camp-showers-msg - 10/3/19

Camp shower ideas for Pennsic and other outdoor SCA event sites.

NOTE: See also the files: privvies-msg, camping-ideas-msg, ticks-art, 
camp-kitchens-msg, firepits-msg, lightning-msg, P-Food-Safety-art.

************************************************************************
NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************

From: jen_guy at mindspring.com
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Portable Water Heaters Question
Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 22:49:49 GMT

Our encampment has a lovely shower system, several in fact. The most
prominent of them is a very deep (waste-water) hole covered by a
(sanded) wooden pallet. Over the pallet are four stretched cotton
canvas walls, two rectangular and two A-shaped. One of the A-sides has
bungees across the top and bottom threaded through a pocket in the
canvas so the wall slides open or stretches taut while someone's
inside, with hooks about every foot down the side edge for more
security. This setup would be appropriate for most any encampment,
even with solar water heater bags.

Inside there's a small unbreakable mirror and a plastic table at the
bottom for shampoo, razors, etc. Outside, there's a nice rope-woven
doormat for putting your shoes back on before walking through the
Pennsic dirt.

On top of it all, the guys somehow rigged two very large metal water
tanks, one cold and one of which has a propane heater connected.
There's a hose connecting from each tank to a Y-splitter together into
a single sprinkle faucet with its own turnoff, too. You can adjust
your temperature at the Y-splitter, get wet, use the faucet turnoff
when you wash up, and have the proper temperature immediately for
rinsing. There's a list for the shower, and after a certain amount of
showers, the last person to use it has to fill up the tanks for the
next people.

I've also seen telephone booth size contraptions out of pvc tubing and
shower curtains. Much less comfy, I would think.

From: todric at mail.raex.com (Thomas R. King)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Portable Water Heaters Question
Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 20:12:28 GMT

"xavier" <xavier at ww-interlink.net> wrote:
>I and a few of my friends are buying a Paloma PH-6 hot tankless hot water
>heater for pennsic.  We were unable to locate the model we saw at herald's
>point (a pacific hot water heater I believe).  I would like to know what
>people's experience has been with water heaters at pennsic.
>
>My main concern is the pressure differential apparently you lose 4.3 psi by
>hooking this thing up.  That's alot less than other models but it is also
>more than the higher end units.
>
>Any advice would be greatly appreciated
>-Xavier De Lyon

        Regardless of what unit you buy or where, allow a piece of
advice: Make sure that your heater is equipped with an inlet
check-valve to prevent it from back-pressuring the Cooper's system.

        Their well-pumps, as well as the PVC-pipe distribution system,
are subject to damage if they receive excess back-pressure; this could
occur if a gas-powered heater were left set too high for too long.

        ISttS,

        Todric, OL, OP
        Pennsic Attendee since PW6

From: satyrsong at aol.com (SATYRSONG)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Portable Water Heaters Question
Date: 31 May 1998 15:44:28 GMT

For ANYONE wanting hot showers at Pensic.
Solar hot water bags are low tech, Take up little or no space for packing
and,(with a halfway sunny day) get REAL HOT.
Basicly, if the sun was out long enough to make you sweat, It was out long
enough to get your shower water hot. If it was a long sunny day, you may have
to add cool water to the bag to prevent scalding.
Make sure to place the bag where it will be in the sun most of the day. Check
on it once or twice a day to make sure the tent shadows haven't covered it.
Take your showers just before sunset, when the water is hot and the ambiant air
in your shower stall is tolerable.
Run enough water to wet your surfaces then close it off. Soap up, then rinse
off. 
My lord and I can BOTH take wonderful CLEAN HOT showers from a 5gal bag.
(admittedly, I do not have long hair)
WARNING: when you build your own shower stall, build STURDY. 5gal bags of water
are not light! A simple pulley system will get the bag up high enough to wash
your hair without causing a hernia.
Or... get ready to stand in line for tepid showers, or shower at 3am.
Hope this helps.

