo that size have enough height and floorspace for a shower?

Any suggestions on how to best add a shower or if I am going down the wrong path. I really don't want a full size RV but the wife does. I think we can work out a compromise.

Great site and great people. Thanks for all the information you have and will most likely share(d).

[mikeschn]

Build a Generic ET and put a corner shower in the bathroom!

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... t&start=15

Mike...

[Guy]

Dear Lloyd,

Check out 48Rob's Cabin Car. It has a sit down bath and toilet.

My teardrops4vet also has a sit down shower and toilet.

Neither of these are tall enough to stand in and shower, and both have traditional kitchens out the back, which greatly add to the social aspect of teardropping.

[eamarquardt]

I plan on building my frame a little long in front of the actual teardrop to accomodate a 2 foot wide (front to back about 3.5 to 4 feet wide) tongue box. Somehow, I haven't quite decided how, the box will expand upwards and transform into a small enclosure with a porta potty and room to shower. I plan on using an old pressure cooker for a water heater (see album).

As I haven't started on the "box" yet, I'm open to, and soliciting ideas.

Cheers,

Gus

[Alphacarina]

I have fallen in love with teardrops but have a little problem....the wife. "I'm not getting a camper without a shower." I think you see my dilemma

You gotta make some 'adjustments' somewhere

First question to be asked and answered - Is the current wife a 'keeper' or can you count on doing better next time?

Don

[starwars]

Google on "RV shower pans".

Heres one site http://www.rvshop.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/11_178

We used a shower tent outside and it came with one of those plastic 5 gal. sun heated water bags and a spray tube. The bag didn't work too well.

However if you use one of these 11 qt plastic dishpans and a cooking pot with a handle, you can wet your hair, soap up and rinse off by dumping the water over you while you stand over the pan (catching some of it only of course). Very fast and works good. We heat the water with a propane stove and fill up the 11 qt dishpan with hot water.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/RUBBERMAID-INC-2951-00-BISQUE-Dishpan/dp/B000EMK9L4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1204849665&sr=8-4[/url]Rubber Maid dish pan[/url]

I have heard good things about the coleman hot water on demand but my concern is does it pump a good stream of water or not?

I was thinking about possibly just mounting the RV shower pan in a lightweight box and fastening all the water heating/pump items to it like a unit that I could pull out of the TD and put inside the shower tent. It would still be outside but it would be a bit more comfortable.

Any other ideas?

[Lloyd Christmas]

Thanks for all the tips.

Of course with weight always being an issue, I'm trying to devise a plan for a shower that somewhat considers the space issues as well. I could lose a lot of need for height and weight increases by not using gray and black holding tanks. That would only allow me to use the services when hooked up obviously.

Is there a reason this is a bad plan (other than the obvious)?

[Miriam C.]

You can always carry a couple of 5 gal. buckets for the shower water. Plants love it.

[48Rob]

Hi,

A 6 x 12 cargo trailer will easily have enough room for a shower and toilet.
Use 3' of the length in the front. That will give you a "bathroom" 6'x 3' (or whatever the interior width is).
Use a sit down shower, or a shower pan with a shower curtain and use a waterproof stool (plastic).

That still leaves 6' for the bed, and 3' for the kitchen.

You could also do a dropped floor in the center, and use that as the shower pan...

Lots of possibilities...just need to get a chair, and sit down inside the trailer to think.


Rob

[Lloyd Christmas]

Thanks for all the help, guys.

So, if I do a sitdown, it wouldn't be hard to mount a holding tank I am guessing. I would think a stand up would cause more problem as you would have to be on floor level. Should you have a sunken floor for the shower, wouldn't that compound the problem? Is there plenty of clearance under the trailer for a gray tank (or black for the can)? Maybe I'm not visualizing this properly.

[48Rob]

Hi,

You'd have to measure the ground clearance of the particular trailer you plan to use to determine what amount of space is available for a holding tank.
That said, most stock cargo trailers I've seen have plenty of space.
Both a sit down shower, and a shower pan have the drain at, or just above floor level, so no more issues with one over the other.
Doing a sunken floor as the shower pan offers more challenges because the drain will of course be lower that the regular floor by the amount you drop the sunken area, which reduces the available space for the holding tank.
There are plenty of places that custom make tanks though, so instead of having to work around a pre made size/shape, you can have a very thin, or otherwise odd shape created to fit your needs.
I used 4" pvc pipe as a holding tank.
Capacity is 5 gallons, not a lot, but enough to hold the contents from 1 shower and one washing of dinner ware if there are park restrictions on letting gray water out on the ground (done with a garden hose to get it away from the campsite).


Rob

[GPW]

Put your tank/pipe on the roof, paint it black and you won't need to heat the water...We tried a solar shower bag at home and it got pretty hot quickly in the sun ...

[Lloyd Christmas]

I like the ideas here. The PVC for a holding tank is great. I would probably want a little more storage. How long of a 4" PVC run stores 5 gallons? Theoretically, you could really distribute your weight by running the PVC. I'm not sure how advantageous this is, though.....at least in effort vs return.

I also like the solar idea but that probably wouldn't cut it with the wife. I plan on a tankless heater actually.

I am probably looking at 30 gallon holding tank and, of course, grays and blacks to go along.

By the way, Rob, that cabin car is outstanding. I feel fairly capable but just know there is no way I could finish with something looking that professional.

[Guy]

Dear Lloyd,

Here is a volume calculator that Madjack posted previously

http://www.watertanks.com/calc.asp

[Steve Nikkel]

I don't think the lady is going to settle for anything less than a motorhome. Try this first......Go to the box store and buy a 2 gal Garden Sprayer. Get a short 6 in nipple to replace the long wand on the sprayer, change the spray tip to the nipple, change the nipple for the long wand in the sprayer.
In the bathtub at home fill the sprayer, pump it up, hand wand to wife and tell her she has 2 gal to spray down and get wet, scrub up with soap using water on skin, use remainder to rinse off soap. If she can do it you now have your shower. If she can't handle it-----you at least have a new sprayer for the garden.
Have seen days in the army when 2 gal for bathing was a weeks worth.