I tried something on my week long trip - bringing a shower bag. I've used them before (borrowed from others), but this time I bought and used my own. They are great IMHO. The experiment is whether I could heat up the water while paddling. I figured I could lash the shower bag on the rear deck and let the sun heat it while paddling so I'd have a hot shower as soon as reaching camp. I thought about this and considered many problems. I wasn't worried about the weight, since it was a relatively small addition to the junk I already carry. I wasn't worried about the change in stability, since I'd only use it on a loaded kayak and that has lots of reserve stability compared to empty. I was worried about it sloshing around. I put the shower bag into a mesh bag I made for my scuba gear - it has the hooks and stuff to connect to my rear deck's lifelines and bungies. With the addition of a single line around the mid-section, it was plenty steady. The failure was in the one thing I didn't consider - the change in trim. Putting 15-20 liters (ie - 15-20 kilograms) on the back deck changed the trim so much that I couldn't keep up with the others. It felt like I was paddling uphill! I drained the bag and continued on. I guess I'll always have to wait for a shower while the bag of water warms up on the campsite. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
The failure was in the one thing I didn't consider - the change in trim. Putting 15-20 liters (ie - 15-20 kilograms) on the back deck changed the trim so much that I couldn't keep up with the others. It felt like I was paddling uphill! I drained the bag and continued on. I guess I'll always have to wait for a shower while the bag of water warms up on the campsite. Not necessarily! I have experimented with solar showers both for sea kayaking and rafting and for sea kayaking I take 2 solo shower bags. They are .6 gals per bag (2.27 liters) and you can hold them in your hand and squeeze them, which I like for simple set-up; plus you can put one on the front deck and one on the back deck to even out your weight. You have to take a quick shower, but with 2 there is enough water and they heat fast. If you need a third one you can always heat water on the stove and have it ready for standby. Sterns make them. -- MZ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[Michael Daly -] >The failure was in the one thing I didn't consider - the change in >trim. Putting 15-20 liters (ie - 15-20 kilograms) on the back deck >changed the trim so much that I couldn't keep up with the others. You had 20 litres just for a shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We use 2-3 litres at the most and heat it on the aft deck while paddling - and that's a shower for both of us. Alex . . *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
From: "Alex Ferguson" <a.ferguson_at_chem.canterbury.ac.nz> > [Michael Daly -] > >The failure was in the one thing I didn't consider - the change in > >trim. Putting 15-20 liters (ie - 15-20 kilograms) on the back deck > >changed the trim so much that I couldn't keep up with the others. > > You had 20 litres just for a shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > We use 2-3 litres at the most and heat it on the aft deck while paddling - > and that's a shower for both of us. That's a North American style shower - Canadians waste more water than anyone in the world (and have more fresh water than anyone); the Americans are close behind. Twenty liters is a two-person bag; the singles are 10 liter; I haven't seen anything smaller locally. I bought on price for the short term - the big one was the cheapest and looked like the simplest of the two types I've seen. I didn't have to fill it, but part of my experiment was to evaluate heating time and effectiveness when full. Given the fire ban locally, I didn't feel bad about spreading water in the bush. There's plenty of water in the lakes; moving isome into the woods isn't going to hurt. The only issue for this sort of backcountry shower is how much soap I use - very little. It is a shame - I remember Buckminster Fuller invented a shower that only required one liter (but not portable) and the alternative housing research group at McGill U (my alma mater) developed similar units for third world countries that were smaller. I've already started to investigate improvements (the shower head being significant; spray rather than drizzle being more effective). Any hints on reducing the water used? I do a rinse, lather, rinse approach, so the water isn't running continuously, but I still used about 6-8 liters. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:30 PDT