Shower Tent Benefits:

A shower tent gives you the following benefits when camping:

1. Access to washing facilities – even in a remote area, a privacy tent (and shower) gives you access to the hygienic benefit of a warm shower.

2. Privacy – you may want to get back to nature, but this doesn't involve public nudism for most people. A changing tent provides you with space to change your clothing and freshen up - hidden from passing traffic and strangers.

3. Protection from the elements – the camping shower tent shields your body from rain, wind, and sun while you are getting clean.

4. Freedom from the shower block – many campsites offer showering facilities (and many do not), but that means potential queues, other people's dirt, and no hot water guarantee. Setting up a changing tent for your camping party, frees you from needing to use shared facilities.

5. Other uses – a changing tent is useful for applications like a convenient changing room when you take a family trip to the beach or showering and changing facilities next to the pool.

Although you can rig up a DIY privacy screen for a camp shower, a purpose-built privacy tent comes with all the features you need for a pleasant daily shower.

Types of Shower Tent:

There are a couple of ways of describing types of camping shower tent.

How You Erect the Tent?
There are three main ways of erecting a privacy tent:

· Pop-up – you throw the tent into the air, and it pops into shape, ready for you to pin into place with stakes and guy ropes.

· Quick pitch – usually, these are tents with an external metal framework that folds down (like an umbrella). You pull the central point up, and the frame locks into place. Again, you keep it firmly in place with appropriate fixings.

· Traditional – you erect the poles in a standard framework by hand and then cover it with the tent. It takes a little longer than the newer methods, but it is a straightforward tent design that always works for years.

Shower Type:
The other way of describing a camping shower tent enclosure is the type of shower most suitable for use with that tent:

· Solar.
· Battery.
· Propane gas.

In theory, you can use any portable camping shower with a camping privacy tent because the privacy tent is a privacy enclosure. Practically it makes sense to buy a shower tent that accommodates your preferred portable camping shower.

You can get a solar shower tent with the solar bag (to heat the water) incorporated into the tent design. These are budget-friendly but suffer from the disadvantage that it only works effectively on sunny days.

How to Choose the Best Shower Tent for You?
Your individual and family needs are unique. You may prefer a two room privacy tent that gives you privacy to dress and undress, or you may be happy running from your sleeping tent in a large bath towel – everyone has a different list of essential features.

When you look for your first changing tent or a replacement, consider the following:

1. Budget – the budget you set will determine the level of features available at that price point. Changing tents are affordable, but a low budget means you need to match your expectation to the types of privacy tents in your price range.

2. Essential features – if you have an exact list of essential features (plus bonus features), it makes it easier to produce a shortlist of potential changing tents for you and your camping style.

3. Size – if you are tall, you may need an extra-tall privacy tent for comfort while showering. You may prefer two room tents to a single room.

Shower Tent Features:
Some of the features you want to consider when making your buying decision or shortlisting possible changing tents for your family's needs include:

1. Height
Shower tents are tall in the middle, but you need the tent to give you room to stand up underneath the showerhead because crouching is uncomfortable. The taller you are, the more likely you will benefit from a privacy tent with additional headspace.

2. Durability
When you invest in your camping equipment, you expect to get many seasons of use from your kit. In a changing tent, you look for:

· Robust poles that will not buckle under the shower equipment's weight and will stand up to wind and the occasional storm.

· Quality material like ripstop nylon or specialist fabric for the tent.

· Corrosion-resistant poles from aluminum, coated steel, or carbon fiber for longevity when exposed to wet conditions.

3. Shower Floor
A permanent shower floor keeps the inside and outside separate, providing a clean surface and freedom from small biting insects. The downside of the permanent floor is the poor drainage out of the tent. However, some campsites require you to collect your wastewater, and if you use a shower floor with a wastewater tank, drainage out of the privacy tent is not an issue.

A removable floor usually means a couple of inches gap at the bottom of the changing tent. This feature allows water to drain away, but it also will enable insects and other debris to come into the privacy tent. The increased airflow assists in drying out the camping shower tent after use, but it depends on your camping environment to benefit from this versus the inconvenience of insect bites.

4. Ventilation
Most shower tents incorporate mesh panels (with privacy screens when in use) to help the privacy tent's interior to dry out between showers. Some higher quality privacy tents use fabric with water wicking properties to evaporate the moisture through the tent walls.

Tent Fabric
Most privacy tents use waterproof nylon, but the tent fabric can have other properties:

4.1 UV radiation resistance – increases the durability of the tent and protects the people inside from sun damage.

4.2 Water repellant coatings - help water to bead on the surface and run off.

4.3 Breathability -the same high-tech fabrics found in hiking shoes and coats also make changing tents that wick away steam from the interior and help the tent dry out.

4.4 Camouflage pattern – increased privacy through blending into the surroundings.

It's worth checking the tent fabric's properties because a quick-drying tent is an advantage in terms of comfort and reducing potential mildew over a week's camping.

5. Comfort
Some features make using a changing tent more comfortable – like large zips to give you easy access to the tent, shower rails, and mesh pockets for your bathing essentials. A camping shower tent with two compartments makes it easy to separate your wet bathing area from your dry dressing area. A shower light improves useability in low light levels or at night, and a locking system secures your privacy while showering.

6. Other Features
The final practical considerations are practical features like weight, ease of set up, and the packed camping shower tent's size. A changing tent is a useful addition to your camping kit, but it is more gear you need to make room for in your car, and a compact, lightweight package is easier to manage.