Best Portable Shower for a Campervan

Most campervans don't have a shower, and most of the ones that do have a shower the owner stopped using around week three, once the tank refilling, the damp cubicle and the moisture creeping into every soft furnishing lost their charm. Which is why the portable shower has quietly become standard van kit: all of the washing, none of the plumbing. Here's an honest look at the options and what actually earns a place in a van.

The options, honestly compared

Solar shower bags. Cheap, light, and in fairness they do work, on the three days a year the British sun commits to the job. The bag needs hours of direct sunshine to warm up, holds pressure via gravity only (so you're holding it overhead or rigging it to the van), and on the grey drizzly days you most want a warm wash, it delivers a cold one. Fine as a backup, frustrating as a plan.

12V and rechargeable pump showers. These pull water from a bucket through a powered pump, and the flow is genuinely decent. The catches: they depend on charge or your leisure battery, the pump is one more electrical thing to die in a damp locker, and you're still heating water separately, so the bucket of warm water is doing most of the work while the gadget takes the credit.

Hand pumped pressure showers. Fill the tank, pump ten to fifteen times, and you've got several minutes of genuinely pressurised spray with no power, no bucket and no waiting for sunshine. Fill it with warm water from home or the campsite tap and an insulated tank keeps it warm for hours; the NewFlow 8 Litre's 5mm neoprene wrap holds the heat until you need it, with a 3 metre hose that reaches comfortably around a van. This is the format that fits van life best, because it solves the actual problems: no power draw, no sunshine dependency, warm water on demand, and it stows in a boot corner.

What matters in a van specifically

Space and independence. Eight litres covers a proper wash for one, or quick rinses for two, without hogging a locker. No power draw means your leisure battery stays for the fridge and the lights. And a mounting holder on the van gives you a hands free shower position, which turns the tailgate into a passable bathroom. Pair it with a mat to stand on and somewhere sealed for the wet towel afterwards, and the whole routine is genuinely two minutes; we've written up the wet kit system separately.

The van shower routine that works

Warm water in before you leave, or topped up at any campsite tap. Park up, holder on, mat down. Rinse in the open when it's private, or use the open side door and a towel as a modesty screen when it's not. The one habit worth stealing from full timers: wash in the evening warmth rather than the cold morning, and get dry and layered quickly after, since your body keeps cooling once the water stops [1]. Our guide to showering while living in a van covers the full time version, including the gym and campsite mix most people settle into.

The honest verdict

If your van has a built in shower you love, keep loving it. For everyone else, a hand pumped pressure shower with an insulated tank is the best portable shower for a campervan by a distance, because it's the only option that works in British weather, off grid, without touching your battery. We've also compared the pressure format against the big American style systems if you're weighing those up, and everything van specific lives on our van life page.