Idaho45guy
07-21-2020, 06:20 PM
I built a DIY solar shower for camping and UTV riding after watching some videos on YouTube. Seemed pretty simple and fairly cheap and would work perfect for my needs. I have a 4Runner that pulls a 6' x 10' utility trailer and hauls my Honda Pioneer 500. I also bought a pickup bed tent that fits in the back of the trailer. Now, my girlfriend expressed concerns about camping for more than a day without a shower and a toilet, so I looked hard at 18' and under camper trailers. But, the ones I could afford were poorly built and used ones in the size/weight range are very hard to find. So I decided to just figure out a way to have a toilet and a shower for the princess. Toilet was easy enough with a port-a-potty and a pop-up shelter.
The shower was also fairly easy to construct using a 5' section of 4" PVC pipe, an end cap, a 90 degree elbow, plug, hose bib, schrader valve, short garden hose, and spray nozzle. I used 4 large hose clamps to secure it to the rack on my trailer. Total cost was $110, which was a bit more than I thought it would be.
Assembly took an hour and I let it sit overnight for everything to set up.
I filled it with water and it took 3.5 gallons due to making it the width of the rack and not wanting it to stick out and snag on branches.
I hooked up my portable air compressor and pressured it to 25 psi and immediately had a couple of pinhole leaks around the hose bib. I basically drilled a 1" hole in the end cap, found some old copper RTV gasket sealer and gooped up the bibs and screwed it in. Need to get some fresh and more heavy duty stuff and re-do it, but it worked well enough to test it. The other issue was the fill spout cap was leaking air a bit, so not sure how I'm going to make that air proof. Maybe some wide plumber's tape?
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. The water pressure is impressive and it holds enough water for a couple of quick showers or to hose mud off my boots and ATV. May build a second one for the 4Runner roof rack.
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The shower was also fairly easy to construct using a 5' section of 4" PVC pipe, an end cap, a 90 degree elbow, plug, hose bib, schrader valve, short garden hose, and spray nozzle. I used 4 large hose clamps to secure it to the rack on my trailer. Total cost was $110, which was a bit more than I thought it would be.
Assembly took an hour and I let it sit overnight for everything to set up.
I filled it with water and it took 3.5 gallons due to making it the width of the rack and not wanting it to stick out and snag on branches.
I hooked up my portable air compressor and pressured it to 25 psi and immediately had a couple of pinhole leaks around the hose bib. I basically drilled a 1" hole in the end cap, found some old copper RTV gasket sealer and gooped up the bibs and screwed it in. Need to get some fresh and more heavy duty stuff and re-do it, but it worked well enough to test it. The other issue was the fill spout cap was leaking air a bit, so not sure how I'm going to make that air proof. Maybe some wide plumber's tape?
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. The water pressure is impressive and it holds enough water for a couple of quick showers or to hose mud off my boots and ATV. May build a second one for the 4Runner roof rack.
265096
265097
265098