Washing up at Camp

[SusanMN]

Much as I love the outdoors, I still need some of the comforts of home. And hot water to clean up with is one of them. Its easier to do that you think while camping if you bring a 5 gallon aluminum watering can with a sprinkler nozzle with. Fill it with water, set it right at the edge of your campfire and within five minutes you'll have enough hot water for a shower. Everyone will feel, and smell, great!

 

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[Goodyguy]

Much as I love the outdoors, I still need some of the comforts of home. And hot water to clean up with is one of them. Its easier to do that you think while camping if you bring a 5 gallon aluminum watering can with a sprinkler nozzle with. Fill it with water, set it right at the edge of your campfire and within five minutes you'll have enough hot water for a shower. Everyone will feel, and smell, great!

Hey nothing like feeling and smelling great!
Good tip Susan

 

[seger98]

The wife & I use those coleman shower bags, But I think I like your idea alot better, heating it with a camp fire instead of the sun makes more sense and would be hotter water, thanks for posting it!


Chris

 

[cptbild]

A Shower!
A Shower!

You Guys Got Water, That, you can USE! For
A SHOWER !

We'ns gots to haul every drop of water into camp, (For 2+ wks)
AND!
Then! To waste it on
A SHOWER!
AHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!

 

[papajos]

When camping in the mts. (adirondacks) first thing in the morning after coffee is a jump in the lake. Don't care how cold the water is (and sometimes it's dang cold!) just jump in and wash up. After a few minutes you get used to it and stop shaking. Also at night after a few cocktails sometimes jump in again. Nothing like floating around in the dark water listening to the coyotes and looking up at the stars. Also, where we camp swimsuits are optional..just watch out for the big northern pike.

Papajos

 

[SusanMN]

When camping in the mts. (adirondacks) first thing in the morning after coffee is a jump in the lake. Don't care how cold the water is (and sometimes it's dang cold!) just jump in and wash up. After a few minutes you get used to it and stop shaking. Also at night after a few cocktails sometimes jump in again. Nothing like floating around in the dark water listening to the coyotes and looking up at the stars. Also, where we camp swimsuits are optional..just watch out for the big northern pike.

Papajos

Hmm, a nice, hot, soapy shower, or a dip in a frigid lake, which shall I choose? I might mention that the hot soapy shower in the evening may increase the odds of sleeping bag sharing.

 

[TXPIRATE]

When we were with out power from rita and Ike we used 2 liter bottles of water we heated in the microwave from the ginny.
But as a test I took one left it outside all day and it was warm later that afternoon to wash up with. You can use and extra cap with Small holes in it to use as a Minnie shower head.

 

[civil war hunter]

I was going to say. I guess you would were underware.

 

[claymation]

One method that I have to try sometime when I go backpacking is to carry a gallon milk jug with water. Use a hot wire and punch holes in the bottom for a make shift shower.

I can testify on the jump in a lake method.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

I have one of those coleman solar showers also...fill with river water and let sit all day....but mostly we jump in the river !

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Great I dear!

 

[2Shoes]

If your camping close to your car. You can set gallon jugs in the window facing the sun. They will get warm. You can use one with holes to pour the warm water into and use as a shower head. If you near a campground just use the showers. If your out in the woods a few miles in. Eh Cold water clean is better than no clean. That's also one of the things about roughing it. A good cold shower.

 

[grits]

We have a small pressure sprayer. Just the thing for a quick shower and doesn't use a lot of water. Spray can be adjusted to be as soft or hard as you like!!

 

[cdltpx]

When I was a trucker I would take one of those blue water containers($7 Walmart use a measuring tape to insure it fit) and fill it with water it served as emergency water JIC I were trapped somewhere and needed it to drink.

I noticed on time that the water was very warm since I stored it under the bunk in a space that is just above the transmission it is warm. I decided to take advantage of that warmth and quit having to track down showers all the time(some places I did without a shower overcrowding) I would stop places that normally I would never stop (a place with a view of a mountian) cause I have to have a shower before I can get a good nights rest. I found that the hose from a hose reel (the kind you use in the garden) was just long enough to be used for my project. I got 2 caps one for jug one for when I was driving and the other was set with hose shower head etc I set the water container up on the passenger seat I would shower in my shorts in a pair of beach shoes. It took all of 5 min from start to finish and I would duck back into the truck dry off in the sleeper hit the sheets sleep hard wake ready to run.

 

[cdltpx]

Much as I love the outdoors, I still need some of the comforts of home. And hot water to clean up with is one of them. Its easier to do that you think while camping if you bring a 5 gallon aluminum watering can with a sprinkler nozzle with. Fill it with water, set it right at the edge of your campfire and within five minutes you'll have enough hot water for a shower. Everyone will feel, and smell, great!

