Adding Outside Shower

[engelstine]

Few questions here.
I am possibly looking to add an outside shower to my trailer to help with Sand and other Kid/Dog washing.

I have a 2014 Gulfstream trailer and just to the rear of the Entry door there is a Hot/Cold water line that is capped. Im guessing this maybe a Low Point drain but I was wondering if I could use these as a Shower hookup. I could pull these connection off for winterizing at the end of the year. Is this ok to do?

Also I have a Rear-Spray port on my trailer just above the rear city water inlet. This has never worked for me, I attached the Hose that is provided and nothing, I added a garden hose to the spray port hose and nothing. I have tried to poke the valve to get water to stray out and nothing. Anyone have any other suggestion? Bad Valve? maybe somewhere there is a Shutoff Valve hiding?

[bid_time]

engelstine wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. Lots of info to think about. I really wanted to use the Hot portion of the water if I could and thought since those lines are there than I could just install it there. That being said, I could just Y off the City hose and have a dedicated spray hose its just super cold and Im sure the kids would hate it, but I'm over that lol.

Also I am very intrigued that the Spray Port on the back maybe a Black Tank flush. They did not mention that at the Dealer and its just labeled "Spray-Port" with a quick connect Female, a Coiled Blue hose with a Hose fitting on the end. Can anyone verify if this could be a Flush? I do not recall if I have tried to use it with water in the tank, usually I am on full hookups and city water is run to the camper. Do spray ports only run off tank water?

The "Spray Port" is not a black tank flush. It is a sprayer just like it says. It should work either way but try it with the pump and water in the tank and see if that helps.

You may get better results if you start a new thread in "Tech Issues" just about getting the spray port working.

[Farmboy666]

Yes you can add to any pipe in the system, I had to added one because I had to cut a hole in the side to access the pipes to reconfigure my inside shower.

Tee into existing lines.

[mobeewan]

My low point drains consisted of angle valves under the kitchen sink terminating with open PEX under the trailer. I added the following fittings to each. A Flair-it 1/2 PEX x 1/2 male pipe thd fitting, 1/2 female pipe thd x 3/4 male garden hose fitting and a female garden hose x quick connect garden hose fitting with built in ball valve. I can close the ball valves and open the low point drains valves under the sink. This allows me both hot and cold water connections outside.

I can use each independently to fill a bucket, connect a hose with sprayer for hot or cold water or use washing machine hoses to connect a laundry sink with faucet for some serious outdoor washing and cleaning.

In the winter when not being used I close the valves under the sink and open the ball valves under the trailer so the tubing outside doesn't ice up.

[Boomerweps]

We use our outside shower for dish washing instead of using the doll house sink inside. Changing out the sink is on my long term camper to do list. Also less gray water tank filling. So far, in my limited TT camping experience, many camps' sites get electric first, then potable water, then sewer, likely from the ease of running the infrastructure.

[engelstine]

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of info to think about. I really wanted to use the Hot portion of the water if I could and thought since those lines are there than I could just install it there. That being said, I could just Y off the City hose and have a dedicated spray hose its just super cold and Im sure the kids would hate it, but I'm over that lol.

Also I am very intrigued that the Spray Port on the back maybe a Black Tank flush. They did not mention that at the Dealer and its just labeled "Spray-Port" with a quick connect Female, a Coiled Blue hose with a Hose fitting on the end. Can anyone verify if this could be a Flush? I do not recall if I have tried to use it with water in the tank, usually I am on full hookups and city water is run to the camper. Do spray ports only run off tank water?

[RedRocket204]

I did add an outside shower on my TT. The only place I felt comfortable adding it was where I had inside access to know I was not cutting an outside shower hole that would have been obstructed by who knows what. So, I was able to plan the cut and see inside where the shower module was going and both water lines passed right by the area making it very easy to cut the Pex and use the proper Pex T connections for the outside shower. I have never had a problem with any leaking on our outside shower or the connections I put in.

Just make sure that new outside shower is added to your winterizing routine, if you winterize.

[troubledwaters]

Yes you could use those low point drains if you wanted. However, I would look into that spray port more - is the water working everywhere else at the same time you are trying to use the spray port (sometimes you simply forget to put water in the tank and turn the water pump on first - I know this first hand)? Are you getting the fitting all the way into the port?

There May be just a few screws holding that port on and you can easily replace it.

[myredracer]

I would look at adding a standard RV outdoor shower box on the exterior wall behind the kitchen counter or bathroom counter where there will be hot & cold PEX lines you can tap into. But the typical outdoor showers are cheap pieces of plastic sh*te tho.

I can't see a reason why not to use the low point drains but sounds like a lot of monkeying around to get the right fittings to be able to use a shower head and mixing valve and to make it removable for travelling. And it'd be more stuff to store away somewhere. You could just replace the existing drain valves with ones with hose fittings.

In the 5 seasons of using our current TT, we've used the outdoor shower exactly one time. 🙂

[1995brave]

The Rear-Spray port is probably the Black tank rinse out. I.E. you attach your water line and spray water into the black tank to clean it out.

[ksg5000]

Our outside shower was source of chronic leaks - we eventually removed it. We usually camp where there is water so I would attach an adapter to the shore water source allowing us to hook up both the RV and a separate hose which acted as our outside shower - good for dog washing and hosing off sand. Just another alternative.

[ScottG]

There is probably a valve inside the RV that keeps water from going down those drain lines. It may be sunk into the floor and covered with carpet or vinyl flooring.
I installed hose ends to them on my last TT. Worked great for washing stuff off!