Installing a shower in a class B without one? Also, swamp coolers

[Kate the Great]

Hi all, new here. Not an owner, but hopefully soon, and this seemed the best place to put it:

I just looked at an older class B today and quite liked it at the very low price they were asking: good shape, relatively low miles, etc. Two main sticking points:

* The shower hookup doesn't have a shower pan setup (I assume a gray tank exists because there is a kitchen sink). It's meant to hook onto the back door and be an outside shower, despite being located (when unused) inside the vehicle. How easy/cost-efficient is it to convert this to an inside shower? As a solo female traveler, this is a crucial omission. Thanks!

* Also, swamp coolers. There is neither propane nor house A/C in this vehicle. I kind of like that there's no propane for safety reasons. I assume I can get by with electric heat (the vehicle is about 17' altogether) but would like to stay cool as well. Do people have swamp coolers (I know Home Depot has some decent-looking ones that claim to only draw 65 watts, and I would be retrofitting solar as well)? How well do they work? My location says NY but I would use this cooler primarily in the Southwest.

Thanks for any help!

I can't seem to reply: it's a 1993 Sierra on a Ford E-150 chassis. I Googled, but not much info. And that makes sense re. no gray tank -- I was wondering why they didn't bother with a shower if they already had the tank there.

[BBQ]

.

What is the make? model ? and year?


The old old old RVs did not have gray tanks... they just let the water go to the gutter.

[Kate the Great]

1993 Sierra on an Ford E-150 chassis -- I've Googled for info but it comes up pretty sparse. And yeah, I was wondering regarding the gray tank. I know it has a sewer hookup for the black tank. Craigslist here: https://albany.craigslist.org/rvs/5986991786.html

I know it's high miles for a gas engine, but still, considering the price and the decent shape, I figured I'd ask here and see what people knew. Thanks!

[Kate the Great]

1993 Sierra on an Ford E-150 chassis. I Googled for info but it's sparse. And thanks for the gray tank information; I was wondering as far as the sink. Craigslist is here:

https://albany.craigslist.org/rvs/5986991786.html

Thanks again for any help!

[mkguitar]

swamp ( evaporative) coolers only work if the dew point is below 55 degrees....35 or lower is better

if you are somewhere dry- great, if you are not they just don't cool.
they also consume alot of water.
they may blow dust, pollen etc into your van, as much air as is blown in, you need to be able to vent
can breed a number of bacteria and viruses
and require power, either 120 volt or alot of 12 volt for the pump and the fan
(I use a swamp cooler on my house in PHX for spring and fall- it doesn;t work during monsoon season, 3rd week june to 2nd week of september)


we do not use our shower- we are either in a campground w/ shower or remote enough we can use the outside shower

mike

[MsNomer]

If you have a roof fan, see this thread on the Promaster forum. Make-your-own "bucket O'Cool.

Fantastic Vent Cooler - Page 2 - Ram Promaster Forum

[Kate the Great]

Thanks! There is some open space on the other side of the vehicle of the toilet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5lw6OMcjB0

is identical to the one I looked at yesterday, albeit no roof a/c. So I was thinking of installing the shower in that open space.

How much is "a lot" of water? I'm assuming it would be fairly easy to vent this. I saw models at Home Depot that use only 65 watts of power and appear to be pretty compact.

(BTW: all my posts were mod-only and then approved en masse. Confusing setup; sorry for the repeats!)

[avanti]

I honestly don't think you will be very happy with one of those small swamp coolers. They are great under optimal conditions, but if conditions are less than optimal, they quickly get to the point of doing more harm than good by injecting humidity into the air without much cooling. And they smell. At least that was our experience, and we were using it in New Mexico.

I get the impression that large whole-house units may work better. Not sure why.

[Bud]

avanti, living in the New Orleans area for a long time, I need and demand some humidity.

In about August 2000 or so I was in a homedepot in Albuquerque and it felt Wonderful. Then it dawned on me, nothing but swamp coolers in August in that homedepot.

Bud

[avanti]

Contrary to my above opinion, somebody over at Sprinter Source just posted a report of favorable experience with a swamp cooler:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/sh...5&postcount=15

[Kate the Great]

Thanks, all! I just heard back from the seller that there IS in fact a gray tank, so it sounds like it would just be a matter of building the shower pan and routing it to the tank. I am hoping that can be done.

I'm still trying to convince my knowledgeable RVer acquaintance who came with me that the swamp cooler will work (and still considering it myself), but it sounds like the shower isn't /that/ much of an issue, just a matter of building it. I was looking at the design at Under-dinette Shower | PopUpBackpacker.com -- obviously there is no dinette, but the shower doubling as a storage bin seems useful to me.