If you don't have the Al watering can you can use your head and build something to get the job done. First you can take a 2 liter bottle fill with water make sure there is no air in the bottle and lay the bottle on top the coals do this with about 3 bottles you should have plenty to adjust the temp of your water and get clean. Watch the caps will be the first thing to fail the bottles will start to stretch some(deform) when the water heats and expands they are ready water is not boiling but it will be too hot to touch blend with your larger container preferably inside an ice chest to keep your water warm longer.
Another I found you can do is use old coffee cans you can heat the water in old cans (no holes) and have a can suspended (with holes) in the bottom you can make the flow to suit you where you can add the water(dip from ice chest) and it will flow at a rate that you like. Low tech you just poke holes in the can with a nail or drill there are websites that will give you info just google outdoor camp shower and snoop around or go to my you tube page and dig around in my favorites I have done all the work of investigating for you.
Some perfer the solar water heating method any way you get your water to a temp that could be used will work be it solar or placing containers on top your engine and letting the heat transfer that way. What I wish there was is a way to run water in the engine some way that would allow you to cool the engine yet heat your water. They claim the ICE engine is so poor on efficiency due to heat produced and having to be removed.
There are pro ways to heat water that are somewhat costly but are state of the art there is the jet boil that can bring water to a roaring boil in 2 min mainly for food but hey it is your water use it like you want. Like I have suggested use an small ice chest to place the water as you warm it eventually you could get enough to bathe with. When I was a trucker I could get 5 gallons to last me 3 showers.
Then there are these on demand systems that cost ~$150 these systems can be set up for outside showers as much water as you care to run through it but you are limited to what the system can do it will raise only within a certain range most places most time of the year this is good but some times the temp to change is too much and the temp is not considered satisfactory. If you have a truck and want a shower that you hook a hose to and are cool with an outside shower this is for you. You can run on small propane cylinders or adapt it for larger tanks to save money either way it is said to be a great outdoor shower if you have just a water source but no heat.
Coleman has a system that is pricey and when you get into these types of things you have to ask are you camping or are you just dragging things into the woods to show off?
When I was trucking I was using a very simple method I made a you tube video under the same name I go under in this site. I carried one of those 5 gallon blue containers because they never leaked they are tough enough to ride fully loaded with water and that is quite a task. I would just fill the jug and set it under the sleeper in the side box the temp in there year around got quite warm and the water would warm in there enough so I could attach a hose to the top set the water jug on the seat and I would bathe in my swimming attire. In the truck stop parking lot at a rest stop you name it I washed and was able to sleep if I got any questions I would tell them I can't sleep until I get my shower so I was being safe by taking a shower. No one ever said anything to me I had to learn what shoes to wear to prevent injury from the shoes slipping off my feet when I returned to the cab. Don't hurt to ask another trucker to watch your back so no one would try anything while your were covered in soap at various levels.
Taking a shower in the bush or a parking lot is done in 4 steps you wash hair to arm pits then rinse then go down and clean next area for the stuff inside the trunks you reach in there and do best you can and rinse same way helps to use a liquid body wash rinses off better. Then you do a leg at a time. I use to step on the side of the truck and scrub away at a leg. Then a final rinse head to toe and you are ready to go inside and dry better and change. It is different than your home shower because you are using less water and pressure is not on your side here you have to use gravity and that requires you to go from top to bottom. You don't want to soap all your body only to have it dry on you and you are using far more water than you have. This is not perfection it is a great way to maintain your sanity by getting the days nasty little creatures off your body before they decay and start to smell.


Many now may HAVE to resort to this method to be clean the economy is not improving what I said a year ago is becoming true the economy is advancing to slight recovery and the oil prices are rising to stomp the economy back down. Peak oil is here like it or not until we revamp our transportation and life styles we will experience dismal economic development. We are all going to have to grow something nearer to our homes if anything because of the cost of fuel to drag the produce from the other side of the planet. We get food from all over the world at a cheap price this will end as fuel dictates this practice ends. This is not a joke people will not care if their car can go from 0-60 in so many seconds they will want to know if they can afford to get to and from work and still have money to pay for their food. Food is about to get real expensive reason the passage of the bill HR 2751 this is called a food safety bill but it is a food control bill they are on their way to world domination I tried all I could to stop its passage but no avail they passed the bill in the last hours of a session just before holiday break within 48 hours the bill passed the senate and the house.

 

[DFXDon]

Your answers all sound good I have used most of them But when I am camping now days and take my daily shower I just hop in the Shower and turn on the hot water as I always carry 45 Gal of water and have a source to heat it . of course now when I travel it is always in my Moter Home My days of tent camping are long gone.
DFXDon

 

[cdltpx]

Your answers all sound good I have used most of them But when I am camping now days and take my daily shower I just hop in the Shower and turn on the hot water as I always carry 45 Gal of water and have a source to heat it . of course now when I travel it is always in my Moter Home My days of tent camping are long gone.
DFXDon

Praise the Lord.

 

[Wild Boulder Bill]

I call my shower a creek. Screaming ice cold creek.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

When we backpack to somewhere that has "extra" water, we use the "solar shower bag". I can't imagine ever carrying a 5 gallon can.

When we are backpacking the desert - we need every drop of water - we carry wet-wipes - but, we don't waste water on "cleaning" up by way of a shower. (unless we know of a tank somewhere that has "extra" water).

The other thing we do, depending on circumstances, of course, is that we have a collapsible bucket that gets backpacked. That can carry water
for "extras" and makes a good bowl for washing up with a washcloth.

Beth

 

[elgatodelnoche]

Wash rag and hand towel. Cannot waste water on a shower. I need what little water I have for drinking.