Showering at Campgrounds

[Spaceman Spiff]

I think that is a misprint. A navy shower is 11 liters (about 3 gallons).
A submarine shower is 10 seconds of water to get wet, 10 seconds of water to rinse.

 

[CosmickGold]

. . . . My backup solution would be creating some type of portable shower pan (like a large, shallow 3'X3' plastic storage bin) to put a small chair inside of while showering. . . .

I use this as my "shower pan" as you called it. It comes in several sizes including just under the 3'X3' you wanted. It works great for me but I don't know how you plan to empty it; if on the ground, I guess you would scoop the water out into a bucket to carry away?

I use this tub in my van, where it is easy to empty. I just open that plug you see and let the water pour directly into the stepwell at the side doors. The water runs harmlessly out from under the closed doors while I'm parked someplace where no one will care; then I move on. It's a system that works great for me.

And here is how Hobo Ahle in her shower video has basically the same setup I do, but does it all in her little Honda Civic.

Notice the water being brought to a boil on the stove sitting on the trunk of her car. Like me, she mixes the boiled water with regular water to get the right temperature for the shower.


With the backseat removed, the "shower" is on one side, so that she can undress, and soon dress again, on the other side.

 

[WanderingRose]

Using a traditional shower set-up, a lot of water is wasted regulating temperature.

Which is why solar heated water is a much better option when resources are limited.

 

[CosmickGold]

. . . . a lot of water is wasted regulating temperature. . . .

How so? I have no reasonable idea. I hope you'll describe how water is lost.
In my description above, hot water is combined with cold as soon as it starts to boil, and the combination is showered with. How/where is "a lot of water wasted"?

 

[WanderingRose]

Note “using a traditional shower set-up”

I was responding to the 3 or 11 gallons, and “traditional” meaning the mix of hot and cold thru plumbing and shower heads, etc., with water wasted as one gets it to a tolerable temperature.

 

[user 16179]

I've always heard that a military shower should be finished in under 3 minutes. WikiHow gives you more time:

https://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Navy-Shower

I know what a navy shower is. I was asking a person that said she didn't take navy shower, she took a navy bath.

 

[VanSkulk]

Of course, some water splashes out due to no wall or curtain, but those small splashes are easy to wipe up with a towel after showering.

I am putting together what sounds like a similar set up. Are you saying that you have no shower curtain at all? Doesn't it splash on all your stuff?

 

[Retired 96]

I've always heard that a military shower should be finished in under 3 minutes. WikiHow gives you more time:

https://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Navy-Shower

Thanks for the link!

 

[Retired 96]

Maybe it meant 1 gallon?

 

[user 22017]

^ that Wiki is not very accurate..............11 Gallons is a lot of water !

That is what I thought, but the older I get, the more I second guess myself.

 

[user 22017]

I know what a navy shower is. I was asking a person that said she didn't take navy shower, she took a navy bath.

Sorry. I noticed the word "bath" last night. I figured they were still referring to the Navy shower.

 

[CosmickGold]

I am putting together what sounds like a similar set up. Are you saying that you have no shower curtain at all? Doesn't it splash on all your stuff?

I started out with a pair of shower curtains hanging from a hula-hoop on the ceiling, as shown in my video with Bob Wells. But the curtain was mostly in the way and wouldn't dry folded up. So I got rid of it as it was mostly a nuisance.

How much splashing might be a problem depends on (1) how close by your "stuff" is (2) how much a problem the "stuff" getting wet might be, and (how good your shower head is at putting water on your skin instead of bouncing it off your skin.

