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Ultimate Westy Shower?
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Rodknock
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:33 pm    Post subject: Ultimate Westy Shower? Reply with quote

I got a cool idea, maybe Cool

Let's say I get one of these Hot Tap portable propane showers...
http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=3224&category_id=41&category_parent_id=

Then I get one of these 45 liter water tanks that fit up under the passenger-side space opposite the propane tank...
http://secure.mycart.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=4757889&showprevnext=1

Then I get a submersible pump and put it in the 45L tank and run the wires and water supply tube to the back hatch area, and I run a propane line back to the same area and put quick disconnects there and the pump switch....
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I also use this tarp I have for the current solar shower set-up...
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I then use a flexible LP gas line going from the quick connect fitting on the back of the cabinet to the Hot Tap head, and I do the same with a water line to the Hot Tap head. This eliminates the solar shower, eliminates the little propane bottle for the Hot Tap, and solves my problem of running out of water when using the main tank for showers. Any reason this will not work? We're dealing with Propane here, don't want to blow myself up Shocked
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

not to rain on your parade.. but won't that get your bed wet and feet muddy? I'm not a fan of campground shantys (tarps) but I'll give ya points for a nice green one.

your ideas are sound, but not sure I'd want to tap off my fridge/stoves propane supply for hot water.. maybe a 3# portable like the icefishermen use.

also as much as I'm planning a back hatch tent extension.. for space& ventilation.
they make a seperate free standing shower tent thingie..
then again I also have an idea to make a back 'loo' as well .. seen images on some german van had a back extension made of fiberglass that attached to the van, sealed up and offered a john & sink.. I'd add a shower and elevated roof (my own ideas anyways)..

yes you can get quick connect propane fittings froma reliable propane supplier,. or theres Nat gas ones for home BBQs.
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24inchstance
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here was my set up at Burning man last year. Cheap, effective and "Leave no Trace". I was a part of the VW Bus Village.

Bought one of those 5 gallon solar showers for $8 bucks
Bought some xtra tubing and a connecter for another $4
Bought a blow up kiddie pool for $10

Put it up on the Roof, let it get hot all day. If youre somewhere thats not hot just heat some water with your stove. 5 gallons is about 3 good showers.
I would stand in the kiddie pool to catch the H20 and then pour the used water into a grey water storage tank to be disposed of later. Worked Awesome.

I have walls for my awning and had a full on bathroom minus the shitter.
All this for $22 bucks.

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CF
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

would have been ez er if you bought it at eurocampers?
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flyingCoyote
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

danfromsyr wrote:
not to rain on your parade.. but won't that get your bed wet and feet muddy?

I did this, with the tarp on the back hatch, and didn't get any significant amount of water inside...solar shower doesn't exactly shoot out powerful jets that will splash everywhere.

For avoiding muddy feet, I used the plastigrass welcome mat that's usually outside the sliding door.

This shower idea sounds really cool
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Rodknock
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use a solar shower now (bag is up on top of the hatch), and it does work fine. For colder weather camping, on cloudy days, I was thinking the propane fired instant hot water heater would come in handy. Although, lots of work to get everything plumbed, and then there is the cost of a few hundred for the tank, Hot Tap, pump, etc.. Maybe I'll scale back my ambitions and just add the second water tank and use my existing solar set-up.
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24inchstance
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rodknock,
If you can pull off the original Idea it would be pretty damn bitchin.
Id love to have the instant heat with some pressure and a good size reserve of water.

on another note.
You can make a high pressure adapter for a solar shower by having someone sit on it. Works amazing!
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1621
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about something like this?

http://www.hotcampshowers.com/new51788.html

Lundy
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Waldemar Sikorski
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Coleman options.

http://www.nextag.com/coleman-portable-hot-water-heater/search-html
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Rodknock
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've seen the Decker hot water systems that you hook up to the engine, and that's not something I want to mess with, especially the wasserboxer, don't want to upset the delicate balance of cooling now that I got it to work right. The Coleman is pertty much the same as the Hot Tap, it is a propane powered instant hot water maker. What I originally wanted to do was utilize my existing propane supply from the Westy tank, and utilize a 2nd water tank added to the Westy. With this I can just go to the back of the van, plug in the Hot Tap, and bang, I've got a hot water shower in any kind of weather, no carrying little green bottles of propane or extra water vessels. I'm installing my Propex heater this week, so while I'm in there I might give it a go. Once I have the water and propane supply lines routed to the back of the rear cabinet, the rest is simple. In fact, having water and propane supply out the back creates all kinds of possibilities. I do have this vision of me running as fast as I can away from the westy butt-naked just before it explodes into a ball of fire and death Shocked .
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the Deckers style is a good idea nd something I am working on right now. I plan on making my own setup and it will be self sufficent to the camper.

