bananadanna
Cambridge, MA
Senior Member
Joined: 11/30/2005
View Profile
 Online
|
We use a $4 Home Depot mortar tub to capture the water from our shower-curtained outside shower. We're usually camped either in a dispersed area or near enough to an outhouse to empty there.
The mortar tub is black and I'd think the 1.5 gallons we typically use would evaporate quickly in a desert location.
Dan
02 Freightliner Sprinter 2500 long tall home brew conversion
|
Tripwire
Montana
New Member
Joined: 06/17/2008
View Profile
 Offline
|
I guess I've missed the boat on this as well as many issues about using the great outdoors...
I've camped and hunted all over Montana, as well as Alaska, and many other states..
I see no reason to not use an outdoor shower...yes I would say use an earth friendly soap but other then that we are talking water..plain old H2O... where is the harm? the nearby grass or bushs will thank you...
And why does every body pretend they run back to their RV to take a leak?? we all know we use the nearest buch...and it's not gonna hurt the earth... yes if 40 K ppl all leak on the ground for a week in a small area it's a problem...but a few ppl as in a hunting camp?
I'm not talking about taking a dump on the trail but if ya gotta go and there's no place except behind a bush, dig a hole and do your biz, cover it up and go on..the earth will not end...mother nature will use your leavings...
My oppinion will not make points with the greenies but there is a world of difference between their ideas and real life..and if you think they don't just whip it out and water the weeds then your smoking the same brand of craolas they are...
I would never use the outside shower...unless I was miles from another human...why scare the rest of the world??? but as for the water...it ain't gonna hurt a thing...
That's my oppinion...worth what ya paid...
Trip
|
countryside2007
utah
Senior Member
Joined: 07/17/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Tripwire,
we do have an enclosure for our outside shower so as not to scare the neighbors or the person driving by.
Him and Me
06 Dodge drw
06 Crossroads Zinger (searching for our dream fw)
|
Tripwire
Montana
New Member
Joined: 06/17/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
countryside2007 wrote:Tripwire,
we do have an enclosure for our outside shower so as not to scare the neighbors or the person driving by.
WOW !! modern !! lol.. yea I'm planning to make my own using lodgeploe tops ( thin) to make a tripod to hang a solor shower from..let MA nature heat the h2o for me..as I'm sure many of you do..wrap some white canvas around it chest high like a small teepee and there ya go..but I'm not planning to be close nuff to others to worry bout it...
Trip
|
samuraitowd
Washoe Valley, NV, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 03/05/2004
View Profile
|
ibDave,
I didn't mean to insult Burning Man, I just used the "hippie" reference to give a quick, one word description of an event that uses self-reliance, leave-no-trace ethics and counter-culture ingenuity to solve problems such as the poster was asking about.
But separately, what's wrong with "hippie" anyway? I bet many BM participants could be labeled "ex-hippies" or "old-hippies" and would be proud of it.
Everybody, wouldn't the best system use a solar panel to run a filter to recycle the gray water to shower with again and therefore save water in the fresh tank rather than just waste it in evaporation?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick n Andy n SandyPaws
Rexhall American Clipper 29': 2005
Suzuki Samurai; 1994
|
|
|
T_Bone
Arizona
Senior Member
Joined: 09/20/2001
View Profile
|
LTVA's are developed camp grounds. They outlawed dumping gray water on the ground in Federal developed camp grounds in the mid 60's.
A outside shower is only missing the kitchen sink water.
How in the world could someone think outside shower water is not gray water is beyond me.
Back before RV refrigerators, we had ice chest/boxs that held food and kept cool by using block ice. Those ice chests/boxs had a drain tube that drained ice water on the ground. When the Federal law was written in the 60's that forbid gray water dumping, they specifically named ice chest/boxs in the wording of the law as that was common to do during that time period.
So if they won't allow ice water to be dumped in the camp ground, why would they allow shower water??? They won't!
T_Bone
02 F350, 4x6, Crew, DRW, PSD, 6spd, 3:73, LWB
32ft RKSS Serria
Please do not trust everything you read on the internet. Use only valid engineering information from well established Companys.
Buy UNION Work UNION
It pays off in the long run 
|
Matthew_B
The boonies near Dallas, Oregon
Senior Member
Joined: 08/18/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
ibdave wrote:Hi Ya, 1st off it's not a "Hippie" event. It's much more than that. The Press labeled it as such many years ago when they didn't know who to describe Burning Man, but no big deal.
There's not a word to use to describe it, is there 
I want to go someday, and I'm no hippie!
ibdave wrote:I use a 10 mil sheet of visqune, 12v bilge pump, 4' round plywood disk, hardware cloth.
