A Camp Shower is a "Must Have"A camp shower is one of life's little luxuries. It makes the difference between primitive survival camping and an enjoyable experience, for there's nothing like a hot shower at the end of a hard day's relaxation.Every commercial camping site or RV park will have an Amenities block with hot showers and toilets. Many will have coin-operated laundry machines as well, so you don't have to return home with a ton of dirty laundry for mom to take care of!  But if you're off the beaten track a little
ways, you'll have to rig your own camp shower. The
simplest types include a plastic solar shower which warms
the water when stood for a few hours in the hot sun, or
the old canvas camp shower which you fill with water,
then lift above your head with a rope. They both have
their limitations. The plastic solar shower needs several hours to warm up, so it's only good for a standing camp. But it's also flimsy and won't last long. Mine lasted a week for just one person, one shower a day. The canvas bucket is good for cold showers on a hot day, but if you want warm water, you'll need a way to heat the water before you fill the canvas bucket. It has a shower rose on the bottom, which gives a reasonable spray pattern to wash under. Some models include a tap, to turn off the water until you want it. This saves pouring and frantically pulling up the shower so you can leap underneath before the water is all gone.  There are several mid-range camp shower pumps
which plug into your automobile's cigarette lighter
socket. They use the 12 volt DC power to give you an
enjoyable shower from just a bucket of water; but again,
if you want it warmed then you'll have to heat it
yourself. The best portable camp showers provide a means of heating the water and pumping it, like the Primus (above). Some models have a metal heat-exchanger you place in your campfire. The water in the spiral heats up and rises up the tube and flows by convection back to the portable hot-water tank. The colder water in the tank is sucked out of the tank to replace it, and you get a tank full of very hot water in just a few minutes. Other models have a heat exchanger which fits on top of a camping gas heater. The water pumps are powered by flashlight batteries, or are connected to your vehicle's battery or 12v/DC (12-volt direct current) electricity supply. |
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