I hate to even come on here and ask this, but we have been hinting out of my houseboat for almost 5 years now and we are just now installing our shower unit. Yes I know.

So I need some ideas of what you guys have. My houseboat is 24'x60'. I thought of welding up an aluminum tank and have it underneath the camp between the floor joist. Also thought of making one apporx 2'x2'18' and place it on my front porch and put seat coushing on it like a bench. Buddy just said they used 4-55 gal drums. So if you have pics or anything else, let me see.

I have 2 joints of 15" pvc pipe. The caps are hard to come by though.

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Where are you located? I've got a connection for free plastic 55 gallon drums. Lids aren't cut off. The screw in plugs were used. They were all filled with Dawn dish soap, or Lysol disinfectant and used to supply a chicken hatchery.

I use a 275 gallon tote at my camp, and I think its perfect. Has a 2'' threaded outlet with a valve. You can probably find one local that held a clean chemical. If you can't and want one, I might have an extra. I'm in Beaumont.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... allon+tote

I'm just south of baton rouge. I need to see how much room they will take up, thus me thinking about the underneath.

The front and back porches are 10'x24'
Here is an old pic of my camp. I need to take some newer ones, but this is all I have at work. You can see the front porch and the front door is offset. Thus me thinking about the tank on the front porch under the windows to possibly sit on.
Camp.jpg

chemtaniner for plastic tanks almost anysize and shape

The totes I typically see are 4' square.

You can check out the poly tanks feed stores and Tractor Supply carries.

I know building an aluminum tank won't be the cheapest, but it will last the longest and can be built to specs for wherever you want it. On our old houseboat we had two approx 100gal alum tanks that were fed off the roof through gutters, a basic sistern system, worked great, no need to ever haul water. I've also heard, and whether this is true or not I don't know, that the clear poly barrels/totes if water is left in them and exposed to sunlight that it will promote algae growth. Nobody wants that in their freshwater system.

I have several 4x8 sheets of aluminum tus me looking that route. In the past, we have put chlorine tablets in the poly barrels to help with algea. Not drinking it, only showers and dishes. But you can't put chlorine tablets in an aluminum tank, it creates a chemical reaction and produces sediment. We do have gutters, so we will have an endless supply if needed and we also are on a fresh water canal that we could pump water from if needed through an old swimming pool filter to fill. We also have the ability to drill a well and have a flex line run to the camp for an endless supply, but that would take some work and time that I just really don't have right now. but well see.

we have a 350 gallon plastic chemical tank on mine and i would suggest not going any smaller. we use about 60-70 gallons a weekend and thats being conservative with 4-5 people.

You can't really see anything because we boxed them in. But it is hung with stainless strapping.

Where would find pipe that size as well as caps?

Check on line. The caps cost a ton an vary from place to place. Mine were done years ago when things were alot cheaper. U could fiberglass the ends yourself to save to save some money.

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You could use corrugated pipe for under the house. It's not cheap either though. They sell caps for it. 15' inches x 20 feet holds 183 gallons.


Thinking more about it...if pumping from the canal through the pool filter is a viable option, I would do that. Pump into a plastic 55 drum and call it a day. Probably the most affordable option.

you don't wanna use canal water for anything but the toilet


i am not sure where they originally got ours but i would start by calling coburn supply

Canals by my house are the source of most the drinking water in SETX.

If you can swim in it, are you saying its not good enough for a camp shower? We're not talking drinking

If you swam in the canal would you shower after?

I know for damn sure I would

Not if I'm staying a long weekend or week at a hunting camp. With the shower there would be soap I hope!

Were going to be using the 4x4 plastic chemtainers with a gutter system to fill it ourselves not to change topic but where is your houseboat located i have one on Grand lake in the spillway

Right now its on Bateman Island, but were moving it to Bell River. Were having to play the tide right now. The canal we are in is low, and when the north wind blows, it will get hung up on the bottom. If the river at Morgan city gets to 2', we cant move it. Right now high tide is at about 10:00 at night. If it gets to 3', were good in our canal to get it over the sandbar and into the Atchafalaya River.

http://www.thecarycompany.com/275-gallo ... gQodrDYPBg

we have 2 of these at our camp, and the gutters fill them, and I dump a cup of bleach in each one about every 2 months