Camping shower review
Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:11 am
Over the 4th I went camping in the High Uintas here in Utah and took my Coleman Hot Water heater and Cabela's shower enclosure for a first spin. The shower enclosure is well-constructed and worked like a champ. It went up easily and the pack bag is roomy enough that you don't have to have a Masters Degree from the Origami Institute to get everything back in there. As a bonus, it turns out there is plenty of room for two in there.
The Coleman receives mainly positive reviews with a couple of caveats. The biggest complaint that I have from a shower standpoint is the fact that you have to turn the water off and on at the unit, not at the showerhead. Turning the knob starts both the heater and the water pump simultaneously. 5 seconds or so later warm to hot water comes out. We ended up putting it just outside the shower and sticking a hand out the window to turn the water off and on. Fine for me, but my wife was less interested in flashing passers-by as the window is chest-high. So, dummy, put it in the shower enclosure you say; well, the shower hose is barely 48" long and I didn't want to put a small table in the enclosure with me. Other issues were that the water heat fluctuated somewhat during the second of three showers. Also the attachment of the feed pump into the unit leaked and dripped a bit. All that taken into consideration, we had showers! It was fantastic to get clean and worth the fuss.
I am building the heater into a space to the left of my sink in the galley so hot water will be convenient. I plan on putting the shower just outside the left of the galley and attaching the showerhead when it's bathing time. I will have to modify the showerhead feed tube so it is much longer and either have a helping hand on the water control or find some sort of modification for a remote start/stop.
Making camping better a step at a time,
GB
The Coleman receives mainly positive reviews with a couple of caveats. The biggest complaint that I have from a shower standpoint is the fact that you have to turn the water off and on at the unit, not at the showerhead. Turning the knob starts both the heater and the water pump simultaneously. 5 seconds or so later warm to hot water comes out. We ended up putting it just outside the shower and sticking a hand out the window to turn the water off and on. Fine for me, but my wife was less interested in flashing passers-by as the window is chest-high. So, dummy, put it in the shower enclosure you say; well, the shower hose is barely 48" long and I didn't want to put a small table in the enclosure with me. Other issues were that the water heat fluctuated somewhat during the second of three showers. Also the attachment of the feed pump into the unit leaked and dripped a bit. All that taken into consideration, we had showers! It was fantastic to get clean and worth the fuss.
I am building the heater into a space to the left of my sink in the galley so hot water will be convenient. I plan on putting the shower just outside the left of the galley and attaching the showerhead when it's bathing time. I will have to modify the showerhead feed tube so it is much longer and either have a helping hand on the water control or find some sort of modification for a remote start/stop.
Making camping better a step at a time,
GB