Portable Showers

and do they last!!!! thanks johno

Hi Johno

We have used them for several years, and find them very good. as far how long do they last, depends how much you use it, we have a BCF one and cost us $ 37.00, so it is not a great investment, but in my point of view it is realy worth it.

Cheers Rob

I had a Primus brand pump - used it for washing (with fresh water) the kayak before I put it back on the roof racks. Quite effective - good volume of water - but it died after about 12 months - water got passed the seals into the electric pump. Good while it lasted.

I've been using one I bought at Jaycar back in 2006 for $19.99 - we've used it heaps and it is still going strong. Our's is bright yellow in colour (fittings) with grey hoses.

Johno59,

Something you might like to consider is recycling the shower water.

We use a Coleman brand battery operated shower. About $30.00 and uses 4 "D" size batteries.
Using a 40 litre rectangular plastic container, you heat about 3-4 litres of water, then add sufficient cold water to obtain your desired temperature and quantity.
The shower pump is placed into the container and then you stand in the container to have your shower using the hand piece. The majority of water is returned to the container and two people can easily have a shower with the same single quantity of water. (Using "grey" water after herself has showered doesn't worry me a bit)
Recycling the water saves on the amount required, especially if you need to carry it with you.

Works for us!

We have a $20 one which still works after 14 years travelling around Aus. What we do is put a stocking round the suction to prevent anything blocking up the tiny holes. We use a pop up shower tent, it folds down into a flat circle in seconds and dries quickly.

If you do get one get a good brand. We bought an el cheapo, mainly to use to transfer water from jerry cans to our water tank. Worked like a dream on the first trip. When we went to use it on the next trip a year later it was dead.
We have some portable power packs we used to use for the fridge before we got a dual battery system. When we camp with friends with a 12v shower we use one of those batteries to provide the power. so the lead length is not an issue.

We've had about 5 of those over the years. If you're lucky, they will last about 12 months - as above, water gets into the motor and they sieze up.
So either consider them disposable or get a better pump.
We're using a $20 bilge pump from Whitworths now and hooked it up to the hose and shower head from one of the busted showers.

We find that they dont take to being packed away between trips so tend to buy a new one each time, but dont pay more than $20 usually. There are several brands but all are the same except for colour - made in the same factory. We found that a good spay with Selleys eziglide helps them store a bit better. All in all they do a reasonable job and you get what you pay for after all.

I have the primus unit.I don't use it anymore after trying a tip I found on this forum. We now use a cheap garden sprayer (pump type, $10 at Bunnings) with a shower head attached. Works really well. I have retained the spray head and use it to clean dirty items.

Cheers,
Mark