🚿🔨

The Shower Build

Two IBC totes stack into a standing-height stall, cattle troughs catch every drop, and a float-switch pump hauls the greywater away. The David-approved design, in 10 pictures. 🐢

🔥 Priority build · stall section 1 built ✅ · troughs + hoses still to buy 🛒
2× IBC
stacked stall
~7½ ft
standing height
2 troughs
catch basin
1–2 gal
per shower
0 drops
greywater on playa
SOLAR
1

The Whole System at a Glance

read me first
EXPLODED VIEW — top to bottom, gravity does the work ☀ solar shower bag 1–2 gal per shower — that's the rain tote 2 — flipped pallet to the sky, open cut side DOWN steel cages stay ON — they ARE the structure tote 1 — upright top cut out, open side UP. Doorway gets cut in step 3 pump + float switch live in the open trough end 2 cattle troughs galvanized · 🛒 to buy the whole catch basin WASTE greywater storage tote — hauled OUT, zero drops on playa 🌱 you, for scale 🐢
  • The stall: two 275-gal IBC totes, tops cut out, stacked open-top-to-open-top = one tall stall you stand up in. Cages stay fully intact.
  • The basin: the stall sits on top of two galvanized cattle troughs — every drop lands in steel, never on playa.
  • The drain: a float switch wakes a little pump that pushes greywater to a storage tote. Automatic.
  • This is the locked design from the David syncs (7/2 + 7/16). Section 1 of the stall is already built. 💪
David: "How you do the containment on a shower is the hardest part of the whole project." That's why the troughs and the pump get their own steps — the stall is the easy part.
2

What You Need

✅ in hand · 🛒 to buy
THE SHOPPING PICTURE ✅ 2× IBC totes, cut 🛒 2× stock troughs galvanized · Tractor Supply ✅ waste pump ×2 confirm model w/ David ✅ float switches + angle-iron weights ×3 solar bags — 2+ shut-off heads · confirm qty WASTE 🛒 4× 50-ft hoses mark 2 "WASTE" · buy 2× 🛒 Brute cans (hose storage) 🚿🪝🧴 🛒 curtain · hooks · mat ✅ greywater tote 🐢
  • Already ours: 2 cut totes (stall), a greywater storage tote, float switches, 2 utility pumps.
  • Still to buy: the two cattle troughs (size them with David before the Tractor Supply run), 4× 50-ft hoses, Brute cans, comfort kit.
  • Jeremy is fabricating the 3 float-switch weights (shower, kitchen basin, spare) — check in before buying steel.
  • Full live status in the Inventory Command Center.
Buy double on hoses: greywater hose that ever touched waste stays waste forever. Two marked WASTE, two clean spares. They live coiled in Brute cans at strike. 🐢
3

Cut the Totes

done for set 1 ✅ — recipe for the next camp
TWO CUTS — TOP OUT, DOORWAY IN CUT 1 — bladder top out plastic only. The cage rim and every steel tube STAY. CUT 2 — the doorway one cage-bay wide, stop short of the floor… …the THRESHOLD a lip that keeps splash inside. Step over it. EDGE DETAIL split foam / hose cap zip-tied over EVERY cut edge 🐢 every plastic shaving → sealed MOOP bag
  • Cut 1: hot knife / jigsaw the bladder top out of both totes. Steel cage untouched — it's the building.
  • Cut 2: doorway in the side of the bottom tote, with a threshold left at the bottom so water stays in the pan.
  • Every cut edge: deburr at 45°, sand with 120-grit, cap with split foam pipe insulation or split hose, zip-tied through the cage.
⚠ The one injury this build can cause is a hip or shoulder on a raw HDPE edge in a wet stall. Cap every edge, then tug-test each cap. No exceptions.
4

