Water System

Although I'm covering the water system and Bathroom as the final section on my build site, because it took the longest to complete, the main components of the system were put in place from the very beginning. It's crucial to know where your freshwater tank, water heater, greywater tank, and pipes to your shower and/or sink are going, prior to putting in the wall panels and furniture and other parts of your build.

Early in my planning stages, I read an article on Bearfoot Theory's website (she posts a lot of good travel content) about her opinion that a shower isn't necessary to have in your van. I remember thinking she was crazy. Why do all this work and not be able to take a shower on demand? That seems like one of the main things you would want to have with you on your home-on-wheels. I also looked through rental listings on Outdoorsy (the AirBNB of camper vans) and noticed that there was nothing affordable with an indoor shower. (Outdoor showers, though, are pretty common.)

Coming back to this topic with a bit more experience, I completely understand now, because my shower was the biggest pain in the ass of the whole build. Adding an extensive water system also adds a not-so-insignificant level of potential liability for damage, particularly if you are spending a lot of time in areas with below-freezing temps that might be liable to freeze your pipes.

So basically, the water system was expensive - not so much in terms of money, but time and hassle too. It was a pain. But it's done! I took my first real shower in the indoor shower yesterday and successfully washed my hair. I also tested out the rear shower, and I've used the sink pretty extensively. The showers have yet to be battle-tested, but so far so good. So let's talk about it.

My hair needs to be washed at least every other day, worst case scenario, and preferably every day. I realize that many men, and even some women in the #vanlife lifestyle, disagree with me here. I stopped at an awesome place in the Utah desert called Glamping Canyonlands and mentioned that I was badly in need of a shower after a couple days and the co-owner laughed and said, "That's it? I usually go at least a week."

Granted, they do have the cumbersome chore of transporting 210 gallons of water to fill their underground cistern, so I'd imagine that task makes one more mindful of your water usage.

But by far the most incredible shower I had on my vanlife dry run was a scalding hot propane-heated off grid shower on a frigid, stormy night at the Rent-A-Tent in Monument Valley. These propane shower setups are becoming more popular on the Navajo Tribal Lands because they don't have regular water service - I stayed at another AirBNB campsite that had just built one. (We really take our water service for granted.)

I'm getting a little off topic. Basically, understand that I am a person who really appreciates a good shower. So, I admit, I went overboard with my water system design. I think I was just curious if I could engineer something functional, so I went all out. Here's my original design; I've made a few tweaks, and put the recirculating portion of the shower on hold for now, but my finished product is not too far off from what I'd sketched out last year:

When I presented my design asking for feedback from the Promaster Forum they told me I was crazy and should keep it simple and stick with a bucket and sponge like the rest of them. It was a little discouraging and I felt like I was losing valuable time by tinkering with plumbing when I could be out on the road. So I ended up taking the van out on several trips as a "dry run," literally, before returning home to finish up the water system over the winter. I think that was a good idea anyway, to work out the kinks.

I learned a few things about showers on my dry run. If you stay at RV parks, which I do often - I don't mind paying for the peace of mind of knowing no one is going to bang on your door in the middle of the night - there's usually a shower of varying degrees of pleasantness. I found most of them to be quite clean, and generally quite empty, because most RVlifers shower in their RVs. A lot of RV parks allow passing tourists to shower for $5-10 fee even if they aren't staying the night. In the Southwest, of course, water is scarce, but there are also a lot of vanlifers so you can find recreational facilities like the Flagstaff Aquaplex or the Moab Recreational & Aquatic Center with paid showers. Stumbling across these facilities also adds a little unpredictable fun to your travels; it brightens my mood a bit coming across a pool or a basketball court that I wasn't expecting. Skin Wash or No-Rinse Body Wash will work in a pinch. You can also get a cheap Planet Fitness membership like every other vanlifer and homeless person, or their more expensive cousin Anytime Fitness. The only place I've traveled so far where I had trouble finding a shower was Key West.

In short, you can almost always find a shower on the road, it's just a question of how far out of your way you'll have to go.

In any case, about a year after I originally mapped out my design, it is functional. My Isotemp water heater can be used one of two ways - it heats up the water when plugged into shore power at an RV park, or it heats up the water using the engine coolant of your vehicle while you are driving.

Isotemp are primarily used on boats and it was extremely difficult to find anyone who could be considered a professional to install it. (In general there are a lot of marine parts used in camper vans, since they are designed to withstand weather and rough conditions.) Since the installation required tapping into the vehicle engine it wasn't something I was comfortable doing myself.

In response to a post on Instagram I got a DM from someone who said he was a diesel mechanic. He had like 2 posts so I was a little skeptical and wondered if someone was setting me up. But a phone call made me comfortable enough to drive an hour and a half to his shop and he hooked up the coolant component. He seemed to be a very knowledgeable mechanic and gave me some good tips. And only charged me $200.

From there it was a matter of convincing my plumbers to help me. I had tried myself to hook up the components on the cold water side of the manifold and my first test run was a dismal failure with water splattering everywhere. They later informed me the error of my ways. While I had selected the right fittings, I had failed to include gaskets, hence the leaks. They also used some washing machine hoses instead of the PEX pipes I had, which are stiff and difficult to work with.

The plumbers ended up charging me $1,200 to finish my manifold setups, sink drain, and shower drain into the greywater tank, but it was money well spent for three guys working two 12-hour days. (I also spent about $100 DoorDashing steak burritos each day in the interest of keeping the crew motivated.)

With the Water System finally functional, I could get the Bathroom done and hit the road!