The Vanagon Spray Port: another way to shower

[kourt]

Vanagon friends,

Taking showers on the road, or washing things with sprayed water, are problems Vanagon owners frequently face when traveling. There are many good solutions to this problem--staying at parks that provide showers, using truck stop showers, using roof/bumper/wherever mounted shower solutions (like Road Shower or the Helio Pressure Shower, or a simple shower bag or bucket with holes) or using the Westfalia shower tap which I tried (and didn't like). There's also the Scepter water can shower system using NATO water cans, a system I used for some time. There are many threads on The Samba that deal with how to take showers.

In my own travels, I shower at state parks or RV parks or truck stops. When on longer backcountry trips where daily showers are not available I usually start each day by boiling water for tea and another pot for utility water--usually for cleaning. I add some peppermint soap to that water and take a "whore bath" (dipping the towel in the soaped water and vigorously washing anywhere that needs washing). On even longer hiking/kayaking/mountaineering trips in the mountain west, the "whore bath" no longer does the trick and you need a better way to bathe (especially if there is no river or lake nearby).

I wanted a spray port shower system that draws water from the on-board Westfalia water tank. I wanted that system to deliver pressurized water to a short hose for use as a bathing shower or aid to cleaning dirty equipment. I also wanted to be able to deliver water easily to places outside my van, for washing gear, kids, dogs, or for setting up sugar syrup feeder buckets at my beekeeping yards, for example. Being able to project water is really useful.

I wanted a system that was simple and free of clutter or equipment. I wanted it to work independently of the existing drinking water system in the Westfalia galley. The use of this system assumes you are aware of the limited capacity of the Westfalia water tank and are frugal with your water.

With these requirements in mind, I built my Vanagon spray port.

Here's a rough schematic of how things will lay out:

Parts list:

SHURflo 4008-101-E65 3.0 Revolution Water Pump: this is the heart of the system; a 12 VDC, 3.0 GPM, 55 PSI, and 7.5 Amps, self priming pump that can run dry, can dry prime to 6 vertical feet, and comes with a 2-year warranty. All plumbing is 1/2" inner diameter.

SHURflo water strainer and fittings for the pump inlet and outlet plus hose clamps and 1/2" inner diameter hose for the fittings.

Bulkhead fitting for the Westfalia water tank plus straight and angle nipple fittings for the bulkhead fitting to accept 1/2" inner diameter hose.

Blue Sea switch and switch cover, plus Hella relay, to control the DC power from the outside. Also, 12ga wiring and connectors.

GoWesty City Water hook-up box, if you want to add a fourth hook-up box like I did (my city water port is now a compressed air port). You'll also need some brass garden hose quick disconnects--in various configurations.

A short RV utility hose and whatever type of spray head you want for it. Remember that any water left in the hose when you're done is wasted, so keep the hose short and low volume.

The gist of installation is first finding a home for your SHURflo pump. I put it in the small cabinet just forward of the water tank, but that is a cramped space. Once that location is established it will inform the routing of your water lines and wiring. Keep in mind that the water lines before the pump are merely suction and are not pressurized; everything after the water pump to the spray port is pressurized and you need to be darn sure it holds water. I built the pressurized hoses from AN-8 hose with 1/2" NPT connectors from the SHURflo to the Cit Water port, which is overkill, but I have a lot of electrical modifications behind the galley that would not tolerate water spillage.

Here is the hose setup. It takes only a little space in storage under the bench seat. If you carry a water tank refiller hose, you could use that as well, but that is usually a long hose and its volume would be wasted upon disconnect.

Brass quick disconnect with male garden hose thread, to adapt the spray port hose to the port.

City Water port converted with quick disconnect and covered Blue Sea switch.

Just push the hose into the quick disconnect and turn on the outside power. The outside power switch is controlled by a 30A switched/fused master circuit inside the van, shared with the air compressor system. That way, you control when the outside power is available (keeps strangers from turning on your water system).

Connected hose with spray head provides great ergonomics.

The bulkhead fitting and 90 degree nipple installed on the top of the Westfalia water tank, feeding the water pump.

Inside the Westfalia water tank, showing the straight nipple, which has a short tube terminating at the bottom of the water tank. You can cut the tube shorter to guarantee your tank is never completely emptied, if you are the cautious type.

Video demonstration--post-kayak shower at the boat ramp in the Florida Everglades on a hot Christmas Day 2016:

Link


This spray port has turned out to be a very beneficial feature for the van. I hope you all find this information useful.

kourt

[baltik]

Bravo, that is a great implementation, may have to copy that...


