Shower and Shower/Toilet Tent

Hi Lozza,

You will get a myriad of different replies but this is how it works for us.

The collapsable toilet tents pack down to a compact flat "disk" in its own carry bag, once you have mastered the art of collapsing. Some brands work better and easier than others.
The best advice I can give is to ask your camping supplies shop to demonstrate how "easy" it is to do. If they can't perform the act don't buy the tent from that store.

Mine is very easy to do, with just an upwards flip and cross arm action and "ta-da" it's done. My mate who has a brand with a sort of flat support rail design has trouble with his and my flip and cross action doesn't work very successfully on it.
He ends up laying his flat on top of the camper bed and that solves his problem.

As far as showers are concerned, we have had very good success with the Coleman brand hand shower, which runs off "D" size batteries.
simply immerse the pump/inlet end into a bucket and press the rubber coated button on the battery box to start the shower. These cost about $30 or so and are cheap enough to replace if they break down. Having said that, ours is some 8 years old and still going strong. There are types that have a 12 volt ciggy plug on the end but you are restricted to a distance of a couple of metres from the battery supply.

To save water and reduce the mess of a muddy floor (or no floor in our case) we use a 55 litre rectangular "crabbing" tub. (We don't fill it up with water though)
We stand in the tub to shower and the majority of water falls back into the tub.
Both of us get a shower from the one "fill" and even though I take the second "shift" I feel refreshed and clean afterwards.
The tub is used to store lots of small camping gear in between uses as a water catchment shower receptacle.

Hi Lozza, I was just out looking at there this morning. We use a small tarp suspended from a rail projected from the Troopy roof rack but was considering a bit of an upgrade. However have decided to stick with the tarp.

Bill's suggestion re:.... 'ask your camping supplies shop to demonstrate how "easy" it is to fold' is the best bit of advice you could receive on these things.

We also use a $20 12v pump/shower in a bucket, shunning the vehicle-mounted engine-heated systems, but some swear by them. Where we go there is usually not enough water to be so indulgent.

G/Day Lozza, .....Dunno about watching the smarties in the shop folding down these tents!, We bought a OZ, shower tent and had the big demo in the store, ....It was a different story out there with me trying to fold the thing up i can tell you!..Orrible Thing!, sorted it out with the landrover in a fit of rage,It now resides in the furtherest corner of the shed!...Make one yourself and you won't die of stress..LOL.Have fun.


Cheers Axle.

Sandman has covered it all quite well.
All I can add is that you buy some mats, those rubber ones that lock together and get the ones without holes.
When camping I set up the pop up shower tent on ground that has a slight slope to the rear then if the ground is a little soft simply dig a large but shallow gutter inside leading to rear then place mats down so that when you shower the water runs away easily and so no mud.
We also have the pump with the cig lighter fitting and simply plug it into the small portable power/jump starter pack like the type from supercheap.
If you do not have a power pack then a 12v extension lead is easily made.
We have got showering down to an art and when water is at a premium we can both shower in as little as 10ltrs and still have a good non stop shower.

Cheers Dodg.

hi lozza, don't have the shower tent demo'd do it yourself with the aid of the person in the shop, guaranteed to work, any good sales assiistant will take the time to show you how.

Having relied on "baby a-se wipes" or Huggies for personal hygiene until now I thought I'd try something a bit more decadent. I bought a Coleman instant hot water last week and have only tried it at home thus far.

The gas cylinder and a single charge of the internal 6V battery are good for 150L of water according to the manual. I bought an extra battery for $20, and will carry a spare cylinder of gas. It can be recharged in the vehicle if necessary, and it can be attached to a large gas cylinder with the hose that the store owner generously threw in.

It is easy to operate and produces water from ambient up to 71C. While not in the same league as the Karcher for pressure, it is adequate for a shower. It is also very convenient for washing up water etc. The unit is quite compact (half the size of an Engel), and not very heavy. It has a very nice carry bag which also holds all the extras.

Being self contained, you can wander off behind a tree or over the next dune if you prefer to ablute unobserved.

The limiting factor of course is the water. The submersible pump can be dropped into a bucket, or screwed onto a 20 L tank. At 2L a minute you wouldn't want too many long showers.

I'll be trying it out on a Western Desert trip in August.