From: Angel Sparrow <valarltd at hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Portable Water Heaters Question
Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 19:05:36 -0500

Aethelynde here,

For smaller volumes of water, a simple milk jug painted black
works beautifully, especially for
hand and dishwashing.

I use the general showers, don't worry about cold
and use paper plates.  But I like my pots cleaned.

Aethelynde

Subject: [MedievalEncampments] Re:  Showers
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 17:05:26 -0500 (EST)
From: Todric <todric at raex.com>
To: MedievalEncampments at onelist.com

Re: Avery wrote:
>We used on of these one year and I wouldn't do it again.  It had all the
>hassle of maintaining a continuous fire and absolutely none of the charm or
>atmosphere.  A couple of the people in our camp had no idea how to use an
>axe or make a fire and insisted on shoving the biggest log they could find
>into the thing every morning.

        That's too bad; they run just fine on charcoal briquettes, which are
much easier to handle.

>Then one of the four of us who were foolish
>enough to admit to understanding how the !^#*#! thing worked got to
>clean it out and restart the fire.

        They're pretty simple; I know I've taught dozens of people how to
use ours. Some folk just want a shower, others want to know how it works and
how to use it. The latter folk usually get their shower first. ;-)

>Last year we had a setup with a small on-demand propane fired heater.  The
>reservoir was a 55 gallon drum set up with a float valve so that it would
>automatically fill, but only about 2/3rds of the way.  We also had a couple
>12 volt pumps, one which circulated water through the heater, two which fed
>the shower stalls.  In the morning and evening we'd fire up the heater and
>let it cycle until the water in the drum was reasonably warm.  It would cool
>down as more cold water was added to it, but never got downright cold. (This
>served about 35 people, so figure 20 showers per heating of the reservoir.)
>This setup probably ran about $300 all things considered, but divided among
>a large number of people that's not so bad - and it's not like you are
>going to use it up or anything.

        I'm curious as to how much propane you went thru, and what you
Did to power your 12-Volt pumps...

        The advantage of the continuous coil is that there's no reservoir to
re-heat; once the exchange tank is hot, cold water goes in and hot water
comes out. Our heater serves a camp of 150+ people, and does side-work
providing hot water for our dish-washing station. I suspect that the reason
it works so well is the diameter and length of tubing in the coil; we
use about 100 ft of 3/4in I.D. soft copper.

        If you don't have one, you may wish to install an "inlet
check-valve"; this prevents hot-water pressure from back-feeding the site
well-pumps (This is a BIG concern with the Cooper's, who approved our
design, BTW).

        Master Todric OL, OP, GDH
                (Maker of Things)

RE: [MedievalEncampments] Shower
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 12:25:32 -0500
From: Raitt Jeb <Raitt_Jeb at prc.com>
To: MedievalEncampments at onelist.com

>From: Raitt Jeb <Raitt_Jeb at prc.com>
>I'm curious as to . . . what you did to power your 12-Volt pumps...

The 12 volt source was a car battery.  Had to have it recharged once
During the war.  

What about a solar-panel recharger?

[MedievalEncampments] Shower
Date:Tue, 8 Feb 2000 11:22:55 -0600
From: "KOCOT, THEODORE J [PHR/1005]" <THEODORE.J.KOCOT at stl.Monsanto.com>
To: "'MedievalEncampments at onelist.com'" <MedievalEncampments at onelist.com>

>From: "KOCOT, THEODORE J [PHR/1005]" <THEODORE.J.KOCOT at stl.Monsanto.com>
>        That's too bad; they run just fine on charcoal briquettes, which are
>much easier to handle.

That's a thought.  Though I would think then you are looking at an
Expense equal to that of the propane.