I wonder if one could build a simplified system and use existing faucet pump? simply install a manual selector/diverter valve on the water line? Any concerns of the pump burning out if it's running but the shower is not flowing at the moment?

For the ultimate setup add a DC water heater to the water tank...
http://mwands.com/store/dc-water-heating-elements/adjustable-water-heating-element

[/img]

[kourt]

I know from my experience with the Westfalia shower tap that the existing Vanagon galley water pump is totally inadequate for any type of showering or meaningful water projection. There is also the problem of system design. The Vanagon galley pump is switched and does not create a pressurized system. The flow is controlled by an electrically switched faucet.

My spray port is a pressure system. You turn on the system initially, it quickly pressurizes (within one second) and then the SHURflo pump maintains the pressure. You take water by opening a valve (the spray head) and benefitting from the high water pressure--much like standard household plumbing. The pump maintains high pressure in the system. My spray port can shoot a stream of water 25 feet...there is no way the Vanagon galley pump could ever do that.

Kourt

[SCM]

THAT is AWESOME!

This is the first thread I've read in a while that gave me that "holy cow, I need to do that" response.

I wonder what it would take to make a similar system that could handle using non-purified water (i.e. out of creeks, melted cooler ice) from a portable tank that could be placed outside the van?

EDIT (to answer my own question): probably just a longer detachable section of pick-up hose to the pump inlet, and some sort of coarse pre-filter.
_________________
'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[kourt]

[SCM]

VISIONARY
_________________
'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[photogdave]

Nicely done...inspirational even!
But what about hot water?
_________________
89 Syncro GL Westfalia 2.1 WBX/WBXaustSS

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[kourt]

[danfromsyr]

sound slike alcohol abuse.. well maybe if it's cheap beer
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=566037&postorder=asc

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[VWinVT]

[TheArmand]

Probably gonna kick yourself in the ass but campervanculture across the pond has developed something with the same result in a much simpler fashion. http://campervanculture.com/shop/vw-westfalia-grey-shower-tap-for-t4-or-upgrade-your-t25-t3/
_________________
1988 2.1 Vanagon GL - North American High Top - Custom P22 Inspired "Nahtfalia" Edition Camper

[kourt]

Nope, the Westfalia shower tap is a European/T4/T5 option once offered by VW that is not really designed for the T3. CVC did not develop it (don't get me wrong, I love CVC and what they do for the camper van market).

CVC, Gunzl and others are now selling the leftover kits from Westfalia. I had one for a while and it is woefully inadequate, even with a new galley water pump. In fact, the underperformance of that shower tap is what drove me to build my vastly improved version. I mentioned all of that in my original post...

Here is a photo I took of my Westfalia shower tap, installed at the same time as a new galley water pump. The tap is on "full blast" and you can see it hardly projects any water:

The shower tap was fine when used with the T4 galley pump, but the T3 pump won't really work with it. Also, if you use your galley sink for washing dishes or any other camping conveniences, you'll soon learn that the Westfalia shower tap has awful ergonomics--it requires two hands to turn on/off. I hated washing dishes with it. The SHURflo water tap sold by GoWesty, Van Cafe and others is far superior. I haven't known anyone who has really been happy with their Westfalia shower tap.

kourt

[djkeev]

Great idea, thanks for sharing it with detail!

I wonder though....... does it concern you that you are using your potable water supply up for a shower?

Dave
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[spitsnrovers]

I use a Shur Flo pump under the sink to power our shower - works great. Here is the next step in my proposal to have hot water showers.

The rest of the project is here:
http://www.griffco.ca/interest/vw/vwshower.htm
_________________
'88 VW Westfalia
'75 Triumph Spitfire 1500

[davevickery]

[theadventureneverends]

Kourt, thank you for posting!! Seems perfect, inexpensive, and simple. This will be done hopefully this winter. Planning to remove my interior to get the insulation out and check for rust. I will do the shower during the reinstall!

[owokie]

[baltik]

[ZENVWDRIVER]

... back in '82, we bought a new Westfalia and travelled the USA for a year... on the roof rack, we had a soft black plastic 10 gallon, container, heated by the sun... with a (pinched-at-the- end) hose... Was our shower in out-of-the-way-places, like Chaco Canyon, NM... worked well.
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[owokie]

The only catch with those heaters is that you're gonna pull 25 amps to run it, for about an hour, to heat ~3 gallons to shower temp. Thus requiring you to either idle your engine, have massive amounts of solar, or have a lot of aux batt capacity. Still cool though.