from what i can see in the pics, it looks good. i have a rhino rack batwing on our 5x8 camper and the plastic pivots break real easily...if yours are all metal, then it should hold up really well. we wanted a shower and went with a collapsible shower tent and a bug sprayer. our last trip out in west texass had a wind pick up the tent and throw it into a pile of cactus...i obviously need better, so curious what youre building. is your shower a case that mounts to the side of your trailer and it opens and the legs fold out? do they have vertical support, or just supported by the hinges? guess you are having custom curtains made and they will fold up into the case for storage. what material for a curtain? i would guess that you are going heavier than a shower curtain from walmart
So, lots of great questions. First, I watched a few dozen DIY vids on YouTube to decide I liked the hard shell gun case idea. The vids I watched for the awnings and showers got me thinking about materials and I for sure didn’t want hinges that were weak points that would be broken by wind, without working for it. A trip to a metal scrap yard and I was able to find some square tubing and some Chanel and such I could make hinge brackets and hinges themselves from. I’ve always been a decent “monkey see, monkey do” sort, so I borrowed a friends welder and played with it a little before starting my projects. My oldest Son is a trained welder, so he gave me some pointers too.
The shower case bolts to my roof rack with wing-nuts. The arms cross each other but one sits higher, like your own arms would if you crossed them. The curtain will attach to them with strap material at the top but have a hem in the bottom with some sort of rod material to stiffen the curtain as it hangs and help keep the shape square at the ground level. There will likely be some peg-out points on the lower corners, but no support poles to hold the arms up. Steel hinges and short arms (36inch) make support poles not necessary. The batwing awning will have support poles but will not need them to deploy, only for tie-down supports. The awning arms have a truss welded in to provide strength and support during set up and pack up. I will add some pics of the hinges and truss design. Metal is quite forgiving as a medium. The whole“monkey-see-monkey do” thing helps too!
I have been leaning toward a sprayer shower apparatus too, partly because they are cheap, portable and can easily be stowed, but have not ruled out a more complex “road-shower” style build, also from scrap-yard material.
I will have the curtain made from a rip stop material similar to my Smittybilt Overlander XL, but I will have the tent-smith add a layer of non-see thru material on one side, to beef up the curtain and negate silouetting when someone uses it.
I will add a few more pics to help show the hinges and truss design better.
