Showers. What works?

[Airstreamer]

I note that the shower facilities in a B can be divided into 5 categories.

1) No shower, so bring quarters for the one in the campground or truck stop, or make do with the sink and a washcloth.

2) Aisle showers where a floor panel in the middle of the van is lifted up to reveal a drain pan, and a curtain surrounding the pan is attached to the ceiling. when needed.

3) Wet baths. The arrangement best understood as a shower stall that happens to contain the head and a sink.

4) Expandable wet baths. Like a wet bath, only with a sliding section so it can get bigger.

5) Separate shower. What you get in a stick house.

Wondering what you all think of these and in particular which arrangements are really acceptable for fairly frequent use. I presently have something in category 5 but am trying to think small.

[glennm01]

I live full-time in my Falcon 190, so for me, having a real dedicated shower is a must (#5). If I wasn't full-timing, I guess #2-4 would be fine though. It's all a matter of personal preference of course, but I'd rather have as "normal" of a bathroom as possible, and then think small in other areas of the van.

Glenn
http://tosimplify.blogspot.com

[g1g]

I guess it really depends on how you travel/camp. If you boondock all the time I think a good shower is the thing. if you are at campgrounds, you can use theirs. I only have an outdoor one that I don't really use. I may boondock for a day or two then go to a campground and use their facilites. There are other options like some truckstops have them too.
When you full time as the previous poster said, well good luck and more power to you. I really must congratulate or commend someone that can fulltime in a B. Such limited water really can limit your showers. It mauy also depend on how many are with you too.

[Mike]

We don't full time, we don't use our aisle shower for several reasons, the most
critical of which to us, is the humidity it would generate in the van, and just the
size of the aisle/enclosure. So we have option 2, but use option 1, and would rather
have the best combination of 3 thru 5, with a separate water/humidity proof shower
enclosure in the van as our first choice for maximum flexibility/convenience. At a
C/G or Truck Stop there can be wait times. Nature of the beast, I guess.
Alas, we've only a 2002 Roadtrek, designed before the increased demand for, and
the engineering of, the self-contained on board class B shower.

[visionquest]

As my fellow full timing friend Glenn mentioned, having the bathroom be as normal as possible is a key to really feeling comfortable as a full timer. It definitely is for us anyway. The shower in our RT was decent before as an "isle only" shower and we preferred it even when we were parked where other free showers were available. Mainly becuase we don't like hauling our stuff into and out of the RT and we feel better not dealing with other peoples germs as much as we can avoid it. I don't enjoy wearing rubber shoes when I shower.

For all those who have seen this link before, yeah, sorry, I am pretty happy with my creation Otherwise, for the rest, here is what I did to modify the shower in our RT and make it MUCH more comfortable and usable! BTW our fresh tank is 31 gallons and the water heater of course holds 6 too so there is plenty of hot water for showering. The Gray tank is more than adequate as well.

http://www.vantramps.com/2010/02/roa...gineering.html

There are build details in a post right before this one as well, just go backwards on the site or click the "modifications" link on the right and you can scroll down till you see it.

Someone mentioned steam and humidity as an issue, we haven't had that problem since the vent is directly over the shower stall. It can be drawn out pretty quickly. The vent fan also does a quick job of drying that light weight shower curtain before we put it back in. There is most always a way to engineer something more comfortable or suiting if you are so inclined.

-Mike & Heidi
97 RT 170P "Taj Ma Trek"
http://WWW.VanTramps.Com

[Mike]

It occurs to me to ask the question, since I've mentioned the subject numerous
times over the last 2 years.
Has anyone done any research regarding removing the 3rd seat (passenger side
beside the 60/40 split doors), and replacing it with some sort of larger extended wet
bath and shower toilet enclosure? I recently saw something like that in a newer Roadtrek
while waiting for some repairs, but the thought didn't occur to me to ask if it could be
adapted to an older van.
I've seen people replace the 3rd seat with extra storage cabinetry and extra batteries
and so on, but no one has ever mentioned retrofitting an extended bathroom into an
older class B van.
Perhaps it's not possible, for engineering reasons, or it would just be too expensive.

Any ideas or experience?

UPDATE: The 190 came with an optional wet shower/toilet/sink (unsure of what year
it was offered as an option). I'm probably going to send a note to RT and ask about
the feasibility of retrofitting one to my '02.

[Gunruner1917]

I have an American Cruiser with a wet bath. That's the minimum I would have. I looked at the mid bath that you setup but I figured I wouldn't want to do that too many times and I shower once a day at a MINIMUM. I do miss the full bath I had in the 28' TT but this Cruiser is a keeper. Bath at the rear on the drivers side with rear entry door to the passenger side.............Mike

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Mike

UPDATE: The 190 came with an optional wet shower/toilet/sink (unsure of what year
it was offered as an option). I'm probably going to send a note to RT and ask about
the feasibility of retrofitting one to my '02.

Answer from Roadtrek, not feasible, complete cabinetry and plumbing rebuilds would be necessary,
so their opinion is, buy a new Roadtrek with all this stuff already installed.

Thus endeth the lesson.

[hardybob]

with our roadtrek 210 popular wide body, the shower extends out in the aisle with the pull up drain. when we bought the unit we thought it might be too small, and too much trouble to use (like alot of other people think). we thought we'd travel and GI bath, then every 2 or 3 days stay at a motel and shower, but once we rolled the carpet up and stored it we found that the shower is wonderful. for those who haven't used your shower, might be worth a try. we liked the large shower in our old class A, but the trade off of the smaller camper is worth it.