>       They're pretty simple; I know I've taught dozens of people how to
>use ours. Some folk just want a shower, others want to know how it works and
>how to use it. The latter folk usually get their shower first. ;-)

I think it had a lot to do with people going out of their way to stay
ignorant of woodcraft so that they could avoid doing any work.  In a truly
enlightened society people like this would get eaten by wolves.  ;)  

>I'm curious as to how much propane you went thru, and what you did
>to power your 12-Volt pumps...

I think it was something like three or four of the 25 lb. tanks, so not too
much.  We didn't make the water real hot either.  Just "better than
tolerable".  The 12 volt source was a car battery.  Had to have it recharged
once during the war.  A large deep cycle marine battery would have probably
done us for all of Pennsic, but while lots of us leave a car at home while
we're gone, few of us leave a yacht.  ;)

I think we check valve our entire encampment, and have one other on
the hose we use to fill our dish washing tubs at.

Avery

From: bronwynmgn at aol.comnospam (Bronwynmgn)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 01 Nov 2001 22:36:42 GMT
Subject: Re: Camp Shower Water Heater

Magesteff <magesteff at hotmail.com> writes:
>Especially when you can buy three or four of the plastic bag and tubing
>showers that you lay in the sun, for much, much less. You may not have
>hot water on demand, 

Actually, you can have hot water almost on demand with the shower bags. Simply
drain out about 2 qts of water from the bag into a saucepan, heat it to
steaming/near boiling, pour (carefully - a funnel helps immensely) back into
the bag, mix, and voila! hot shower.  My husband does this nearly every morning
at Pennsic, as he simply does not wake up until he has a hot shower.

Brangwayna Morgan

From: bronwynmgn at aol.comnospam (Bronwynmgn)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 14 Nov 2001 01:31:47 GMT
Subject: Re: Camp Shower Water Heater

desert_rhino at hotmail.com (JV) writes:
>Oops.  There I go, improvising again.  How much heat CAN those shower
>bags take?  Is pouring boiling water into them damaging the plastic
>near the fill hole?

Well, I can tell you that the thermometer strip on mine hit 120 degrees and
stayed there a couple of times this past Pennsic.  Which means the bag was
probably hotter, really.  We were adding cool water most days.
And we don't actually boil the water; just heat it to a nice steaming level,
maybe a few little bubbles coming up.  My husband has done it multiple times
with the same shower bag over the course of several years withut ever having
the plastic near the fill hole be a problem.  In fact, the most common problem
we get is the hose with the nozzle coming off or leaking.  

Brangwayna Morgan

To: MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com
From: Aine ingen MaelPatraic <aine_ingen_maelpatraic at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 06:39:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [MedEnc] Camp Shower

>      Can anyone comment positively on the use of
> camp showers? 

While not a period example, my parents have recently
purchased a couple of portable camp showers for use at
our cabin in Northern Minnesota.  They purchased two
showers from a merchant on E-bay and tried them out
for the first time a couple weekends ago.  They loved
them.

The showers are very portable and pack down into a
little green plastic case about the size of a car
battery.  They use disposable propane tanks to heat
the water and a pump system so you don't have to fill
a bag or barrel and raise it.  You simply put one end
of the hose into a bucket of water and turn on the
shower.  The water is heated as it's pumped to where
ever the other end of the hose is.  The pump runs on
batteries (I think 4 DDs) and is s'posed to be good
for something like 25 showers (I think).

I can ask them the name of the merchant they got them
from.  They said they bid on used ones, but then when
they won, the company contacted them and told them
they could get new ones for only a little bit more.  I
think they paid something like $40 each for them new,
but I could be remembering that wrong.

