RVers Take Navy Showers to Conserve Water

Water conservation and RVing go hand in hand. Americans use 80 to 100 gallons of water per person every day. Conversely, RVers use much less water than residential homes. We use less water in the bathroom, less water to do dishes and less water to shower. When boondocking for long periods RVers become even more water conscious. This is where a Navy Shower comes in. For those of you who didn't have the privilege of serving in the U.S. Navy let me explain how we arrived at the term “Navy Shower.” Ships and submarines at sea use desalination plants to convert salty sea-water into potable water. Sometimes (too frequently if you ask me) these desalination plants would malfunction and the engineering department (Snipes) would tear it all apart, fix it, then reassemble it. This usually took a couple days (if we were lucky). In the meantime the crew was required to ration water which meant we could only use enough water to soap-up and rinse off. The procedure was to turn on the water, get wet then immediately turn it off (no luxury of waiting for hot water). Next you would soap-up your body and lather up your hair. Then you did a quick rinse and you were done. This way the ship’s company was able to conserve enough water for essentials like cooking and washing dishes. Hence the term “Navy shower” came into English usage. Like the Navy, RVers use this technique to ration fresh water. The shower-head pictured above is the typical RV shower-head. More efficient water saving shower-heads are available. Some “hard core” boondockers even recycle their shower water to flush the toilet. With the use of solar and wind power, water conservation practices and low impact camping, the RV lifestyle can be much friendlier to the environment than a typical residential home. Wishing you fair winds and following seas - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing