Make a Camp Shower Enclosure or Changing Area

Camping is lots of fun. However most of us enjoy a shower at least once in a while on prolonged trips and not every campground has a shower house. There are lots of instructables on how to make a shower, but what do you do about getting a little privacy while you use it? Here's how to make a quick and easy shower area out of PVC that can double as a changing area if need be.. Although not ideal for backpacking, i think it's going to be great for those of us who are car campers.

It doesn't take much in the way of tools to put this shower area together. A drill and bit, some pliers, and something to cut the PVC pipe with.

You will need
4 lengths of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
4 1/2 inch elbow slip joints
4 eye hooks
rope or paracord

The pipe can be whatever lengths you feel comfortable with for the size of your shower. I used ones that were slightly shorter than four feet, and it made for a pretty roomy shower area. Be sure the rope or paracord you select fits through the eye hooks. 

Pre drill a hole in the corner of the elbow and then place an eye hook. You want it to be snug, so use a smaller drill bit and then use the pliers to screw the eye hook in. Nobody wants their shower falling down while it's in use!

Connect the pvc pipes to the elbows to make a square (or rectangle if you cut two pieces shorter and two pieces longer).

Take your para cord or rope and thread it through the eye hooks from corner to corner making a big 'X'. Leave a loop in the center so that you have a way to hang your framework from a nearby tree while camping. You want to make the line snug, but no so tight that it distorts the pvc frame.

Now you're ready to add a shower curtain and hang your frame. At the time I made the frame, I hadn't bought the curtain yet, so I just used the one from my shower to try it out. Just use the loop in the middle to attach it to another rope that you've looped over a tree branch or other such sturdy object.

A note on curtains: I would suggest using a shower curtain that has tabs or grommets already installed so they are less likely to come off the frame than curtains with hooks. Adding some weights to the bottom of your curtain will also help prevent the wind from blowing it so much. I plan on sewing washers to the bottom of mine. I also plan on using a rubber mat as a 'floor' to keep my feet out of the mud while I shower and to reduce 'splash'.

When you're all done camping and using your shower (or changing) enclosure you can simply pull apart the PVC pieces for easy storage and transport.  I ended up adding a beener to the loop on mine so I could attach it to a hanging rope more easily.