A "Murphy" Shower?

[Vagabound]

I think a small bucket 3/4 filled with cold water, a kettle of boiling water and one of my cooking pots and a  facecloth is the answer for showering as a vandweller. I shower outside in a bathing suit.

I thought about skipping building some ingenious shower inside of my van, and just doing something simple with pots and washrags outside, but then a thought occurred to me:


"If everyone is doing it, then why the Hell should I?"


Sorry, the devil made me do it!

 

[djkeev]

Just recieved a price quote for the tower offset drain shower pan....... $538.20 for one with discounts for volume....... Ummmm no thank you.

Dave

 

[Vagabound]

Just recieved a price quote for the tower offset drain shower pan....... $538.20 for one with discounts for volume....... Ummmm no thank you.

Dave

FWIW, I never imagined you were overly picky, etc.  Just trying to find the right thing to satisfy your needs.

If you don't want to use a Sameer-style tall plastic bin, why not start with one of those as raw material, and cut it down vertically until it resembles a shorter "pan".  You can drill any holes in it you need, install a simple drain, etc.

Just an idea.

Vagabound

 

[TrainChaser]

Shower pan, 24 x 36 x 8" deep, heavy-duty PVC (really!), weights 4.5 lbs, holds 20 gallons, cost = $13: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasgad-Black-Large-Concrete-Mixing-Tub-887102C/205451585

Also suitable for use as a small duck pond.

 

[RVTravel]

Check out the shower setup here.

https://tinycamper.wordpress.com/from-cargo-to-camper-van/

 

[Headache]

Somewhere in the recesses of all of the Yahoo VanDweller's conversion links is the one that caused me to join this group years ago.  If anyone is still a member there it's Sullamand's 1989 G20 conversion.  Here's the link and you can join right away:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/VanDwellers/photos/albums/2095211827/lightbox/?mode=tn

This uber creative guy had a high top and his bed was along the drivers side wall, but this was no ordinary bed because it was also his shower!  When he wanted to shower he just lifted up the bed platform and an RV tub was under it.  He stored stuff in it when it wasn't in use as a shower.  He had a shower curtain(it was probably 2 of them) that went completely around the tub.  He'd heat up water and put it in a container then set the container in the overhead of the high top above the drivers seat and took a gravity shower.  The water drained into another container under the tub.  When he was done he wiped dry the tub, put his stuff back in, closed the shower curtain and dropped the bed platform back down.

Believe it or not if I remember right it also converted into some kind of dinette.  He used the foot of the bed as his chair and his desk was mounted on the back door.  He wasn't using a laptop either.  His CPU was under the end of the bed where he sat.  Anyway, it was the most creative use of space I'd ever seen in a van and I was so impressed with how many options he stuffed into a standard length van I joined over here as soon as I'd finished reading.

 

[LarryDeanJackson]

Very simple set up.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

IMO a regular cargo van is far too small for any type of permanent shower set up and too much shuffling around for a portable set up. Opening the two rear or side doors, stringing up a tarp and using gravity is by far the easiest way to go. Still feels like you're inside and the mess and moisture stays out. Even better than that is finding a real shower on the road......gym, truck stops, campground, state parks, it's surprisingly easy to find real showers everywhere I've been outside of back country hiking where nature then provides me with the necessary accommodations. A converted trailer or box truck is another story with square walls and more space.

 

[Woltz]

Might be a older post but thought I'd throw me hat in here. I'm hoping after I get a van, I'll start my building. Once the insulation, wiring, and plumbing is all in, I plan on doing the furniture. One features is in fact a hide away shower. I never thought about it until I saw someone had a stool in their van that folded flat for storage and worked like a normal stool when out. Now I don't know what made me think shower seeing that, but it worked. Now I already plan on making this van very spacious. Allowing a walkway through the entire van from the front to the back doors. To do this I'm using a Twin XL bed and it will be placed nicely into a sideways murphey bed which I hope to have double as a desk. When the bed is down, the desk would fold under it. Now because this is so...transformer type of thing, I planned on making the shower similar. When it's folded out I plan on having the doors push against some rubber sealant of some sort so there is no water leakage. The shower floor will fold down and a hole in the floor will feed water into a jug placed below it. Once everything was done, shower was had, the idea is to be able to open the doors fully, put everything inside the shower against the wall the shower is on, and then fold the shower floor up. Once that is done the doors would fold together against that and the hope is that it would only take up 7" of space from the wall. A stool would be used to sit in the shower because I can't stand in the van anyways.

 

[Vagabound]

Might be a older post but thought I'd throw me hat in here. ...

Now because this is so...transformer type of thing, I planned on ...

Welcome, Woltz.

I like your post overall, but a keyword is what caught my attention -- transformer. I think I've been calling it multi-purpose functionality.

