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Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:31 am

http://dehler-profi.de/

Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:45 am

Too sweet. 8)

http://dehler-profi.de/

Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:32 am

We had to make a tarp-over-the-rear-hatch shower during our 5 day stay in Glacier NP last year (no showers in the campgrounds) Our teenager even used it. For him we had to add more hot water from the kettle to the solar douche bag. What works great is to stand in a small black plastic tray used for mixing mortar. Ours cost <$10 @ HomedeBozo, is 20"X26" and can be strapped over the firewood in the luggage bin atop the front seats for traveling. Clean feet and no mud puddle make things pretty civilized. Don't leave home w/ out it.

Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:35 pm

My wife made this out of an old dome tent. Throw the solar shower on top and enjoy a roomy private shower.

Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:27 pm

I recently found $100 in L.L. Bean gift certificates I had glued back together and promptly lost after running them through the washing machine. After failing to find many clothes to my liking in the local Bean outlet store, I noticed a "ZODI" propane shower. It is similar to the hot tap noted above. A metal box with a coil of copper tubing and a fitting for a 1 lb bottle of propane with a piezzo ignition, a showerhead, submersible pump, and a battery pack with an on/off switch. I suspect the $95 in gift certificate I payed is more than it's worth (never mind the $115 original price), but it was all that applied to my "spend money on the bus this month" rule. I haven't tried it yet, but the holes in the showerhead look woefully inadequate- pinpricks really. I accept this in my solar shower, but not in something with a pump. Has anyone had experience with one of these? If I bore out the holes in the showerhead, will there still be decent water pressure? The thing claims to heat 50 gallons on a 1 lb can and comes in a box that doubles as a 4 gallon tank. If it does end up being pathetically weak, do you think it would overwhelm the copper tubing/heater box if I put a bigger pump powered by the aux. battery? I will probably use the van's water tank. BTW- has anyone converted the luggage rack into a cistern and run hoses from the corner drain holes into their water tank- with a filter? Thanks:)
ollie

Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:33 pm

Either enlarging the holes in the nozzle or using a higher-pressure pump will move water thru the heating coils faster. Enlarging the nozzle holes will actually lower pressure, not raise it, but it will increase flow. Heat absorption is proportional to the time the water spends transiting the heated coils so even though you will get more flow, the water won't be as hot. I imagine the little pass-thru unit is calibrated to a certain flow in order to achieve a certain delivery pressure, so those are the parameters you're dealing with. You can certainly experiment but you may come up against the limited heat exchange area and the limits of the burner output. The only way ultimately to get more flow at the same temp is to make the flame hotter or increase the heat exchange area, the latter being far more effective and efficient.

Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:14 pm

Quote: Has anyone had experience with one of these?

I have the Zodi shower, it works great the way it is. I just have to remember to turn the pump on before lighting the burner.

Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:39 am

Thanks guys:) Sounds like I'm ok. Sorry I was a bit suspicious of the price difference compared to the Coleman one at wally world. I will try it as soon as I get back up to Maryland (I have a tank of gas but not enough cash to pick up a spare can of propane lol... remember when they were 79 cents or so?). Thinking about it again- even if I put a larger pump on, I would have to run it a lot hotter for the faster moving water to be heated to the same temps. The only way to maintain the efficiency engineered into the unit would be to "increase the area of heat exchange," i.e. dismantle it and add some more copper tubing- way too involved for me!
ollie
-since I just found this outlet store, does anyone who gets the Bean catalog know of anything else they sell camping wise that might be a good westy accessory? I already have a canoe, bikes, and lexan plates, etc. Only stuff I ever ordered from the catalog was dog beds, hammock, coat and sheets, etc.

Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:37 am

look at this:
www.dehlermobil.de

see you
jäky

Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:55 pm

[/img]http://cache4.spreadshirt.net/users/1061000/1060234/products/1060234_6013628_1_big.jpg[/img]ø

Hmm..what woud be a good slogan to have them print on this?

Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:29 pm

If its a shower youre after, how about one of these?

[url]http//www.indigoblueleisure.com/teepee_outhouse.php[/url]

These things are great. You can use them as a shower and they are large enough to have a 'porta potti' in the corner

Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:14 pm

Waldemar Sikorski wrote: http://dehler-profi.de/

What am I missing? Is there a shower reference there?

Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:15 pm

Here's a link to an on-board hot water installation for a shower. It's another version of the engine coolant/heat exchanger only it heats the water in the on-board water tank. Cool feature is the thermoelectric valve that cuts the coolant flow off when the water in the tank reachs 105 degrees.

http://www.syncro.org/Camper.htm

Look up "Comfort Additions", "Hot Water" and "Shower" og go direct to

http://www.syncro.org/HotWater.shtml

What this page doesn't show is the shower in the back of the van powered by the Flojet pump. I've seen this installation a few years ago and I think there was a quick connect hose fitting installed at the back of the westy cabinet and the shower hose was stowed in the space at the top of the cabinet.

Unfortunately the link to the shower photo page is broken.

Warren C.

Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:04 pm

This guy did some really great mods to his Eurovan Camper. Seems like it could be adapted to the Vanagon...

http://homepage.mac.com/msiminoff/PhotoAlbum40.html

Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:02 am

[email protected] wrote: cloudbaseracer wrote: Waldemar Sikorski wrote: Not a Westy but Profi. To me the ultimate.

What is a Profi.?

James

Dehler Profi (SP) the pic he posted above of the hightop. very cool setup insulated windows etc.. there was one for sale in the NE for awhile, probably the only one in the US?

Hi,
this pic does not show a Dehler Profi, but a Dehler 2+2.
The 2+2 was a not so expensive version, it has few differences to the Profi
e.g. the shower door opens to the front (in the Profi the other way round),
it does not have the embedded speakers in the roof,
the seats that fold to a bed are different,
it has no insulated windows,
the kitchen is different etc

Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:04 pm

I'd be very hesitant to use a shower inside an aged Vanagon.

Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:32 pm

Here is my 2 cents for the best hot shower setup. This is my 2nd one and I am trying a couple new things this time.

4 gallon tank under rear seat. First time I used a 6 gallon tank and it took up more space than necessary. 4 gallons is a good compromise.
6 feet of heater hose coiled inside the water tank and connected to your rear heater lines.
Solenoid valve to shut off the coolant flow and thermostat to keep water from getting too hot. First time I just used a manual shutoff and had to keep and eye on the water temp. I powered the solenoid from the rear heater wiring so I can use the rear heater switch on the dash (I took out the rear heater- you could leave it in and just run new wiring, but this was so convenient)

Shurflo 1 gpm pump, pump switch, simple shower head.

This setup doesn't take up much space, there is no setup time. It is inexpensive and fairly easy to make. Flip the rear heater switch on your dash and it heats up the water on your way to camp. It stays warm for a while so you can shower after your get settled into camp. This is the like the setup someone did heating up the 13 gallon onboard water tank, but this is way simpler and has some other advantages. Pics to follow.

Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:38 pm

Sat Jan 08, 2011 7:08 pm

Simple and elegant. Love it! :D

Sun Jan 09, 2011 12:58 am

Why not just a length of black PVC pipe, mounted on the side of the pop-top, water fill at the front end, and shower nozzle and valve on the back end? It's black, so it heats up. You want water pressure? Pop the top. 5 gallons is enough for 3 showers? So then the PVC pipe needs only to be 3-4 inches diameter. Simple, easy, cheap.