our solar shower

in

Straight up, we’re still getting the hang of this.

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Originally, we were just going to get memberships at Planet Fitness and shower there. But then there was a pandemic… so we built a solar shower. We took the design from this REI video. You can find complete instructions here.

A few pointers from our experience:

Doug says: Be sure to properly score and seal the edges. Use rubber cement liberally.

Brooke says: Yeah, remember the first time we used it, when we only had like 2 gallons of water in it?

Doug says: There was just air pissing out from every possible spot.

Brooke says: You were standing on top of the van, just pumping and pumping, and I’m trying to get clean on a trickle of water while also being swarmed with mosquitos.

Doug shakes his head.

Fortunately, coating all the leaky parts with rubber cement fixed that problem. The other issue we’ve had is with our hose kinking.

Brooke says: I’d recommend a 4-foot hose.

Doug says: They probably make kink-free hoses.

A few other things:

  • Our PVC pipe has started to bow. It doesn’t seem to be causing any issues, but if you try a similar setup, you might find a way to prop it up in the middle.

  • For extra water pressure, it helps to park on an incline or to prop up the front of the shower. (We used one of my yoga blocks.) Of course, if your shower isn’t leaking, this isn’t really an issue.

  • Believe it or not, 5 gallons of water is more than enough for both of us.

  • We open the back doors to shower, and string up two tarps. One of them keeps the inside of the van dry, and the other one provides some privacy. The outside one is staked to keep it from flying up or folding in on us (take it from us, a hug from a wet tarp is not a pleasant experience), and we use clips on one side for a doorway.