Stack & Join the Cages

2 people · section 1 done ✅
OPEN TOP MEETS OPEN TOP tote 2, flipped — lower it straight down tote 1, waiting open side up rim meets rim: bolt or stainless-wire the two cage rims at every crossing — snug, zero wiggle ~7½' stall + camper, to scale 🐢
  • Flip tote 2 upside-down (pallet becomes the roof) and lower it onto tote 1 — open top to open top.
  • Line the cage rims up flush, then bolt or wire the rims together at every rail crossing. The joint should feel like one rigid tower.
  • Result: a ~7½-ft standing-height stall with built-in walls, a roof frame to hang from, and a doorway.
David's rule: the intact steel cage is the entire structural system — the plastic alone would never stand up to playa wind. That's why we never cut steel, only plastic.
5

Set It on the Troughs

the 7/16 design 🔄
STALL ON TOP — TROUGHS ARE THE CATCH BASIN the stall sits ON TOP, resting on the rims the service bay the open ~2 ft: pump service + dish-tray + greywater dumps 2 troughs side-by-side each ≥10" bigger than the stall · one ~2 ft longer flat, packed, LEVEL ground — check with a real level 🐢
  • Two galvanized troughs side by side on packed, level ground; the stall rests on top of their rims.
  • Each trough is at least 10" bigger than the stall footprint, and at least one runs ~2 ft longer — that open end is the service bay: pump access, dish-tray dumping, greywater pours.
  • Everything that drips in the stall lands in steel and flows to the pump. Zero playa contact.
  • Strap the cage to staked anchors — it's a sail when it's empty.
⚠ Honest open item: exactly how the stall seats + anchors on the trough rims (spacers? saddle brackets?) is still being finalized by David + Jarrett. Don't improvise this joint — ask first. 🐢
6

The Float Switch — Build 3

Jeremy fabricating · then PRACTICE
THE FLOAT UNIT — SELF-WEIGHTED, NOT ON THE PUMP the float water rises → tips up → pump ON water gone → drops → pump OFF ~6 in the weight — 2"×2" angle iron ~6" long · heavy wall ≥3/16" drill 2 holes, bolt the float on with #10 screws NEVER screwed to the pump! separate units, always PRACTICE in a bucket first 🐢
  • Bolt each float switch to its own weight: 2"×2" angle iron, ~6" long, ≥3/16" wall, #10 screws. It sits on the trough floor and can't wander.
  • Never attach the float to the pump — separate, self-weighted unit (David was emphatic).
  • Power passes through the float switch: wall → float plug → pump plugs into its back. The float is the pump's on/off brain.
  • Make 3: shower trough, kitchen-sink basin, one spare. Jeremy has the fabrication.
David: float switches are "magic" — but only if you've played with them. Bucket of water, float, pump: run the cycle until it's boring. Do this at the Gulch, not on playa.
7

Pump & Greywater Plumbing

1 hr once parts arrive
CUTAWAY — INSIDE THE SERVICE BAY float on its weight trips at ~2" of water ⚡ cord high & dry GFCI circuit only WASTE 50 ft + 50 ft to the greywater tote by the road at strike: hoses coil into a Brute can → pump "pumps to dryness" — runs till empty, clicks OFF 🐢
  • The submersible utility pump sits at the trough's low point in the service bay; the float unit sits beside it.
  • Waste line = garden hose marked WASTE — twin 50-ft lengths beat one 100 (source sits close to the road tank). Spring-clip the hose to the cage so it can't whip when the pump kicks.
  • Greywater goes to the storage tote by the access road, where the service truck pumps it out. Never onto playa.
  • Power: GFCI circuit, cord exits high and dry, connections never in the splash zone.
⚠ Water + 120V is the one place we don't improvise. If a cord, plug, or splice would sit low or wet — stop and re-route. Questions go to David or Jarrett.
8

Water In — the Solar Bag

45 min rigging
THE RAIN — HOIST, TIE OFF, SHOWER pulley on the top rail hoist your own 17-lb bag — no ladder, no helper cleat at waist height tie off + clip the bag handle to the rail as backup ☀️ staging shelf in full sun 🌞 → golden-hour showers 🌅 🐢 1 bag = 1 shower 1–2 gal. That's the discipline.
  • Pulley (or smooth carabiner, 50-lb+) on the top cage rail, 1/4" rope down to a cleat at waist height — anyone hoists their own bag.
  • Backup clip: bag handle clips to the top rail too, so full weight never rides the hoist line alone.
  • The bag's shut-off head is the whole ethos: wet down → OFF → soap → rinse.
  • 1–2 gal per shower keeps the greywater volume tiny and the queue moving. 💧
Later upgrade (maybe): a pumped line from the potable system can fill bags at the stall. Bags first — it already works with zero plumbing.
9

