Trailer Life: Navy Showers

When staying in our travel trailer, we essentially enjoy all the comforts of home. We have a kitchen complete with 3 burner stove, oven, and microwave for cooking. We have a double sink for kitchen cleanup. We have a small refrigerator with separate freezer for keeping food fresh. We have a queen sized bed where we can get a good night’s rest. We have a television with both antennae and cable hookup. And we have a bathroom complete with flush toilet, sink, and shower.

But we don’t live in our trailer as we do in our homes. This is especially true when taking showers. Normally, we take “navy showers” when we are in our trailer. A navy shower is a way of taking a shower while conserving water. The practice of navy showers originated on naval ships where water had to be conserved. It basically involves turning on a shower long enough to get thoroughly wet, then turning it off. At this point, you lather up and do your basic washing. Once this is done, you then turn the shower back on and rinse off. Various studies show that a basic residential shower can use up to 60 gallons of water by leaving it on for the duration of a shower, while a navy shower may only use 3 gallons or so.

We adhere to the practice of navy showers in our travel trailer, but for different reasons. First, our water heater is only 6 gallons, so there is a limited amount of hot water available. Keep the water on too long and you’ll be rinsing in cold water. Brrr! Second, unless you are connected to a fresh water system, you may have a limited amount of water available for a shower. This is a situation similar to being on a naval ship. Most of the time, though, we are in parks with water hookups. Third, even if you are connected to fresh water, you may not be connected to a sewer, so you have to contain your used water in a storage tank, which is limited in size. In our case, we have a 32 gallon grey water tank.  Finally, it’s not a bad idea at all to conserve resources. Leaving water running for no reason is simply wasteful, and our fresh water resources are limited.

The shower in our travel trailer has a push button for turning the water on and off. So, once you get the water turned on at the temperature you like, simply push the button to turn the water off. When you turn it back on, it will be at the same temperature as when you turned it off. This makes it easy to conserve water.