This *might* be the place (it looks right, at least):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1827619379

There's also one made by Coleman up there:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1826957438

Having seen some of the other camp showers used by
groups, this seems to be a good solution for a small
number of persons or a small number of days (i.e.
weekends, three days).  It's very compact and seems
like it would be easy to set up just about anywhere. 
I don't know that I'd try it for a large group of
people or for a long period of time.. you'd have to
bring a lot of extra batteries and propane tanks which
may not be economically feasible.
=====
Aine ingen MaelPatraic

To: MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com
From: Diane Sawyer <tasha_medvedeva at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 06:56:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [MedEnc] Camp Shower

--- Aine ingen MaelPatraic
<aine_ingen_maelpatraic at yahoo.com> wrote:
{smip}
> 
> The showers are very portable and pack down into a
> little green plastic case about the size of a car
> battery.  They use disposable propane tanks to heat
> the water and a pump system so you don't have to fill
> a bag or barrel and raise it.  You simply put one end
> of the hose into a bucket of water and turn on the
> shower.  The water is heated as it's pumped to where
> ever the other end of the hose is.  The pump runs on
> batteries (I think 4 DDs) and is s'posed to be good
> for something like 25 showers (I think).
> 
{snip}
> =====
> Aine ingen MaelPatraic

My household has a shower system like this for
non-Pennsic events.  When not actively using the
water, we put the shower hose back in the bucket that
the water is being pumped from.  This has the effect
of putting warm water into the bucket to be pumped
through the heater again, and thus warmed further. 
The water can get hot to the point where it can scald
-- next time I use it, I'll be bringing another,
smaller bucket of cold water to bring the temp back
down to a manageable level.  Other than being aware of
that, the system worked great, and it was lovely to
have a hot shower after a day of equestrian stuff. 
And it was a cool, misty weekend -- the hot shower was
even more welcome.

Tasha

To: MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com
From: "ld_newmarch" <Gryffri at newmarch.org>
Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 14:38:25 -0000
Subject: Re: [MedEnc] Camp Shower

Having enjoyed camp showers at both Gulf Wars and Pennsic as well as 
at several Boy Scout events I can tell you about two types of setups 
that blend well.

The first is made with a PVC frame.  It creates a little maze excuse 
the ascii art here:
____________
|          |
|          |
|          |
|          ]
|^^^^------|
|          ^
-----------^

This is how the walls appear. The carrots represent the PVC frame at 
top that have no canvas.

The walls are constructed with black trigger (can't see through it) 
and are painted with heraldic devices of te members of the house.  
The fabric uses standard grommets and theose wire loop show curtain 
hangers that unclip to hanf from the schedule-40 electrcials PVC 3/4 
pipe in the grey color.

It does not matter that the fabic isn't waterprrof.  It dries very 
fast and you can throw it in the wahser after the evnt to get it 
clean.

Putting up the frame and walls is the last step.  

I dig a 12 inch deep two foot by two foot hole and use a wooden door 
mat (you can buy these at home depot made of cedar used to scrape 
your feet off of mud at home.) to place over the hole.  They are 
usually 30 inches by 36 inches.  I use a five gallon bucket for my 
clean water source, you can put a hose in the bucket if you wish, or 
you can use a straight hose to the shower heater if you have such a 
positive water source that seldom if ever fluctuates.

The problem at big wars is sometimes the water pressure will drop to 
a trickle and this will ruin a camp shower water heater in one minute.

I use a horse washer.  See this: http://www.hotcampshowers.com or 
http://www.globaltownewarehouse.com/HomeProducts/paloma/horsewasher.htm .

The portable type also can be purchased with a 12 volt sump pump to 
give you water source that is not elevated if you do not have running 
water.  I seldom have that option, so the five gallon water bucket is 
great as it holds the heater, shower hose, two propane bottles the 
shower walls and the sump pump with lid for the trailer.

I have seen some people at Pennsic construct actual plywood houses 
for showers that are 4x4 foot with a real door.  They weigh about 400 
pounds to transport.  Not an option for me, but very nice.

An added feature in any mini bath house... A chair and a table to put 
your clean clothes on or a coat tree.