Privacy & Comfort

45 min · the human layer
THE DOORWAY, DONE RIGHT — FRONT VIEW 🐢 curtain on a rod/rope ordinary shower rings hooks in the dry zone towel + clothes out of splash clip-on solar light for night showers ✨ threshold + grippy mat step OVER, land soft 3 walls are already solid plastic — privacy is basically built in 🙈
  • Curtain across the doorway on a rod or taut rope; the other three sides are already opaque tote walls.
  • Hooks high on the cage outside the splash zone; a grippy mat inside; a clip-on light for night showers.
  • A small chalkboard — "bags warm: 3" — turns solar timing into a self-organizing queue.

🔥 Hot water, honestly

☀ Sun-warmed bag (the default): a black solar bag in full afternoon sun gets genuinely hot for free. Golden-hour showers are warm showers. This is the plan.

🫖 Kettle mix: chilly morning? Pour a kitchen kettle of hot water into the bag with cool water until it's shower-warm to the wrist. Simple, safe, works.

🚫 Propane tankless heaters exist, but David called that "a very difficult system" — gas + water + wind is specialist territory. If the camp ever wants one, that's a David conversation, not a solo project.

10

Test Day — the Greywater Drill

1 hr at the Gulch · before the playa!
RUN THE WHOLE LOOP WITH REAL WATER 1 pour ~5 gal in right into the trough 2 click! float trips early at ~2 in of water 3 pumps to dryness runs dry, clicks OFF 4 ZERO DROPS towel-check all joints + edges 🐢 repeat until nothing surprises you — then the shower has earned its trip to the playa
  • Full dress rehearsal at the Gulch: pour water, watch the float trip, watch the pump run to dryness and shut off.
  • Then a real shower rehearsal — bag, curtain, threshold step, pump-out — while someone walks the perimeter looking for escapees.
  • Any drip that leaves the trough = fix now, not on playa. Leave No Trace starts working here.
  • Drag a towel along every capped edge — a snag means re-cap.
David's homework, standing order: get every piece in your hands and physically mess with it before the playa. Practiced systems work; imagined systems don't.

📋 Materials at a Glance

ItemQtyStatusStep
275-gal IBC totes, cages intact, tops cut2✅ cut — section 1 built3–4
Galvanized cattle/stock troughs (1 ≥2 ft longer)2🛒 NOT bought — size w/ David, Tractor Supply5
Float switches (pass-through plug type)3✅ received6
Float weights: 2×2×~6" angle iron ≥3/16" + #10 screws3🔨 Jeremy fabricating6
Submersible utility waste pump (~1/3 HP, 2000 GPH)2✅ have 2 — final model: confirm w/ David7
Garden hoses 50 ft (2 marked WASTE + 2 spare)4🛒 buy double7
Brute cans (hose storage at strike)2🛒 check kitchen stock first7
Greywater storage tote1✅ in the 6-tote fleet7
Solar shower bags w/ shut-off heads2+confirm qty in inventory8
Pulley/carabiner 50 lb+ · 1/4" rope ~15 ft · cleatsethardware run8
Curtain + rings · hooks · mat · clip lightset🛒 hardware run9
Foam pipe insulation / split hose (edge caps) + UV zip ties~10 fthardware run3
Ratchet straps + staked anchors (tie-down)2–4from camp stake stock5

Build order: cut → stack & join → troughs → float units → plumbing → hoist → comforts → wet test. This is a priority build — it ships on the semi with the early load. 🐢

✌️ Scale note (Shaka, 7/20): we're building TWO pods. Quantities above are per pod — double the stall totes, troughs, pump + float units. Same recipe, second verse. 🎁

🔎 Still Open — Honest List