That concept has been at the heart of my thinking and planning for my own build-out. My main related struggle is trying to balance my transformer ideas with the realities of time, energy, resources, and practicality.   Overall I feel like I'm failing in that attempt. However, just the effort alone should result in some pretty neat features by the time I'm done.   I'm sure that that last part will apply to you as well.

I too have decided to include a shower. However, rather than having it fold up, the complexities of which seemed a bit overwhelming, I have decided to leave it standing in place and use the space within it productively when it's not functioning as a shower. The shortest description I can give of my idea is a multi-shelf, lazy-Susan dresser of sorts to hold my folded clothes.   The basic idea is that the shelf unit stays inside the shower for 95% of the day, with the shower acting as a dresser. And then when it's time to take a shower, move the shower curtain, rotate all of the clothes shelves to the outside of the shower around a fixed pole, and take a shower. When the shower is finished, rotate the clothes shelves back into the shower space.  

Details still to be worked out.

Vagabound

 

[Vagabound]

I was inspired by Woltz's post, and had to draw it at some point anyway, so here it is. As drawn, it wouldn't survive the first time I stepped on the brakes, but it's an idea in development. Comments welcome.

Vagabound

 

[RVtrek]

Comments welcome.

I love the oscar statue, the teddy bear, and the "mysteriously shaped clothes" in your drawing!

Question: When in shower mode and the shelves are moved out of the way, don't they need space to rotate into?  Isn't that space already being occupied by something?

 

[Almost There]

Good first design!

You might find you have weight limits on each shelf that would be lighter than you'd like them to be but I bet you could find ways to beef that up.

It will also need some kind of stop mechanism in place so they don't swing all by themselves going down the road. Maybe even 2 stop mechanisms as a fail safe.

Right now my pantry door has both the latch and a bungie cord because the latch I chose to use isn't quite strong enough for the potholes on the interstate and the washboard on BLM roads...sigh!

 

[DannyB1954]

On the shower, it may be easier to make a rolling cabinet that can be fastened against the wall when shower is not in use. You could have the outside wheels running in tracks to help locate it on the wall. If you doubled up the outside walls, (with a piano hinge in the rear of the shower), once you rolled out the shelves, you could fold the sides back and they would become your shower door/ curtain.

 

[djkeev]

Vagabound, you've got some serious creativity going on there!

Excellent!.......... A "Murphy" Shelf.

You could have each shelf unit built with sides to retain any items (your Teddy Bear) and each shelf swings out separately to gain access to what is inside.

Dave

 

[DannyB1954]

I wonder how well a vinyl roll up window shade would work for a shower curtain. Make a frame in the ceiling that would house 4 of them.

 

[djkeev]

Gut feeling is that window shades would seal poorly and allow puddles on your floor.

Dave

 

[akrvbob]

Because this van is used as an Expediter, everything has to fold away for freight, he can drop 6 pallets in the Sprinter (3 on top of the others).  Check out his folding shower:

[video=youtube]

 

[Vagabound]

...
Question: When in shower mode and the shelves are moved out of the way, don't they need space to rotate into?  Isn't that space already being occupied by something?

Excellent question, Grasshopper!   Way to pay attention.  

I gave that one a bit of thought before I designed the shower dresser. As it turns out, the dresser shelves will swing out and block the side door in the box. So, nothing would ordinarily be there anyway that would need to be moved. And being a one-man band, if I'm in the shower, then nobody else needs to use the door. 

Glad that you liked my drawing. It got a little boring just poorly drawing folded clothes. ;-)

----------

AT:
Good thoughts about some sort of securing mechanism to keep the shelves from swinging when on the road. I've thought about weight on the shelves. Two things to say there. First, the shelf poles will either be heavy duty electrical conduit or black iron pipe. I'll use normal connectors and flanges. Each shelf will have 2 supports underneath it of that type.  That material will be strong enough to hold up a good amount of weight.  Second, seeing as how this is intended to be a dresser, it will mostly have folded clothes on it. However, if there is anything heavier, I can put those items on any shelf closer to the pivot pole.

----------

Danny:
It looks interesting, but I'm not sure I can squeeze between those shelves when I need to get in to take a shower! ;-)

Seriously though, I am about halfway to understanding your idea. I see the shelf unit, and that is clear enough, but I can't visualize the shower part yet.

I like your idea about the vinyl roll-up window shade. Whether it would work or not, it's some good thinking outside the box, pardon the pun.

----------

djkeev:
Thanks!   I was waffling over whether the shelves should all swing out as a unit, or whether they should come out independently. I agree with you, and have decided they'll come out independently. Seems to allow more flexibility.

---------

Bob:
I've seen that video before and really liked it. The shower part was especially cool. Thanks for reposting it.

Vagabound

 

[Woltz]

You know I was just looking at Van Conversions on pinterst, and the exact thing I was envisioning was put into a picture. It's a small picture, but you can see what it is pretty easy. This is EXACTLY what I had in mind to do to my van when I get it.