A stand up clothes changing / shower solution in a low roof van

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Ah the old problem in a low roof van.  Where to shower and pull on your clothes?  If you have swing out side or back doors just use magnets to hold a tarp on the outside of the doors making a three wall enclosure.  Now you have walled off stand up space.  By putting the magnets on top of the tarp you get to keep your beautiful paint job unscratched!  

I love recycling hard drive magnets for jobs like this.  They are very strong and usually very cheap.  I use a 7'x5' tarp and it almost perfectly makes a fine enclosure.  Until we can afford a pop up roof this makes a simple option out of a "dead" space already part of the van.

Blessings!  [font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]SojourningAdam[/font]
 
What about sitting in chair to do those things.
 
Bob Wells did a blog on this, he used the back doors & a tarp as I recall.  
Getting dressed in the morning was easier in a full sized van than it was in a minivan :)
 
DannyB1954 said:
I do the same, and stand in a mortar mixing tub to catch the water. http://www.homedepot.com/b/Building...Mixers-Concrete-Mixing-Tubs-Pans/N-5yc1vZaq89
Thanks for the link for the mortar trays, I had been looking for something.  I'm planning to use a normal long shower curtain on an tension rod between the back doors.  The bottom of the doors come just above my knees, no one wants to see anymore than that.  I had thought of everything else except that.  I'm getting one, but think I'll add a non-slip shower mat, can't have the ol' man doing gymnastics.  Also, it will fit nicely under my bed.  Thanks a million.
 
Impulse buyer that I am, I hurried down to our local HD & picked one up. Perfect, I have 3 - 3.5 gal black buckets for passive solar showers. I can store the 3 filled buckets in the tray & slide it under the foot of my 39" x 75" bed frame. It slides much easier than the crates because of the rubber mat lining the cargo area, much like a drawer. There is no room for much besides those. That was a brilliant suggestion, thanks again.
 
LOL those aren't mortar trays they are panning tubs.  just kidding.  I use those for panning gold in.

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highdesertranger
 

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For hot water I buy a 2 gallon garden sprayer from a hardware store. Cut off the spray valve. Splice on a dish washing sprayer, (kitchen sink department). Get some black plastic spray paint, (flexible and will not peel off as easy as regular paint). spray paint the weed sprayer. Get a clear plastic bag large enough to cover the sprayer, (acts as a green house. The sun will want to warm the water, the wind will want to cool it. The clear plastic bag keeps the wind off of the sprayer).

Fill the sprayer, put it in the sun, put the clear bag over it. Shower before the sun goes down.
 
Or after, nekked in the dark no problem in the boonies.

When cooking dinner, 2-3 cups boiling water in the ambient 2 gallons warms it up nicely.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
John61CT said:
Or after, nekked in the dark no problem in the boonies.

When cooking dinner, 2-3 cups boiling water in the ambient 2 gallons warms it up nicely.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Before sundown you could also wrap the sprayer in reflectix and a blanket or two.
 
becida said:
Bob Wells did a blog on this, he used the back doors & a tarp as I recall.  
Getting dressed in the morning was easier in a full sized van than it was in a minivan :)

I have an '88 Chevy Astro and that's what I do when I can. It works great but since it has been so cold (it's starting to warm up a little bit!), I took out a Planet Fitness membership to take care of my personal hygiene.


VanGrrl57 :)
 
My idea, since I have a high top, is to use a water heater drain pan because it has a plug and I can store it fairly easy standing up behind something or laying down under something:

Camco 11429 32" ID x 2" Plastic Drain Pan with CPVC Fitting  $24.84

For the shower enclosure, I'm thinking of hanging a break apart hula hoop with two shower curtains from the ceiling and then also using a separate hula hoop for the bottom of the curtains to act as a weight...

Coast Athletic 30 Inch Snap Together Hoop  $8.98 each

Using the garden sprayer set up will keep the water usage to a minimum, so the drain pan should more than hold it. I can then either hook up a hose to dump outside the van or carry it out...

While the shower is not in use, I plan to have bungie cords holding it to the ceiling out of my way... In theory it sounds great and doable, but we shall see when the time comes to actually implement!!!
 
That is pretty much what "LoveRise" did. Awesome with how little you can actually get clean.
Youtube:
 
Kathleen said:
One of those tubs caught my eye last week but was not sure what I would use it for. What do you do once you catch your wash water in the tub? Re-use it? Or toss it away from your van area? :s

I find a bush that looks like it needs water. If you are in a real sensitive area, you could funnel it into a grey tank.
 
Bought myself one a week or so ago. So far unused, being sensitive to chemicals in soaps I'm giving a biogradable soap (Campsuds) from Amazon a try. Then some sites recommend digging a 'cathole' my conception would be a trench 2 - 2 1/2 feet long 6-8" deep & the width of a shovel. Slowly tip the sloped end draining the water into the hole. It should be 200 ft away from any water source. Also you can use the same soap for clothes or dishes. Costs about a $1 an ounce but is concentrated, a little goes a long way. You can also drain your 'gray' water into it but should pour through a strainer to remove the food particles, ok for the soil but can bring wildlife around.
 
In Ehrenberg I dumped my dishwater around a scrubby little bush. After ten days it was the greenest scrubby little bush in the area - leaves deep green and glossy. I used to use dish soap solution to spray directly on my vegetable plants at home to keep off the aphids. Had no effect on the plants - it's made for washing food surfaces, so how bad could it be, and there's no food particles - Todd sees to that.
 
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