Ld. Gryffri de Newmarch
http://newmarch.org/

From: "Justinos Tekton called Justin" <justin at 4th.com>
To: <sca-chirurgeon at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 8:39 PM
Subject: [SCA-Chirurgeon] Water Cows: An Interesting Add-On

> For the past two years at Pennsic, I've been filtering my camp's water with
> commercial whole-house filters of the same type that are used for the water
> cows. The first year, I had just a single filter but last year I got
> ambitious and built a real-live three-filter water cow with nicer fittings.
> Mine isn't painted yet, though. (Remember that plush-toy slug I wear on my
> baldric? I have to keep earning that household award by "loafing like a
> slug"! Painting the water cow is too much like work.)
>
> Anyway, last year the idea crossed my mind to help the mineral situation by
> trying to *soften* the water in addition to filtering it. Three filters is
> really more than are needed to remove most of the particulate, and anything
> that is truly in solution rather than in suspension isn't really filtered
> out anyway.
>
> So, having failed to find a water softener that was (1) small and (2) non-
> electric, I tried another approach. I took along some softener nuggets, and
> put a filter cartridge into the last housing (downstream) which had a very
> coarse filtration rating, so it wouldn't clog up very fast. Then I simply
> put some of the salt nuggets in the space between the outside of the
> cartridge and the inside of the housing.
>
> Surprisingly, it worked! I didn't tell my wife because I wanted to see if
> she would notice any change in the water, and she did. She commented on
> the fact that rinsing her hair was easier, though she credited the "better
> filters" for that. I then, of course, told her about the softener. Dishwater
> worked better, too, and showers were more pleasant.
>
> The only problem seems to be that you have to restock the salt every two
> or three days, but this takes only a couple of minutes. I found that if
> you fill up the cartridge space entirely, it's way too much and you can
> actually taste the salt in the water. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the volume
> between the cartridge and the housing seemed to work best for us. Your
> mileage may vary, of course. A one-gallon ziplock back of salt nuggets
> is easily enough for the entire two weeks of Pennsic, at the rate we were
> using it.
>
> I couldn't see much of a difference in the iron content, but it certainly
> helped to make the Cooper's water more pleasant for washing. I may try
> putting the softener as the furthest-upstream module this year, so that
> the water has more time to mix after passing over the salt. The other
> filters should then assure a lot of turbulent flow and will mix the
> salt more effectively.
>
> So, for what it's worth, here's another camping trick to put into your
> files. :-)
> --
> THL Justinos Tekton called Justin (Scott Courtney)
> Marche of Alderford (Canton, Ohio USA)

Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 09:11:04 -0700 (PT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Fwd: RE: [SCA-Laurels] Camping: Hot water on
	demand
To: SCA Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

--- Debra Reames <REAMESD1 at westat.com> wrote:
> From: Debra Reames <REAMESD1 at westat.com>
> To: "'Order of the Laurel - Restricted Access'"
> <sca-laurels at ansteorra.org>
> Subject: RE: [SCA-Laurels] Camping: Hot water on demand
> Date: Fi, 29 Aug 2003 11:05:23 -0400
>
> FYI:
> I just got an email from the Coleman camping company - they have a new
> product out: a portable hot water heater that runs on propane. They claim it
> delivers hot water within 5 seconds.
> They also make accessories: a carrying case, shower head, hose extension...
> Price: about $180
>
> Details at: www.coleman.com

Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 10:57:36 -0700
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] things they dont explain about Pennsic
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

   Some west coast notes:

> 6. Drainage
> this is a myth.  there is no drainage at Pennsic.
>
> showers at the campsites must have long drainage ditches dug, and smart
> people also dig drainage ditches around their tents.  shower drainage often
> fills up after the third shower.. it can take all day to be absorbed  
> into the ground.

Most sites in Caid do not allow digging nor water disposal on the ground
at all, but in gray-water collection bins.  This includes camp showers.
Camp shower collection tanks fill up quickly;  be a mensch and dispose
after EACH shower.  Do NOT ever dispose of gray water in a porta-potty,
those things fill up quickly enough as it is.

