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Offline Lugboot

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The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« on: June 23, 2015, 06:49:37 am »
So, part of our prep for our CO road trip was to get a rooftop shower setup together.  I know iterations of this are all over the net, but I'm pretty pleased so far with how this is coming together.  This is using regular white PVC 4" pipe and fittings.

I went with a 4" x 8' setup to hold a little over 5 gallons of water.  There is a Presta valve stem mounted through the cap for the T-junction to pressurize the tank with a bike pump or other pump.  We mountain bike quite a bit so the Presta valve was the most accessible for me and required a smaller hole to mount.  The T-junction is offset towards the front of the pipe because I plan to mount this with the front end slightly raised to help with flow.  The hole the spigot goes through is sealed with silicone sealant, as is the hole the valve stem goes through.

Everything was assembled with heavy duty PVC cement.  After allowing it to cure for a day, I used a random orbital sander to rough up the outside of the pipe for better paint adhesion and masked off the spigot, threads, etc.  Then it got a coat of Rustoleum black rubber sealant over the whole thing.  We'll see how this holds up--if it starts to peel, I'll source some bedliner material instead.

Since this tank will probably not live on the van 24/7/365, I wanted mounting brackets that facilitate that.  We had some old Yakima fork mounts collecting dust, so I am modifying those to become cradles for the tank.  I'll get some pics of those and add it to the post.

The hose attachment is a 6' leader hose meant for going from a house spigot to a hose reel--pretty much perfect length for this application.

So here are some pics so far--I'll get some more tonight as I continue working on it!



Brett

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Offline Cole

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2015, 10:30:28 am »
Looks good!

 :)
Cole

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Offline Itsamoto

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2015, 02:28:27 pm »
Such a great idea -- love this idea. The brilliance is in how simple this is - great DIY.

So you pressurize the "tank" and then just open up the valve for a warm shower? Awesome.


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Offline boinzy

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2015, 08:33:29 pm »
Yes, I'm also curious how you pressurize the tank?

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Offline Cole

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2015, 09:09:06 pm »
For anyone that doesn't want to DIY http://www.cavevan.com/roadshower.html


Also a good illustration how they work.


Cole

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Offline 42pvan

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2015, 09:34:07 pm »
Why pressurize? Why not just open a relief valve at the high point and let gravity do the rest? I lived a couple of summers in remote Alaska and used a 5 gallon bucket 2/3 filled with water slightly above bath temperature with a spigot in the bottom. We had an outdoor shower stall with a shelf up high to hold the water. Worked great! My friend said she once used it at minus 20 in the winter!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Offline Lugboot

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2015, 05:48:00 am »
Thanks for the feedback and questions!

Yep, this is the DIY version of the Road Shower Cole sells--which is a pretty sweet product, for sure.  Changing the shape of the tank allows the same volume in less linear feet, which is nice.  Honestly, if I had the extra cash I could justify for it, I would seriously consider getting one of those.  The new version that is coming out is nicer than the original, which was introduced about 5-7 years ago, I think?

As to how to pressurize--here's a pic of the cap with a bicycle Presta valve fitted to it.  The idea is to be able to pressurize it with a hand-held bike pump, or if you use a Schrader valve (or an adapter) and have an air compressor, you could pressurize it that way.  You don't need much pressure--maybe 15 lbs?

Also, you don't *need* to pressurize it--you could definitely just use it gravity fed, especially with it being on top of a van!  The pressure is nice for times you may want to use it for other things, like cleaning off a bike or spraying down something where pressure would help.  If the tank was mounted lower, say on a car roof lower than head height, than pressurizing would be handy unless you want to crouch down to rinse your hair.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2015, 06:01:15 am by Lugboot »
Brett

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Offline Lugboot

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2015, 05:56:44 am »
Here's a couple pics of what I'm thinking of for the mounting cradles.

These are Yakima wheel forks, that I had laying around and don't use anymore with the prevalence of thru-axles, 29ers, hitch racks, and tall vehicles.  They attach to my round bars with the Yakima hardware, so easy-peasy. I figure I'm going to cut two down and modify for the tank cradle.  The black lines are where I plan to cut them and the dot is where I am thinking of drilling about a half inch hole to run a strap through.  The inside of the cradles will be covered in something to pad the tank, and the front one will have a bit extra on the bottom to raise the front of the tank a little higher than the rear.

When I start on the straps, I'll put up a couple pics of that idea, as well.

I figure you could do the same with some aluminum or steel flat bar stock that you could bend into shape.  Other people have just used massive tie-wraps to hold the tank to the cross bars.

The last pic is the 6' hose and spray nozzle that will be used as the shower head, etc.

Brett

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Offline Cole

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2015, 06:35:00 am »
I few thoughts on pressurizing the tank.

Having used pressurized sprayers for other things(paint, weed killers, patio misters, etc etc) the contents usually come out in a more controllable and useful form than just gravity feed. Which makes them last much longer.

For example, Pouring water out of a bucket to wash your hands off uses a lot of water. Being able to spray them off with a finer, more powerful spray should use much less water.

Which should make the water last much longer on a trip.

I'm all for the cool DIY projects! :)

If someone wanted to go really cheap and easy you could just buy a couple of yard sprayers ;) they hold a couple of gallons, have the pump and sprayer built in and are already black to absorb the heat. Could probably be used away from the van too!

Cole

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Offline Lugboot

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2015, 07:25:56 am »
The tank cradles are close to finished now--here's a pic with a test fit of the strap and clamps.  The straps go through 1/2" holes drilled in the cradle, which I then smoothed/contoured with a Dremel.  I installed grommets on the strap where the bolts go through it. 

After the pics, I took it apart so I could glue the pads in.

I'm thinking tonight I'll be able to do a test fill and pressurize to check everything before putting it on the rack!

I guess I'm going to have to start linking pics here instead of attaching.  It doesn't seem to save the original orientation of the pics.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2015, 07:29:18 am by Lugboot »
Brett

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Offline Lugboot

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2015, 01:53:36 pm »
Finished and on the van!

Brett

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Offline Cole

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2015, 08:01:45 am »
Looks good!!
Cole

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Offline rcowan

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #12 on: August 18, 2015, 09:03:33 am »
Lugboot, thanks for sharing. I think I'm going to steal this idea.  ;D I have a question though, how did you seal the hose valve connection and the presta valve in the caps? Thanks!

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Offline Lugboot

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #13 on: August 18, 2015, 09:15:41 am »
Lugboot, thanks for sharing. I think I'm going to steal this idea.  ;D I have a question though, how did you seal the hose valve connection and the presta valve in the caps? Thanks!

I used silicon sealant around the threads for the hose valve.  That, combined with the washer/nut on the back side holds everything tight and sealed.

For the Presta valve stem, I cut the valve stem out of an old bike tube, leaving a section of rubber around the base.  I used some spray rubber adhesive but after I did it, i needed to go back and use some silicon sealant too.

If I had it to do over again with the Presta valve, I would leave about 1/2" of rubber around the base of the stem, and then just use silicon sealant and the valve stem nut to hold everything in place and seal it.

Good luck!
Brett

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Offline rcowan

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Re: The Ubiquitous Roofrack Shower Setup
« Reply #14 on: August 18, 2015, 11:01:10 am »
Thanks Brett!