Shower Tents and Waste Water

Hi Dede 1
I have a BCF shower tent. The floor has a square section to stand on surrounded by a mesh section to let the water out. however I still have to put a double thickness of blue tarp under that to stop the three cornered jacks comming through.
To dry it a rope between two trees works ok.

We let waste water run into ground DeDe1.

But by having a bucket nearby and other measures I think our water loss is
under 4lt/shower.

By choosing a good site and away from river in never gets muddy and we use those foam holed floor mats to keep feet off ground.

Our shower tent uses regular poles and has a roof option , and no floor.
came from Rays about $70.

Hi Dede 1,
Had 2 shower tents at different times, different brands too. Neither of them had floors. We stood on a 30mm thick rubber mat. Guess it was more like lots of holes separated by narrow webbing. Kept ones feet out of the slush. Just needed a pair of high-soled thongs to walk off in. A set up like this does not have any waste water.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
David1

Hi Dede1,
we use half a light weight pallet for the floor and it doesn't take up much room upside down when not in use on the pack rack.

Cheers
Graham

Hi Dede

Some LNT camp grounds specifiy no water on the ground including stating no outdoor showers. Berrima River Reserve in NSW is one such camp.

Motherhen

Hi DeDe1
Where is 'here'? I had to (for the second time tonight) google something - LNT - Leave No Trace. I have never heard of it before... If -like Motherhen said, there are to be no outside showers, I'm not sure what you can do. I have a battery powered shower that i use warm water from a bucket, and my pop-up shower tent has no floor in it - the waste water goes on the ground...

We find that 2-4 litres of warm water (in a large soft plastic bucket) driven by a Primus 12v shower head drawing water from the bucket is adequate for a good shower. Most of the water falls back into the bucket and can be re-used, but obviously not for human consumption. On the shower tent floor, foam pads with holes therein drain away any splashed water & keep the footsies clean.

GT

Although our shower tent has no floor, we use a large rectangular tub of a capacity of 50 litres or so. I call this tub a "crab bucket and when not used for showering purposes, it is used to store a myriad of camping gear.
We maybe use about 25-20 litres or so of water at a time.
Heat sufficient water on the camp fire, add cold water to adjust the temperature to suit and herself has first shower. I use the recirculated water which is fine by me. Most of the water remains in the tub and what doesn't just seeps into the ground. We use a 900mm square rubber mat to stand on when towelling down and feel suitably refreshed (and clean) afterwards.

The waste water is then tipped out if remaining at camp, or used to put out the camp fire if breaking camp.

We don't shower every day however and find two or three days between showers works for us.

Water on the ground 100 metres from any water way is legal. Shower tent with floor dry inside of shower tent with towel or with the roof section off wait for it to dry by itself.

Yep I knew there would be someone lurking....my fault should have dotted my i & crossed my t....yes we are talking showers are we not..sooooo...if you are taking a shower & using soap or any form of chemical within 100 metres of a water course....river or creek then in Victoria you are illegal. Parks & the DSE take a very dim view of this. So my answer to Dede1 is if you don't wish to store water & wish to allow the water to go to ground do so 100 metres away from the river or whatever.....like wise when you throw the washing up water onto the ground after YOU do the dishes within the 100 mtrs. Keep smiling.

We use a handheld 12V shower and it's probably around 3L per person when we share the billy. You can get a pretty good shower with 3L- wet down with a face cloth, bubble up (use biodegradable stuff if you prefer), rinse off and don't collect the water.

However, if you are really concerned about LNT, or water use in general, why not just have a bird bath- half a litre of warm water in a tub, a face cloth, a few baby wipes for your bits and you can get really clean.

BTW, our shower tent has a removable plastic floor- it is an Oztrail brand one. I hang the floor on the outside of the tent with a couple of pegs and it dries off quick smart. It's easy then just to pack it up when we are ready to go.