Tuff Stuff Mounted Shower Tent Enclosure On 3rd Gen Tacoma: The Ideal Bathroom & Shower Setup For Overlanding & Off-Grid Camping – Setup & Review
Like many people, I like to get out and enjoy the outdoors, completely unplugging from cell signals and the worries of everyday life. However, being off-grid does not mean I have to give up other comforts such as a half-decent bathroom and a shower.
It has taken some time, but I have built a setup that allows a very comfortable experience when camping. Using the Tuff Stuff Shower Enclosure with some modifications and accessories, I am able to have a comfortable and private bathroom as well as a warm shower.
The items used to accomplish this are the Tuff Stuff Shower Enclosure, Luggable Loo, Waterport Weekender, and extendable tent poles. Follow me through this article on how to get a complete setup.
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Review
The Tuff Stuff Shower Enclosure has had some reversions since the time I owned it, but the concepts are still the same.
First, let’s start with the setup and takedown of the enclosure. By far, this is the best part about this setup. I am able to open the bag mounted to the truck, roll out the fabric, and deploy the arms, and it is set up and ready to go. This makes it very useful for changing at the beach, using the bathroom on road trips, and hosing down after a lake day.
The takedown is just as fast. You fold in the arms, roll up the fabric, and zip up the bag. Some things I would change about this process are the length of the lengths of the straps used to roll up the enclosure. They are a little short, making it harder to roll them up, which adds some time to the takedown process.
Some other items I would look at improving would be the brackets where the arms connect. There is quite a bit of flex which causes the arms to flex. My modification helps fix this problem. Furthermore, when you stake down the enclosure to hold the walls, it causes even more flex on the arms.
Something else I would also like to add is a cover or roof to the enclosure. Not only would this tension of the brackets make it more rigid, but it would also keep you out of the elements while inside. This may be something I look into making in the future.
Modifications
My number one complaint with this shower enclosure is that they use solid fabric walls. That means any sort of wind or breeze makes the enclosure fly all over to place. They do offer points to attach the enclosure to the floor, but this creates tension on the top arms, which don’t hold up very well.
To combat this, I drilled holes in the arms and got adjustable tent poles. These poles push up on the arms and down on the fabric, creating a very solid wall. This holds up to the wind really well and also gives you a lot more space on the inside of the enclosure.
On top of this, I use large clamps to clamp the back of the enclosure to the sliders. This allows the back side of the enclosure to also stop flapping around. It also gives a lot more useful space if we add an additional magnetic rack to the inside to hold items while inside; we have a pretty complete mobile bathroom setup.
One of the hardest things to battle while on the road is showering. When using a shower enclosure such as this one, the difficulty I ran into was mud. When using the shower feature or even after, you may get a pool of mud in this area.
We were able to pick up a plastic shoe track and use it on the floor while showering. These work well by keeping the mud out; you can dump it elsewhere, and they are very thin and light. This allows it to contour to the ground, so it doesn’t slip and slide.
Final Thoughts
There are many bathroom solutions when camping. These can range from stand-alone tents, truck-mounted solutions, and the good ole behind a tree.
You may need to take some time to find what works best for you, but there is sure to be a solution out there. The Tuff Stuff Shower tent offers all the great luxuries of a private bathroom but comes with a price. It is very fast to set up and take down but has to be mounted to the truck all the time. With the modifications listed in this article, I am sure the Tuff Stuff Shower enclosure could be a good fit for you.