Do not assume that site water is unlimited or even potable, notably at
remote camping locations.  Bring 1 gallon of drinking water per person
per day, without fail, particularly during drought periods.  A sponge
bath is more water-efficient than a shower and can be done in your own
tent with no waiting on line.  Don't be embarrassed to bring Baby Wipes
either.

Fire regulations exist for a reason.  Remember the times when Potrero
Park was closed due to forest fires?  Don't cause one.
Don't bother even bringing a tiki torch, no public site in the southwest
allows unshielded flame outside of a campfire ring.  Invest in candle
lanterns instead.

Skunks are more afraid of you than you are of them.  Leave them alone
and they will leave you alone.  In case you don't though...
Skunk wash formula:  1 quart peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon
liquid soap [dishwashing detergent, castile soap or baby shampoo will
do].  Find and scrub the sprayed spots first.  Wash all over and rinse,
twice;  then you can probably be allowed inside a tent.

Off the top of my pointy li'l headbone, Selene C.

Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 13:56:22 -0600
From: James Prescott <prescotj at telusplanet.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Bathing,
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Okay, okay, a blast from the past (original written in 1996,
so the original car-heated hot tub at Clinton War would have
been circa 1986):

There is some ASCII art that I hope comes through okay.

<begin quote>

The scene is the Clinton War, 17th year coming up, Canadian August
long weekend, Kingdom of An Tir.

Bath idea number one. This lasted between two and four years, about
ten years ago, and was done by "Saint" Geoffrey of Cyrtenham and
friends.

Take
   1) an irrigation ditch, complete with water.
   2) a portable assemble-on-site wooden hot tub, rectangular,
      about six or seven feet square by about 2.5 feet high on the
      sides. Lined with heavy plastic sheeting.
   3) use a hand-pump, with filter, to pump water from the ditch
      into the hot tub. Add some bleach.
   4) drive to the site in an old American battleship-sized eight-
      cylinder automobile, whose cooling system has been repeatedly
      flushed and filled with ordinary tap water (no anti-freeeze).
   5) disconnect the engine from its radiator, and reconnect it to
      two pipes running to the hot tub. The intake from the tub to
      the engine is protected with a filter.
   6) run the car until the water is hot. Repeat as necessary.
   7) cover the whole mess with a surplus parachute, provide wooden
      pallets as duckboards, provide some place to hang up the towels
      and clothing.
   8) allow groups to reserve it for half-hour slots during the
      evenings. Each group determined its own gender mix and clothing/
      nudity standards. As an interkingdom anthropology note, the
      majority of the groups hereabouts were of mixed gender and were
      unclothed.
   9) I don't believe that Geoffrey charged money, though I imagine
      that he accepted donations. This may account for the generally
      approved bestowal of the title "Saint" by those who used the
      tub in its very first year.

Bath idea number two. This one first saw the light of day last year
at the Clinton War.

  +-----------------------+
  |       FIRE PIT        |  The firepit is a big eight-foot square
  |    ______     ______  |  three foot deep hole in the ground. The
  |    |    |     |    |  |  two heaters are some kind of surplus
  |    | H  |     | H  |  |  industrial iron tank supported above
  |    | E  |     | E  |  |  the floor of the fire pit on rocks. The
  |    | A  |     | A  |  |  firepit is kept stoked throughout the
  |    | T  |     | T  |  |  evening. The tanks were filled by buckets
  |    | E  |     | E  |  |  through some kind of opening in the tops
  |    | R  |     | R  |  |  of the tanks. The buckets were used to
  |    |    |     |    |  |  bring water from the irrigation ditch.
  |    |_v__|     |__v_|  |  The 'v's at the bottom represent pipes
  |      v           v    |  set up to let the water flow down to the
  +------v-----------v----+  bathtubs.
         v           v
         v           v
  +------v-----------v----+
  |    __v___ |    __v___ | The bathtubs were bought commercially.
  |    |    | |    |    | | They fill by gravity with hot water from
  |    | B  | |    | B  | | the pipes that come from the heaters.
  |    | A  | |    | A  | | There is a tap (faucet) on each pipe.
  |    | T  | |    | T  | | Cooling water to regulate the temperature
  |    | H  | |    | H  | | is provided by throwing in buckets of cold
  |    |    | |    |    | | water from the irrigation ditch -- just
  |    | T  | |    | T  | | out of sight below the picture.
  |    | U  | |    | U  | |
  |    | B  | |    | B  | | The bathtubs are enclosed in privacy walls,
  |    |____| |    |____| | and are separated by a privacy wall.
  |           |           |
  +-----------------------+ There are wooden pallets to walk on.
      door flap   door flap

