I'm looking for feedback on a permanently mounted water heater for JK camping. Or a better idea. I know someone here has one and uses it.

You know what I mean after a couple of days in the woods one is not so "fresh" anymore. When I'm in my RV i got it covered or when I'm hiking I tuff it out and take a very cold bath in a creek. I have always liked the idea of a heat exchanger like the one at this site.

htt p://hotcampshowers.com/vehicle_mounted_shower


But I have a hard time paying that price for what you get. Anyone got a source for that size heat exchanger? Rest of it is readily available cheap. Do any of you have this type setup and any comments????

Or would one just be as well off with this? But I really hate those diposable propane bottles plus this is something else to pack and NOBODY wants to take more stuff in a JK.

htt p://www.summitcampinggear.com/cahotwasy.html

 

Where will the water be coming from if your up in the woods? R u goona pack a 20 gallon water tank too?

 

usually rivers or creeks. but is possible to use a 5 gallon bucket or something with a local water source.

 

I use this one. Zodi Extreme. It does use those little propane bottles but it also comes off the base and you can use it for cooking also. It holds about 3gal of water but a quick shower you will only use 1/2 of the water. It will get as hot as you want it to. It also comes with a nice storage bag that all the parts fit into with exception of the propane bottle.

If you look on youtube there are alot of videos on this unit. I saw on where they replaced the nozzle with a kitchen sink spray head. Works much better than turning a valve.

Dimensions of the packed up unit is close to 1'x1'x2'. Cost was around $120



hxxp://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consumer/zodiextremeshower.html

 

We took a 5 day sailing trip up the Texas Coast last year. Some of them had a supplier of Black poly spray bottles that held about 3 gallon. They look like the yard sprayers. THis worked great for summer times or sunny days. Other then that I'd say wrap some copper pipe around your exhaust and feed it some water!

 

A black spray bottle left in the sun will get warm and good enough for a shower. Those portable bag showers are made of simple black plastic bags and they get real hot in the sun. However you always have to find a place to hang them. So this spray bottle idea seems pretty cool to me.

 

I have the green box like model that you showed. It works very well and can pull water from a number of sources. The downside is the 1 lb propane bottles but I use those for my camping stove as well so I need them anyway, I just pack a few more.

 

Well here is a good way to carry clean water with you.


The Front Runner 52 Liter Upright Water Tank is a great way to store your water supply safely behind your rear seat. The tank measures 53"Wx24"Hx3"D, and has cutouts to fit over most SUV wheel wells. It is made of food grade polyethylene, with a fill spout on top, and a 40" hose with a quick disconnect and strap on bottom. Plenty of length to make water easily accessible from the side rear doors.

 

Years ago I camped with someone that had the water going through a heat exchanger with the exhaust of the Jeep. It was pretty awesome. I now have a Coleman propane water heater. It was a last minute buy. The real advantage of it is that you are not locked to the Jeep. Sometimes it is nice to move it away. It helped that I had Coleman fuel with me anyway. One thing though if you are camping when it is cold out the black bottles didn't get hot enough for the girls.

 

You can also get a metal sprayer from a hardware store and use it for the shower, I have the Zodi and when leaving it in the sun in the desert it had heated up to 110degrees. Always test the waters, I learned the hard way.