StumpXJ
SE Expedition Society
Well, several weeks ago, I was reading a thread on hot water showers and someone posted a link to a good deal on the Zodi extreme showers from Costco. I had already aquired the items needed for an onboard hot shower system using a 12 volt pump, 16 gallon water tank for under the bed where the spare used to be, and a nice homemade heat exchanger under the hood. I had been putting off installing that system because of the complexity of it, and the added weight/bulk of the water tank, that would only be used once a month at best. I figured, for the price of the Zodi, I could try it out and it would not be a huge loss if it didnt work. I was very skeptical of the small capacity of the tank, but after "testing" it today, It delivered piping hot water for well over 3 minutes....more than enough for a good shower. It took about 18 minutes for the water (2.8 gallons) to get up to about 105 degrees, which is acceptable in my opinion.
The tank itself is very nicely built, simple and the small parts (orings, etc.) should be easy to replace if need be.
The burner/stand unit impressed me quite a bit to be a "freebie" with the shower. It will easily double as a cook stove, and will hold a fair amount of weight with ease.
The burner also takes the common size small propane bottles, that every other camping gear I have takes (grills, lanterns, heaters, etc) so that is convenient.
I was also concerned about the temperature "strip" on the outside of the tank, but it seems to work flawlessly, and is sufficient for this set-up.
The padded carrying bag holds everything with ease, and it well made.
The shower head.... well, the shower head sucks, as many have said. That leads me to the next few hours of work I did this afternoon.
This is WAY over done, but every now and then I like to try to do things the right way/cool way.
This is my new "shower head". My Wife has been using one just like this in her garden for over a year now, and it has held up extremely wellout in the sun. The head itself has multiple positions to allow different types of spray patterns, including a "soaker", "shower", "mist", "flat", and "jet" setting. I managed to plug the "Jet" setting which is next to the "shower" setting. This allows the shower head to be turned off just by rotating the dial a few degrees, and its air/water tight. I also intend to utilize the stock ball valve that came on the shower system, but this is another option to turn the water flow off.
I cut the end off (and machined it square) of the garden hose attachment. This normally had a female garden hose threaded section on it, but I needed a simple barb fitting to use the stock hose from the shower system. The tube is anodized aluminum.
Starting to make the barb fitting that will hook to the stock shower hose. I have a small business that I run from my basement, which includes making radom small parts on my little lathe and mill. Its nice to have this equipment for small projects! Everything you see is made from Delrin, its light, easy to machine, and very strong.
Barb is finished. I made it to have a press fit taper on the end that goes into the tube, this way it will be water/air tight up to quite a few PSi.
Pressed into the end of the tube.
I want to utilize the Zodi rod holder that is mounted on the side of the tank, and needed a way to mount my new shower head for hands free operation. Also, my wife is 5 foot nothing, and I am 6'1", so I wanted to have the height adjustable. This is where it starts getting to be a little overkill, but its cool none the less.
Mounting Blocks:
On the shower head tube:
Here you can get the idea of what I am doing, I will finish everything tommorow when I get the actual pole finished that mounts to the side fo the tank and holds up the shower head.
The tank itself is very nicely built, simple and the small parts (orings, etc.) should be easy to replace if need be.
The burner/stand unit impressed me quite a bit to be a "freebie" with the shower. It will easily double as a cook stove, and will hold a fair amount of weight with ease.
The burner also takes the common size small propane bottles, that every other camping gear I have takes (grills, lanterns, heaters, etc) so that is convenient.
I was also concerned about the temperature "strip" on the outside of the tank, but it seems to work flawlessly, and is sufficient for this set-up.
The padded carrying bag holds everything with ease, and it well made.
The shower head.... well, the shower head sucks, as many have said. That leads me to the next few hours of work I did this afternoon.
This is WAY over done, but every now and then I like to try to do things the right way/cool way.
This is my new "shower head". My Wife has been using one just like this in her garden for over a year now, and it has held up extremely wellout in the sun. The head itself has multiple positions to allow different types of spray patterns, including a "soaker", "shower", "mist", "flat", and "jet" setting. I managed to plug the "Jet" setting which is next to the "shower" setting. This allows the shower head to be turned off just by rotating the dial a few degrees, and its air/water tight. I also intend to utilize the stock ball valve that came on the shower system, but this is another option to turn the water flow off.
I cut the end off (and machined it square) of the garden hose attachment. This normally had a female garden hose threaded section on it, but I needed a simple barb fitting to use the stock hose from the shower system. The tube is anodized aluminum.
Starting to make the barb fitting that will hook to the stock shower hose. I have a small business that I run from my basement, which includes making radom small parts on my little lathe and mill. Its nice to have this equipment for small projects! Everything you see is made from Delrin, its light, easy to machine, and very strong.
Barb is finished. I made it to have a press fit taper on the end that goes into the tube, this way it will be water/air tight up to quite a few PSi.
Pressed into the end of the tube.
I want to utilize the Zodi rod holder that is mounted on the side of the tank, and needed a way to mount my new shower head for hands free operation. Also, my wife is 5 foot nothing, and I am 6'1", so I wanted to have the height adjustable. This is where it starts getting to be a little overkill, but its cool none the less.
Mounting Blocks:
On the shower head tube:
Here you can get the idea of what I am doing, I will finish everything tommorow when I get the actual pole finished that mounts to the side fo the tank and holds up the shower head.
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~James
