I may have posted something like this years ago as it is an issue I have been ruminating over forever. Please forgive me if I have, but obviously I have yet to find the solution.
We currently go in a FWC Hawk on our Tundra. The camper has a stovetop and heater and we like it pretty well.
After some days afield tho, the thought of a shower becomes the driving force on what must happen and little can be done without working it into the plan. Some times it is my better half that makes this decision, some times it is me. Many of us have been here and we all know little more than an actual shower can cure it. I have literally driven hundreds of miles out of the way and purchased unplanned hotel rooms for the sole purpose of this deed, at great chagrin.
We have tried some fance, overpriced, Mr. Heater basecamp type hot water heating showering devices. Both units failed literally after a couple of uses and the most recent they refused to support short of a possible fix for quite a lot of $. These things seem WAY too hightech for their low end offshore construction.
We have used a modified garden sprayer, which actually worked pretty well in the heat of the summer with unheated water. (My better half has not generally not appreciated the thrifty use of unheated water here. (Wish I had come across this before I dropped $400+ with Mr. Heater.......)
Currently I have been looking at working up a flat plate heat exchanger through my cooling loop on the Tundra with a thermostatic control valve and a sureflow pump, probably sourcing out of a water jug, but maybe with the ability of drawing water from a natural source. Despite this systems simplicity, I fear cutting in to the Tundra's systems and diminishing Toyota's legendary reliability with my poor mechanical ability. This system seems like the most trick, but I'm not convinced that the thermostatic control valve could adjust the temperature fast enough to keep from being scalded if the water wasn't running full time. (did i mention we spend lots of time in the desert; i.e. hate wasting water) I don't mind running the engine to heat shower water, thinking it would already be running as we pulled into camp and planned showers upon arrival most of the time.
Another idea is some kind of container than can take some heat and pressure. Something similar to my plastic garden sprayer except that I could heat the water in and pressurize with my OBA to pump the water. I came across these in my research:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Smith-P...Concrete-Compression-Sprayer-190448/205742071. Thinking I could possibly toss this on a stove and warm the water if needed, then pressurize for my shower, if not add hot water to it. It's an expensive garden sprayer, but seems like it would do the deed and handle the pressure. (which could be controlled by an inexpensive pressure regulator attached to my OBA.
Seems like I could either go with a sureflow (or similar) pump or use some kind of tank that could handle 20-30 lbs (from OBA) of pressure to pump water for about the same money. Not sure what else to use for a tank other than the fancy garden sprayer above or an old water fire extinguisher. The simplicity of using my OBA to pump water seems like a good use of my resources and ease of installation, but i'm sure one system is better in the end.
What have you used, researched, planeed? Wondering what others have come up with for a shower solution? Any ideas on a vessel that could handle the pressure, and likely heat to be pressurized enough to flow a shower's worth of water.