Gonna use an RV pump stuffed into the the open void in the cabinetry, with the inlet hose in the water tank. If I do choose the make it hot water, I gotta make the exchanger, but since theres Pently of heater hoses under the van, should be a cinch to hook on up! Then an outlet at the back of the cabintery. with the shower head and hose. I want it more for washing dishes etc... but may as well be shower ready. I think I would opt for one of those coleman portable bathroom huts or something right off the side of the van though.

I bought something off ebay for the time being that works pretty well. its a portable shower that has a pump just like whats in the late westy tank now, hooked to a batery box (can also be pluged into 12volt) with an adjustable flow shower head at the end. You just stick it in a bucket of water or whatever and do your thing. Want hot water? put the water in t a kettle on your stove and heat it up first! It was like 25 bucks, way better than the coleman one. I was going to hook it up into the westy just like I want to do in the above paragraphs but I figured that the extra length of hose required will kill the pressure, plus the downside is that the showerhead will not fully shut off as it needs to move a little bit of water so not burn itself up, so it drips while on. But for the money its a great little unit, it packs away nicely under the cabinet where the hole is cut for the engine hatch even.
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seans67
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Waldemar Sikorski wrote:
Coleman options.

http://www.nextag.com/coleman-portable-hot-water-heater/search-html


I have one of these in my house for our only source of running water. We mainly use it for doing dishes but sometimes we uses it to take a quick shower. Works great and I plan on taking it this summer in the Syncro on camping trips.

I use a valve I bought at Cabelas to fill the little green bottles from a regular BBQ size propane tank.
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tencentlife
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
How about something like this?

http://www.hotcampshowers.com/new51788.html


Nuthin' fancy there. You could build that system for well under $200 in parts. Get a Shurflo 12v pump at any RV place, the rest is hardware store stuff. It's easy to build a tube-in-tube heat exchanger out of standard copper plumbing.

All kinds of possibilities. Put the heat exchanger in the heater return flow line, so you get cabin heat first when you're driving if you want it, and it picks up the excess. Have it heat a 10gal. super-insulated tank of water. If you can mount the heat exchanger at a slope or vertically, and below your tank, and plumb it correctly, the tank water would be heated by convection while you drive without the need for an extra pump. Then have your existing pumped cold water branch off and go thru an immersed coil of copper tubing on the way to the shower, with a second cold line so you can mix hot and cold. That also avoids having a second pump. Add a pair of ball valves ad external fittings, get a section of roll-up plastic pool heater grid that you can lay on the ground, and there's hot water every sunny afternoon without having to start the engine.

That's pretty much how my house's hot water system works, but instead of an engine there's a solar collector below the tank, and the tank stores heat in 65gal. of water.
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Rodknock
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got a report from a fellow who uses the Hot Tap (similar to Coleman version). Water has to keep constantly flowing through it, you cannot intermittently run water through it. So the heck with that. I'm going to simply install the 2nd water tank, put a little 1 gal/min pump (Sureflow) up near the tank, plumb it back to the rear hatch area, put the pump switch back there too, and put a quick connect with spray hose/nozzle on the end. The Sureflow pump shuts off when pressure builds to a certain level. I can put water in the solar shower bag if I want it to be hot. Keeping it simple. I'll post some pics as I get it done.
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Waldemar Sikorski
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not a Westy but Profi. To me the ultimate.

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jakebayless
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:31 pm    Post subject: wow Reply with quote

How did you fit that in a Unimog?
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Waldemar Sikorski
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:32 pm    Post subject: Re: wow Reply with quote

jakebayless wrote:
How did you fit that in a Unimog?


I didn't.
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cloudbaseracer
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Waldemar Sikorski wrote:
Not a Westy but Profi. To me the ultimate.

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What is a Profi.?

James
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cloudbaseracer wrote:
Waldemar Sikorski wrote:
Not a Westy but Profi. To me the ultimate.

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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?
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tencentlife
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know if it was a Profi (I'll have to look next time I'm over there), but my old boss, Jim of FAST in Santa Fe, was proudly showing me the absolutely sano Joker he bought from the widow of a Finnish gentleman, who had brought it with him from Europe and maintained meticulously. It seems the interior was Westfalia, so probably not Profi, set up as a salon (no shower, bench seat/bed and kitchenette). The windows were all double-glazed acrylic, for those cold Finnish bivouacs. Very slick.
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