Is the visqueen the "tank" to hold the gray water to be evaporated? Burning Man is a no dig event, right? So what do you use for holding up the sides of the "tank"? You must need about 3" for the pump to pump, plus some storage so you're not having to put little adds of gray water all day long.
ibdave wrote:I then Place the disk on top of the hardware cloth making a cage. The disk has a hole in the center for the pump to allow the grey water to cascade over the disk and down the hardware cloth allowing it to evaporate. I get rid of 25-30 gallons a day running about 6-7 hours in the heat of the day.
How much height on the cage for the 25-30 gallons a day?
ibdave wrote:Solar panel to re charge the battery.
Any idea about how much juice it takes to do that?
P.S. This needs to get on the burning man RV FAQ!
I was figuring on having to haul 100 to 200 gallons of gray water away since 3 buddies are talking about going together. This sounds MUCH better. Of course I need to fresh water to begin with, but not having to haul away the gray would be nice. With my luck though, I'd end up going during one of the washout Burning Man events...
|
sparks1032
Chicago
New Member
Joined: 03/06/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
Wow how interesting a discussion from Hippies to gray water??? I am not sure where I fall in this discussion as I have had to stop on the trail and use the bush and have used the outside shower to save filling my gray tank (using evo-friendly soap and shampoo) and realize that if I owned property and had 60 campers why I would not like this practice (for those people from Chicago imagine Wrigleyville after a cubs game) and when I am out walking my dog on my own property then it is not a bid deal.
so my final question is the outside shower banned due to the amount of people that would make a mess or is it due to some type of polution that i am not familar with?
|
ibdave
Modesto Ca.
New Member
Joined: 06/15/2004
View Profile
|
Matthew_B wrote:ibdave wrote:Hi Ya, 1st off it's not a "Hippie" event. It's much more than that. The Press labeled it as such many years ago when they didn't know who to describe Burning Man, but no big deal.
There's not a word to use to describe it, is there
I want to go someday, and I'm no hippie!
ibdave wrote:I use a 10 mil sheet of visqune, 12v bilge pump, 4' round plywood disk, hardware cloth.
Is the visqueen the "tank" to hold the gray water to be evaporated? Burning Man is a no dig event, right? So what do you use for holding up the sides of the "tank"? You must need about 3" for the pump to pump, plus some storage so you're not having to put little adds of gray water all day long.
Yes it's a no dig event to some degree. You can dig small holes and refill later. I dig a sump hole for the plastic and the pump to sit in. I use old lodge poles for the siding and wrap the pole with the plastic to create walls to retain the grey water.
ibdave wrote:I then Place the disk on top of the hardware cloth making a cage. The disk has a hole in the center for the pump to allow the grey water to cascade over the disk and down the hardware cloth allowing it to evaporate. I get rid of 25-30 gallons a day running about 6-7 hours in the heat of the day.
How much height on the cage for the 25-30 gallons a day?
It's 48" hardware cloth. So it's 48" high.
ibdave wrote:Solar panel to re charge the battery.
Any idea about how much juice it takes to do that?
Camp mate brings the solar. I got nothing for you on that...
I do bring a charger to use as a back-up.
P.S. This needs to get on the burning man RV FAQ!
I was figuring on having to haul 100 to 200 gallons of gray water away since 3 buddies are talking about going together. This sounds MUCH better. Of course I need to fresh water to begin with, but not having to haul away the gray would be nice. With my luck though, I'd end up going during one of the washout Burning Man events...
BLM doesn't ban outdoor shower, They ban the grey/untreated water from hitting the Playa during the event due to the size and the Numbers involved. If your camping out alone it's really not an issue now is it.?
Some people with filter the water and then bleach and filter one more time. Other haul it all out in the empty fresh water barrels ect..
Keep in mind 1-2 gals a day per person. Thats drinking and shower ect..
Baby wipes are your best friend while on the Playa...
|
silversand
Montreal
Senior Member
Joined: 09/12/2004
View Profile
|
...what would worry me if I was a BLM environmental policy writer would be the tens of thousands of highly toxic time-accumulated liters of motor oil, transmission fluid and coolant that has leaked out of camping vehicles' engines and differentials parked in that region since it's inception!
I would mandate an engine-fluid capturing drop-sheet under every engine and differential of every vehicle on BLM land in areas of high density LTVAs...now, I just so happen to have patented a light-weight drop sheet that catches and retains motor and gear fluids, and will be selling said at the LTVAs...immediately after I manage to lobby this change in rules
Shower water as a prohibited ejecta in BLM areas as an irreversible environmental substance? An outdated urban myth from the '60s
Silver-
Silver
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 4x4 6.0L Ext/LB Tow Package 4L80E Michelin AT2s| Outfitter Caribou
|
|
|
