Building the Out-Door solar shower


OK, Mak'n Stuff - Here's the outdoor shower. We have a rural piece of property in the mountains of Utah. So, when we go camping (lite), we need a place to shower - Here's a step by step building of a solar powered shower. It uses 5 gallon water jugs that are placed in the sun to heat up. At the end of the day, you get a hot shower with only the expense of the water. When the water runs out just refill the water and place in the sun.


















Make two side posts with a hanger for the PVC pipe.










Weld the PVC Hangers pretty heavily so that they have a good support base. These should be braced but in this version they aren't



PVC Bracket Welds










The platform is made of redwood for rot resistance. This part will be placed on-site so it needs to resist degradation.



Redwood platform









Mount the PVC Holders to the platform and build a tarp curtain




PVC / Curtain Holders painted and bolted to the platform









Use a garden spray nozzle for a choice of spray, jet, jet spray etc. Pretty nice for cheep. Also use 5/8" vinyl tubing for the water hose




Spray Nozzle









Closeup of the PVC curtain rod holder with shower curtain wire holders - Notice the additional grommets added to the tarp edge for holding the curtain edges more securely.


PVC Curtain rod holding the tarp shower curtain






Add the Lexan(r) shelf using "U" bolts. Notice the cross member has angled gussets to keep the bar square and for adding strength. Also note that the bar is held in with conduit clamps so that it can be disassembled for moving.

The water hose is attached with a garden hose adapter and a barb fitting.

Water Jug shelf








Another picture of the gussets and "U" bolts






Shelf holder







Completed PVC frame with water jug shelf - These side pieces were necessary since the tarp would blow around if there was any wind - Without the PVC sides, the tarp would stick to your wet cold body - Ouch!






Completed frame






Here's the completed unit before the PVC frame was installed - Someone likes to play in the water ;-)






Hope you get some good ideas from this construction project