New product: EverShower

One of the problems with free-camping is showering. There are three main problems: limited water supply, privacy and what to do with the grey waste.

Water is the first issue. It’s often scarce and needed more for survival than hygiene. Even bring frugal, – soaping up first, then rinsing off – my wife and I need about half a bucketful, or five litres.

Privacy in a crowded camping area is another issue. Even if it isn’t, chilly winds can soon set you shivering if you’re out in the open.

Then there’s the muddy, soapy red or black sludge beneath your toes when you’ve finished... Those black solar shower bladders you hang from a tree fail on many fronts.

Semi-nomadic inventor Larry Tofler has the solution in his water-recycling Evershower that he demonstrated at the recent Queensland Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow in Brisbane.

Weighing just 6kg empty, the Evershower is essentially a pack-away washroom, with its tapered tent section, held erect by four sets of click-together, three-section flexible poles, with corner tent pegs if it’s windy.

You stand in the base in three litres of water and let the small pump do the rest, re-cycling the water up through the central shower nozzle. And because none escapes, your travelling companion can re-use the same water again, if you are familiar enough. Even if you’re not, re-using the same personal water without waste is a far more sustainable option than letting it flow away.

And, if you’re truly practical, your ‘smalls’ can also go into the base for a good stomping wash at the same time!

If the weather is on the chilly side, add the optional Coleman Water on Demand water heater and turn the tapered tent into your personal steam room. Great for a bit of après ski, if not camping.

Although the Evershower is self-standing, it can be also clipped to the open rear lid of a van or hatchback SUV and you can also leave the top section off if you want to commune more with nature. And because all the water drains off you back into the base, it can also be used inside an existing caravan or camper to endow it with an ensuite.

If you have no plug-in 12V or 240V power available to run the system’s pump, you can use a re-chargeable portable 12V battery pack.

Once you’re finished, you can pack the shower up again in its waste water for emptying at a convenient time – maybe into a convenient drain, or at the base of a grateful plant.

The stand-alone Evershower is available for $299,or can be bundled with its gas canister-powered Coleman On Demand Water Heater  for $739.

At present it can only be purchased online at www.evershower.com