I thought I would post up my experiences and add to this thread for the good of the ExPo Communty.
So rewind to last month and I am camping with a good friend and my 2 and 6 year old boys. Long story short, my 2 year old has a blow out in his diaper (at the time he was 90% potty trained, only needs a diaper at night). He wakes up and declares "Daddy, I gotta' go poo poo!" I sprang out of my sleeping bag and start diggin him out of his sleeping bag when he lets the poo fly! It was a total blow-out... poo up to his nipples, up his back and down to his knees... all a considerable distance from their point of origin... inside a diaper. Well, dad forgot the wipes so here we are on the tailgate of the 100, using a Nalgene of creek water and paper towels to clean my little man up. He was miserable, I wasn't exactly enjoying my wake up call either. All said and done, a better source for cleaning up, kids, feet, gear, my beautiful wife's hair... was on short order. Let the research begin.
A few weeks ago as I was looking up water tanks and shower options for the cruiser I came across the Road Shower 2. It is an extruded aluminum tank that stores water on the roof rack and then uses passive solar radiation to heat the water throughout the day. Its got a temp gauge, radiator cap for filling and to control pressure (18 psi max), an air valve to pressurize the tank and a hose/nozzle that has about 5' reach. It mounts with hardware using an integrated "T" slot on the bottom. Overall, its VERY well made and quite light for its size. It holds about 5 gallons of water, and my initial testing in the backyard yielded about 10 minutes of constant water flow with good pressure. It would obviously run out fast or last longer depending on the flow rate selected at the adjustable nozzle, but a HOT 10 minute shower isn't out of the question for this shower unit. I just tossed it up there for now but I will orient the hose to the rear so I can use it near the tailgate.
So far, in my humble testing, letting the tank sit in the backyard with direct sun on it for about 4 hours (Noon-4pm) with 85* ambient temps I was hitting right at 100* at the nozzle. Even at 9pm that night the water was still relatively warm (closer to 90*) and I started with cold tap water out of the faucet. Needless to say I am impressed and my wife is stoked about it! There's something about the idea of washing down after a day in Moab's silt, or Colorado's dusty trails that is really appealing.
