A Perfectly Portable Outdoor Shower

Hike, bike and random camp or boondock in a tiny trailer – or van or tent – with no dedicated bathroom space? You’re gonna love our solution for a perfectly portable outdoor shower! Best of all, you can easily pull together the main components in this DIY portable shower unit without spending a fortune. 

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Finding the Perfectly Portable Outdoor Shower

Owning a tiny trailer with no spare space for a separate bathroom makes it a challenge for cleaning up after a day’s bike ride on a dusty trail or hike up a mountain or into a canyon bottom. Finding a perfectly portable outdoor shower unit has been a work-in-progress. We’ve gone through a lot of variations before settling on the perfect outdoor shower unit. Follow our progression – and then let us know what you think!

Basic Black Shower Bag

This is where we started – with a black bag hung in a tree. We filled it with water in the morning and set out in the sun to warm. The basic black shower bag saw us through many a trip down to southern Utah in the springtime – whether paddling the San Juan River or hiking and camping in Cedar Mesa. 

After returning from the day’s adventure, we carried the bag off into the woods or hung it from roof racks on the truck, hoping no one was around to see us as we stripped down for a quick shower. Water pressure sucked, but at least we were able to sluice a bit of lukewarm water over ourselves. It was better than nothing… but we could do better. 

Pressuring Up

The next step was to find something with a little more pressure. Our girl gifted us with a Helio™ portable pressurized shower. Pumped up with an easy-to-use foot pedal, this ingenious device sits on the ground. No more searching for a strong enough branch to hang it from. A long hose reaches the top of even the 6-footer among us. We love the way it compacts down for travel – especially on multi-day paddling trips.

The only issue we have with it for daily use while RVing is that the opening for adding water is small (note: they have changed this on newer models). It’s not an issue to fill with cold water and let sit in the sun to warm. But, if we want a hot shower, we need to boil up some water on the stove. Dumping hot water into the narrow opening is a bit of a challenge if you’re in a hurry. And we still need to find a private place to set up and somewhere to put our soap and shampoo.

Privacy, Please!

A shower tent was the next purchase. We bought ours at BassPro several years ago for well under $100 and are really happy with the quality and durability.

Shop Tents at Bass Pro Shops

Best of all, it gave us a more private outdoor shower space – perfect for RVing. The tents fold flat into a small circle, but pop ups instantly when you open the bag. It has handy pockets for biodegradable bodywash and shampoo.

We tried several different floor mats – from plastic tarps to wooden slats to keep us off the dirt and then my gear guru – his name is Brad, if you haven’t met him yet! – came up with the idea of using a plastic storage bin.

We stand in the bin like in a bathtub. The bin captures the water for disposal and keeps the dirt beneath our feet from becoming a mud bog. We put the lid on ground in front of bin to step on after turning off shower to towel off and dress in complete privacy. Brilliant! The bin was upgraded to a harder plastic with a lid that has ridges on top. The ridges allow us to stand above the water that collects on the “shower mat” itself.

DIY Outdoor Shower

Gear guru took another look at the portable shower itself and decided he could come up with better idea for RV camping where we have more space to carry stuff. He bought a sprayer unit for less than $20 from a hardware store. It has a wide mouth for ease of pouring in hot water. The pump, hose and nozzle are already in place. 

He extended the hose to make it work as a shower and took off the long neck of the spraying wand. Scuffing up the plastic surface of the container with sandpaper, he then painted it flat black. This helps with solar heating when we set it out the sun in warm climates. 

Putting it All Together!

Our DIY outdoor shower works like a charm and stores well inside the bin with our towels and shampoo/body soap. The collapsed shower tent lies flat on top of the bin in the back of our truck. When we are ready for a shower, we open the tent and we’ve learned to tie it down – it is a bit of a sail – to the handle near the trailer door steps. The handle also serves as a towel holder. Clean clothes can be placed on the step within easy reach of the tent. 

The next step is to take the sprayer out of the bin and fill it with warm water from the stove. Pumping with the handle rapidly pressurizes the container. The bin is placed inside the shower tent with the lid in front for a “mat” and there is still plenty of room to put the sprayer and hang the nozzle in one of the pockets. Our perfectly portable outdoor shower is now open for business! 

After we are done, the shower water is emptied out of the bin away from the trailer entrance – usually into the firepit in established campsites. The shower is drained of any remaining water and the bin is placed upside down to dry. Final step is to take the tent down – although we’ll leave it set up if camping for an extended period of time in one place – and store everything away. We’ll be packing this perfect little camping shower system with us on our next big trip across Canada, for sure!

Read more about our creative use of space in Things We Love in Our Tiny Trailer Kitchen!

What system do you use for a portable camping shower? Let us know in the comments below!