Trailer Hot Water Shower Box

bobwohlers

Overlander
I was tired of dragging out my tankless hot water shower from the inside of my trailer and it's storage box. I was also tired of setting it up, plus connecting it to water and propane (there was almost always leaks due to my set up haste). Typically, this effort would take about 10+ minutes. Because of the effort needed, I often found myself thinking, "do I really need or want a shower?" So, I decided to take action and engineer a storage system for the tankless shower to reduce the time needed to get a shower. Since I'd already build a kitchen box from a Pelican Case, I decided to pursue that train of thought. What I came up with was a Pelican 1550 case, a permanent case mounting and plumbing system. What isn't seen in the photos is my RV pressurized 12V pump in the nose box and a second water tank inside the trailer itself. Here's a photo of the kitchen and shower boxes permanently mounted and closed.
ClosedCases1.JPG
 

brian90744

American Trekker
plastic box

Nice idea, however with LP in a small plastic box just the heat may start a fire?? just maybe. looks like you are ready to camp.
have fun=brian
 

bobwohlers

Overlander
No worry of heat on plastic...

Hello Brian... Good thought, and thanks for your concern. Are you familiar with the Triton hot water shower unit? I engineered the system so that the Triton camp shower is never used when the Pelican case/box is closed. In fact, you have to be "camped" to connect the propane and water to the Triton. While the case is closed, the quick disconnect water and propane hoses into the shower unit are disconnected. If you look carefully at the photos with the shower box open, you'll notice I attached the Triton to the "lid" of the Pelican case. At the top of the Triton is where the vented excess heat is released. The Triton's own heat deflection vents force the excess heat away from the top portion of the Pelican case's lid. To make sure the case's lid didn't get too hot, I ran a complete 10 gallons of water through the shower without stop. Lot's of hot water; no melted or even hot plastic. 10 gallons is one long camp shower - my average shower is only a minute or so. Tally ho!
 

Curtis in Texas

Adventurer
A quick idea on how I set up a shower off the side of the roof rack of my Expedition Truck that gives my shower time some privacy. This might give some of you guys some ideas for your trailer showers.

I run two EMT rods out of the ends of the roof rack cross post and hang a hoola hoop horizontal from them I have two over lapping solid color shower curtains with curtain rings suspended from the hoop to the ground.

My shower floor like yours is a wood lattice thing only bigger. It is made the same size as the bottom of my roof rack. The shower floor is stored in bottom of the roof rack for transportation when not being used as a shower floor.

I like the shower in a plastic case idea a lot. Great idea.

For my truck I have two 5 gallon military jugs on a swing out tire carrier to supply my shower and kitchen sink. The sink and cook stove hang off the back side of the tire carrier using shelf brackets. I have both hot and cold faucets. I run the shower sprayer off the faucet with an on and off valve. This way I can mix the hot water so it doesn't get too hot or cold in the shower and not waste water.

I use a heat exchanger that was originally used as a transmission cooler on a big truck. I ran water hoses "T"ed off the engine ti it to serve as a hot water heater. They are small and easy to plumb into the vehicles engines cooling system.


Like you, I'm a big hit at camp with the ladies. Women love being able to take a hot shower before calling it a night for some reason.

I will share your idea of a shower case with my buddies so their women will stop using up all my water.
 

bobwohlers

Overlander
Hello Curtis in Texas... Thanks for the post reply. Yep, I'm really happy with the way the Pelican case Shower Box turned out. It's a quick set up. That said, I want to give a hat tip to 60Dan here on the Portal, and the ingeneous guys at AT - Adventure Trailers. I saw their kitchen box (Pelican case and Aluminum case) on a similar type swing out "gate" much like what I fabricated. I also saw on Expedition Portal, 60Dan's Pelican case kitchen box. Both gave me good ideas. It's from these examples that gave me the idea of crafting my Shower Box from a Pelican case. I've been using Pelican cases since the first ones the company manufactured in the 80's for my camera equipment. These are GREAT cases, obviously for many uses. Cheers!
 

bobwohlers

Overlander
Curtis... Do you have a photo of your privacy hoola hoop and shower curtain idea? Would love to see it. I have a pop-up privacy enclosure that I sit right next to the shower box.
 

T-Rey1

Adventurer
Awesome idea. May need to use this one. It is a pain to set up the heater with the water and LP connections.
 

Curtis in Texas

Adventurer
Curtis... Do you have a photo of your privacy hoola hoop and shower curtain idea? Would love to see it. I have a pop-up privacy enclosure that I sit right next to the shower box.


It may take a few days to dig it all out but I'll post up some when I can.
All those parts in storage for the Winter.
 

BruLew

Member
I was tired of dragging out my tankless hot water shower from the inside of my trailer and it's storage box. I was also tired of setting it up, plus connecting it to water and propane (there was almost always leaks due to my set up haste). Typically, this effort would take about 10+ minutes. Because of the effort needed, I often found myself thinking, "do I really need or want a shower?" So, I decided to take action and engineer a storage system for the tankless shower to reduce the time needed to get a shower. Since I'd already build a kitchen box from a Pelican Case, I decided to pursue that train of thought. What I came up with was a Pelican 1550 case, a permanent case mounting and plumbing system. What isn't seen in the photos is my RV pressurized 12V pump in the nose box and a second water tank inside the trailer itself. Here's a photo of the kitchen and shower boxes permanently mounted and closed.
View attachment 259042
I know this is an old conversation but wondering how the Pelican case hinge held up with the heater mounted on the cover. I have the 1550 and a small heater and ready to mount to my camper trailer and like the idea of allowing the unit to vent freely and not into the case. Thanks.
 

dstock

Explorer
I'm actually doing the same the with a Pelican Vault 550 case I happened to have on hand. There is definitely some flex when the door is open with the heater attached, but I don't think it's going to be an issue long term. The classic 1550 is more sturdy then the Vault series. I'd be curious for an update from the OP as well.
 

SoCal Tom

Explorer
I used this thread as inspiration, I used an old military box I was given years ago.
adb41e0e19aca36d14102cfcf8c9b116.jpg
 

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