My showerhead has lots of holes that put out a spray just strong enough to reach me well, and I'm careful about where I point it. I run water just long enough to get every spot of me wet. Then I rub Castle Soap into my hair, ( I want to change this suggestion from "rub Castile Soap into my hair" to using a shallow bowl for re-sudsing the brush. Because yesterday, the Castle Soap ran from my hair straight down into my eye. WOW that burned!! Then I was holding my eyelid out to flush all of my eyeball with water spray for a while. I'll never do the "into my hair" thing again!) and repeatedly rub a brush around in my hair to make the brush sudsy, then brush a part of my body, then brush around in my hair again, then take the sudsy brush to another part of my body, thus removing oil and dirt from my skin one spot at a time (not to mention the great shampoo treatment returning the brush to my hair each time provides). Then I run the water again, starting at the top of me and rinsing down to my feet, keeping the spray on each spot just long enough to rinse soap, oil, and dirt away.

Then I step out of the tub with the drain open and hanging over the side footwell. I lift up the tub so the water pours into the footwell through the drain and out under the door. Holding the tub up still facing the door, I quickly spray the inside of it out. Then fold up the tub and tuck it away. Then I wipe up the few small puddles on my linoleum floor with a cloth towel, and hang that towel on a ceiling hook to dry.

Be sure your hand-held shower head is gentle with the water (and made for RVs), not a hard spray (because that would send water droplets everywhere as they bounced off your skin uncontrollably), and have a way to turn the water off any time it's not aimed exactly where you want the water to go.

 

[AmargosaWayne]

4 gallons is what I can do without hardship.

 

[CosmickGold]

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

Hey guys! WikiHow got it wrong, stating "a navy shower can use as little as 11 gallons."
Every other site, after site, after site, after site, after site, after site I found clearly states
"a navy shower usually takes as little as 11 liters (3 U.S. gallons)"

So it's not "3 to 11 gallons", which would be a huge waste of precious water (more than a 5-gallon jug in each hand, every time you shower). Instead, it's 3 gallons which is equal to 11 liters (not 11 gallons).

 

[VanSkulk]

Hey guys! WikiHow got it wrong, stating "a navy shower can use as little as 11 gallons."
Every other site, after site, after site, after site, after site, after site I found clearly states
"a navy shower usually takes as little as 11 liters (3 U.S. gallons)"

So it's not "3 to 11 gallons", which would be a huge waste of precious water (more than a 5-gallon jug in each hand, every time you shower). Instead, it's 3 gallons which is equal to 11 liters (not 11 gallons).

Due to numerous occasions of getting bad information, I stopped clicking on WikiHow results in my searches decades ago. I see they haven't gotten any better. It's a site that promotes volume over quality. They have questionable advice on every topic.

 

[VanSkulk]

I started out with a pair of shower curtains hanging from a hula-hoop on the ceiling, as shown in my video with Bob Wells. But the curtain was mostly in the way and wouldn't dry folded up. So I got rid of it as it was mostly a nuisance.

How much splashing might be a problem depends on (1) how close by your "stuff" is (2) how much a problem the "stuff" getting wet might be, and (how good your shower head is at putting water on your skin instead of bouncing it off your skin.

My showerhead has lots of holes that put out a spray just strong enough to reach me well, and I'm careful about where I point it. I run water just long enough to get every spot of me wet. Then I rub Castle Soap into my hair, and repeatedly rub a brush around in my hair to make the brush sudsy, then brush a part of my body, then brush around in my hair again, then take the sudsy brush to another part of my body, thus removing oil and dirt from my skin one spot at a time (not to mention the great shampoo treatment returning the brush to my hair each time provides). Then I run the water again, starting at the top of me and rinsing down to my feet, keeping the spray on each spot just long enough to rinse soap, oil, and dirt away.

Then I step out of the tub with the drain open and hanging over the side footwell. I lift up the tub so the water pours into the footwell through the drain and out under the door. Holding the tub up still facing the door, I quickly spray the inside of it out. Then fold up the tub and tuck it away. Then I wipe up the few small puddles on my linoleum floor with a cloth towel, and hang that towel on a ceiling hook to dry.

