Solar Showers

[squashmikeyp25]

Anyone had any experience with these in the UK?

Does it ever get warm enough here for these to work as designed?

Looking at buying a couple for our trip in August and wondered whether it will be money well spent or otherwise.

Thanks

[Abaco]

I can tell you in South Florida within an hour or two in the sun the water gets too hot for comfort in the warmer months. I usually cover it with a wet towel. I don't have any experiance with them in colder areas.

[tsampsel]

We've used sun showers camping several times and they're great. Except in the extreme, air temperature isn't really relevant. Sunshine is though...

[tager]

They work, which is why they are popular. Even when the air is really cool, they will get warm. Worst case scenario you boil some water and pour it in on top of the cold that is in there. Don't melt your bag.

[nautical62]

I've used them on the Great Lakes which is probably similar to your conditions. It certainly too longer to heat up, than in Florida, but on a sunny day and out of the wind, the water became quite warm. Of course you can always heat the water up on the stove and pour it in should it not warm up enough in the sun.

[Pete7]

Mikey,

My parents have one in their motor home and love it, so it certainly works well in the UK during the summer.

Pete

[barnakiel]

They work on a sunny and warm day in Norway, then they may work OK in the UK.

b.

[squashmikeyp25]

Thanks all - sounds like a good plan then.

[Cormorant]

We have one of these pressurized pump-up solar showers:

Pump-up Solar Shower

They're a bit more versatile than the gravity-fed ones. We've used it in moderate temperatures (50-60F) and it does fine as long as you have clear skies. Just leave it out on deck for a few hours and the water is warm at least -- sometimes even hot. I can't say how it would do in colder temps. . . .

[sctpc]

I use this as I just heat up a bucket plug the end in the power and a 5 min shower

12volt Camping Shower (Turbo Shower) | eBay

[S/V Alchemy]

My wife looked at the Pump-up model and remarked that you could just paint a new pesticide sprayer black and you'd have the same deal.

It's pretty slick, however. We've used the black bag, but it's fiddly washing your hair and playing with the hose at the same time...in the cockpit.

[Bash]

We have a stand-alone shower on our boat, and it has a hatch directly overhead. Wonderblond leaves the solar shower bag on deck, runs the hose down through the hatch, and can then take a normal shower.

Only problem is that she generally has to wait until the afternoon for the water to be hot enough.

[MarkJ]

I thought they were a useless piece of cruiser junk.

But they do work very well - too well, in fact - in the tropics.

Mine is on deck on the shady side and the rose is through the bathroom window (Thats the Heads hatch for the old fogies). Its too hot to use in the middle of the day, but great at 4pm ready for Happy Hour.

I have some Blu Tack plugging up some of the holes in the rose to reduce the water flow.

I would like a better tap system on it because soapy hands make it difficult.

In the higher latitudes one would think it would still work viably if the shower was had at the right time.

In all, the solar showers do work in reducing water consumption and reducing power to heat water. At their price it would not be a vast investment if it didn't work in some country frozen solid.... like the UK

Mark