Suburban Overlander #8 - Shower/Potty Room

In our Toyota Sienna-based camper, we usually camp in places where there is at least a pit toilet. And preferably, a bathroom with running water and shower.

In this Suburban, our goal is to camp on rustic land rather than in designated campgrounds. Which brings up the potty issue. I could see myself just grabbing some supplies and a shovel and "making do," but I know that wouldn't be MsBoyink's preference.

The ever-growing overlanding market had a solution - a roof-rack mounted drop-down shower/potty enclosure.

This version from OpenRoad4WD came up on my social feeds for around $200 with free shipping, so I ordered one. 

It features a hydraulic cylinder powered pop-out design, an always-attached roof, a drop-down floor, an LED light, and several hooks and pockets. 

It was mounting these types of accessories that led me to make the Maker Pipe-based platform for my roof. 

To mount this shower room, I just had to add one crossover piece to the Maker Pipe rack, then find U-bolts sized to go around the conduit and engage the shower room L brackets:

• Unzip the cover and flip it back
• Undo two straps around the shower room fabric
• Tug at the metal frame
• The built-in hydraulic arms push the sides out and the room just pops out
• The roof stays attached
• The corners will need to be staked down

As you can see, the truck body does push into the room when its deployed, essentially eating up some of the room inside. There are large swing arms available to solve this issue. They would open up at a right angle from the vehicle, adding enough space for the shower room to be full-sized. But those swing arms cost more than the shower room.

I could also probably figure out a Maker Pipe-based solution to mount the shower room to something that extends out from the rack. 

But we'll try this first and see if more complexity is needed.

Otherwise the length of the Suburban is an advantage here. When the room is deployed I'm not blocking access to anything important - just a view out that side window.

I see smaller Jeeps and Toyotas that end up blocking a vehicle door, etc. when their shower rooms are setup. The room does have an inner pass-through door you can unzip in that case. 

Height-wise this came out great. I'm 6'3" and as shown I have 4-5" of room above my head when standing inside.

I think we'll both appreciate the privacy this unit allows.