Be sure your hand-held shower head is gentle with the water (and made for RVs), not a hard spray (because that would send water droplets everywhere as they bounced off your skin uncontrollably), and have a way to turn the water off any time it's not aimed exactly where you want the water to go.

Very interesting. I was planning on getting an RV specific hand held shower head, but I just assumed it would operate the same as the household ones I have used. I've been angsting about this for months. The shower curtain design/choice is the only part of my build I haven't settled on. I will take this into consideration.

 

[user 16179]

Hey guys! WikiHow got it wrong, stating "a navy shower can use as little as 11 gallons."
Every other site, after site, after site, after site, after site, after site I found clearly states
"a navy shower usually takes as little as 11 liters (3 U.S. gallons)"

So it's not "3 to 11 gallons", which would be a huge waste of precious water (more than a 5-gallon jug in each hand, every time you shower). Instead, it's 3 gallons which is equal to 11 liters (not 11 gallons).

Why am I on your list. I haven't said anything about any amounts, metrics or English. ALL I have done is ask, a posting member, what the difference is between a navy shower and a navy BATH. Simple shower vs BATH. You haven't answered my question either and include me in a list of folks that got the amount wrong. A BATH is different than a shower. Buy a truck stop shower most anywhere (except Little America) open the door and see if there's a bathtub in there. So......coming up with "It's the same" is not a correct answer.

 

[CosmickGold]

Why am I on your list. I haven't said anything about any amounts, metrics or English. ALL I have done is ask, a posting member, what the difference is between a navy shower and a navy BATH. Simple shower vs BATH. You haven't answered my question either and include me in a list of folks that got the amount wrong. A BATH is different than a shower. Buy a truck stop shower most anywhere (except Little America) open the door and see if there's a bathtub in there. So......coming up with "It's the same" is not a correct answer.

After finding your message, I right away googled "Navy bath vs navy shower". So now my conclusion is that there "ain't no such thing" as a "navy bath". What I DID find instead -- again and again on various websites -- is the line, “A navy shower (also known as a "combat shower", "military shower", "sea shower", "staggered shower", or "G.I. bath". So I think calling it a "bath" is a figure of speech, an irony that points out how small it is by calling it something much bigger. It's a lot like inviting someone to come see your tiny kitten by asking, "Want to meet my ferocious lion?"

And about you being on the list: It's a list of people who were exposed to the wrong answer. My goal is for anyone who heard it wrong, to get a chance to hear it right. You are on that list because you quoted Carla618 who said she was quoting WikiHow's erroneous statement "A navy shower can use as little as 11 gallons." So you were clearly exposed to the wrong answer. My intention was for you to get a chance to hear the right answer.

 

[RonDean]

I have found this is actually a question in 2 parts. How you structure the shower space and how you heat and use the water. I'll address the second one first. I got a 12v handheld shower head with a pump that I just put in a 5gal bucket that is never more than half full of water. I heat a pot of water (very hot) and pour it into the bucket. Then I fill it with unheated water until it reaches a comfortable temp.

Amazon now has it covered in a kit form now. https://www.amazon.com/WADEO-Portab...713&pd_rd_wg=6H7MC&ref_=pd_gw_bmx_gp_cmaif2fn - It would have saved me some time if I had just gotten this in the 1st place.

As far as the structure, I have a fold-up pet tub to stand in. If I am boondocking around other peeps, I use it all outside in my shower tent. If nobody is around, I do without the tent. If I cannot use it outside, I have found it works inside my trailer as well. I just have to be more careful when and where I spray. In either case, I find I can get a good shower with less than 3 liters of water. It is my water usage that usually concerns me the most. Since I use a minimal amount of biodegradable soap, I am comfortable pouring it out on the ground afterward, using a hose that attaches to the tub.

 

[CoyoteG]

I can clean with about a half gallon of water, a little bit of soap and a corner of a towel.
It’s certainly not a shower, but that’s about the minimum I can use to feel clean.
It’s not a hardship. Grateful for it.