When you've finished your bath, you pull the plug and the water
runs away downhill under the wooden pallets and into the irrigation
ditch.

In this case, those who provided the bathing facilities (whose names,
alas, I cannot now remember) collected money (about $2 per person per
bath, if I recall correctly). Their proceeds went to pay for the bath
tubs and other materials, to reimburse themselves for their heroic and
smoke-filled labours, and to make a substantial donation to the site-
improvement fund. They also provided an herbal mixture that you could
add to your bathwater (for a small additional fee), and when available,
provided a bath attendant to discreetly wash your back (for another
small additional fee).

So, there are two bath ideas that have actually been used. Both seemed
to work moderately well, and were very popular, although number two is
much more labour-intensive than number one.

All my best,
Thorvald Grimsson/James Prescott

<end quote>

Thorvald

Date: Wed, 06 May 2009 14:37:23 -0700
From: David Walddon <david at vastrepast.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Bathing,
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

And they provided hot water for the washing up at the bake house.
Very nice. 
This year is 30 years for Clinton.
Must be about 18 (maybe more) for the bakehouse.

Eduardo

Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:44:30 +1000
From: "Andrew Price" <Andrew_L_Price@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] ovens at Festival
To: "'The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list'"
	<lochac@lochac.sca.org>

Asa asked:
<<< Can anyone tell me where to get the gas powered hot
water urns that I have seen at Spring War? >>>

The gas powered hot water urns at spring war are similar to these
http://www.ausj.com.au/InstantGas.htm. They are a tankless lpg gas powered
hot water heater.  They also get hooked up to a car battery or similar.  I
know mordenvale saved heaps on gas bottles after Lord Rowland purchased one
of these as we previously used to heat a lot of our water via gas stove
tops.  There will be other models around just search for lpg tankless
heater, caravan stores and your local gas store will stock them.

Orric

Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:49:58 +1000
From: bsrlee <bsrlee2@pacific.net.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] ovens at Festival
To: The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac@lochac.sca.org>

Also - new this year - was a Coleman portable water heater/shower unit - 
self contained, it runs off its own internal 6v battery for the pump & 
ignition, plus a gas cylinder - the only down side I can see is the 
cylinder & battery are proprietary, but one set of these lasted the 
whole Festival for several people. It could also be used to heat wash 
up water for a camp kitchen - it will work off a tub of water, not just 
the Coleman brand water bladder suggested by the manual.

The plastic bag 'solar showers' also work if you have a sturdy shower 
tent to get them high enough, and take all day to heat up when its 
cloudy & rainy.

From the FB "Better SCA Camping" group:

Isabelle LaFar shared her photo.
January 18

I got bored again...

Many camping events have showers to use, but there's rarely a clean & dry place to put your clothes & stuff. So here's a folding caddy you can stash your stuff in. Pick it up and carry it where you need to go, open it up and it's off the floor yet accessible. The shelves are fabric, the whole thing is 36" tall, and it all folds up neatly for storage. Stashing this on the to-do list.

Cathy T-Reed 
How lovely! I usually just bring a plastic Hefty bag to the showers for stashing everything. A large S hook is helpful too, if you want to hang things (shower caddy, washcloth, towel) on the shower curtain rod.
March 4 at 8:00am

<the end>