Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Navy Shower for Boat or Camper

When on the road with my camper, we usually stay overnight in Walmart parking lots. We've done this twice to Alaska (from SC) and back as well as too many cross country runs to keep track of. When we shower in the camper in the Walmart lot, we like to do Navy Showers to conserve water and add less grey water to the grey water tank. A Navy Shower means turning off the water when lathering or washing, having the water running only while wetting or rinsing.

The hand held shower head has a switch to turn the water on or off. This is kind of inconvenient because I'd rather just leave the shower head attached to the wall, especially after soaping up and fumbling for the button to turn on the rinse. My answer is a foot switch for the water instead of reaching for the button on the shower head.

I got mine on eBay from China:

This one is actually more like $25 when you add the foot valve.
You can find them at Amazon, but they're considerable more expensive. I didn't mind the month wait to get one.

I mounted it on a piece of wood that I covered with epoxy. I suppose you could use the fasteners they give you, but I didn't want to put holes in my tub.

Here's the installed valve.

Now I can easily turn the water on/off with my foot, leaving the shower head conveniently on the wall.

This works as well on the boat as it does in the camper. It also serves to conserve the 6 gallons of hot water for the next person to shower.