The challenge:

From scratch, design a stand-alone solar shower.

Make sure there is a readily available parts base in case of a failure.

Since I am my own warranty, simplicity and customer support are mandatory!

Should be relatively easy to move from site-to-site.

Must fit in with the rest of this craziness.

Finally, it has to be afforable.

This started out a somewhat easy task but without an unlimited budget, and trying to use as many retired parts as possible, this was deefinately a challenge! Below are some photos of the finished product.

And so how does it work? After some trial and error it performs excellently!

The parts to build were readily available. The 22 gallon tank and 40 inch double pane window came from the dump as did the black decorative ironwork. Also from the dump: The red table, wooden bench, and the steel basin (now used as a coil heat collector which thermosiphons up to the 22 gallon tank.)

Most of the lumber and all of the opaque panels came from a local big-box store.