Camping bath: designs with a stove and others, instructions on how to do it yourself, video and photos

Everyone knows what a bath is, which cannot be said about such a structure as a camping bath. In this article I will tell you how to make an impromptu steam room in nature at no extra cost. Plus, we will talk about what the modern market offers us, with an overview of all the advantages and disadvantages of specific models, tourist baths and stoves for them.

Homemade steam room in nature

Of course, a mobile bath in a high-quality factory design is a good thing, we will also talk about it, only a little later. But for those who go out into nature once a year and are not going to seriously invest in expensive equipment, simpler solutions are needed, and we will start the conversation with just such options.

Where does it all start

It is no secret that traditional baths come in white and black, a bath in nature is no exception. But before delving into the intricacies of technology, let's first figure out what tools and raw materials we need.

In principle, almost all such structures, whether they are mobile or stationary, are arranged in the same way. In a closed room, a heater stove is installed, which is heated and then these heated stones are poured with water.

You don’t need any specialized tool for building a steam room with your own hands in field conditions; it’s quite possible to get by with a standard tourist kit. That is, you must have an ax, a knife, a supply of rope and a shovel.

To build an impromptu room for our steam room, you need a frame.

There are several options here:

The easiest way is to go to the nearest forest and chop the young there. You should choose straight poles with a thickness of about 3 - 4 cm and a length of up to 3 m;
A prefabricated frame from a tourist or, at worst, a market tent is perfect. Iron tubes are certainly a good thing, but they are heavy, so it is better to give preference to aluminum racks here.

Now there are still frames made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, I won’t lie, I personally didn’t test them, but according to experienced tourists, the material is quite worthy of attention.

Naturally, the frame needs to be covered with something, and for these purposes there are also several pretty decent options:

In the "bins of the Motherland" of almost half of our compatriots, you can find an old canvas tent without a bottom, still of the Soviet type. A canvas tent is a thing that cannot be killed even for an impromptu steam room, it fits perfectly, the only negative is its weight, the tarpaulin is heavier than modern analogues;

If somehow it didn’t work out with a canvas tent, then you can buy a two-layer technical polyethylene with a thickness of 100 - 200 microns. You can take a roll, but you have to fuss more with it, I recommend buying a whole canvas. Now in stores they sell pieces 6x6m in size, such dimensions are enough for you to build a steam room for 4 - 6 people;
A friend of mine adapted an old advertising banner for this purpose. Dense polymer fabric is of course a strong thing and you can use such an awning for a steam room more than a dozen times, but the banners are heavy, so this option is more suitable for autotourists.

In no case do not use modern synthetic tents for the construction of a steam room, they burn out from any small spark. Such an awning after the first call can be thrown away.

Choosing a place wisely

When choosing a place, first of all, remember that a camping bath with a stove should be equipped next to a pond. It is not so important whether it is a lake or a river, the main thing is that there is a lot of water, it will not work well to wash from an imported tank.

The second no less important point is firewood, and you will need a lot of firewood. When my friends and I organize a fishing steam room, two people need about 2 hours to collect. Only deadwood should be taken, logs should be 10–15 cm thick. Thick logs will not burn through, and thin logs will not give the desired heat.

By the way, advice for motorists, having a chainsaw in the trunk will significantly speed up the process, plus you won’t have to sweat so much with an ax in your hands.

And finally, it will take a lot of stones to fold the stove for a camping sauna, and the choice should be taken seriously.

Approximate amount of material 1 bucket of stones per 1 person;
In addition, you do not need to take all the stones in a row. Only large and medium boulders are suitable for us, preferably rounded;
Do not take stones with extraneous inclusions and multi-colored stones. Such material, when heated, will almost certainly crumble, or even worse, begin to “shoot”;
Cracked stones will not suit us either;
In no case do not try to build a stove for a mobile bath from slate, it is categorically not suitable for these purposes;
As a result, we are interested in rounded homogeneous boulders, the diameter of which starts from 10 - 15 cm.

I will give you a separate secret of selecting stones from my own experience. I choose stones on a sunny day, preferably in an open area, and I take only hot boulders. If the stone is heated by the sun, it means that it accumulates heat well and fits perfectly under the stove for a camping bath.

We organize a bath on white

For you to understand, a white bath is a fire with hot stones separately, and an impromptu steam room is separate and only at the very end of heating all this is combined.

We start by heating the stones, and while they are heating, we are building a steam room. Although if there are enough people, then you can do everything at the same time. At the same time, the distance from the fire to the steam room is approximately 1.5 - 2 m, so that the heat or sparks do not burn the awning.

The process goes in stages, the first row of the thickest logs is laid on the ground. One layer of stones is poured on it. Lay out another row of logs on top and cover with a row of stones. Thus, you should get a "sandwich" of 3 - 4 layers of stones, after which the fire is kindled.

As the firewood burns out, you gradually add rows of stones and cover them with dry firewood. This continues until all the stones are in the fire. Then they need to be brought to the desired temperature, it takes an average of 2 to 3 hours, so the fire should burn all this time.

It is best to organize this action in the afternoon, so by the time it comes to the procedures themselves, twilight will come, and at twilight you can clearly see the moment when the stones turn red from the heat.

By the time the stones are finally warmed up, you should have a steam room ready. It’s easier, of course, to build a hut like an Indian wigwam. But it is bad because the heat will collect in the upper cone, and miserable crumbs will remain on the lower tier, where people actually soar.

My friends and I always collect a cube, fuss with it more, but the effect is much better. Although in principle there is nothing complicated. You dig in 4 support posts, make a strapping from above and tie diagonals on the walls for stability. On the ceiling, the diagonals should be crossed.

So that the polyethylene does not break through the sharp corners of the home-made frame, they should be wrapped in advance with some rags. Plus, you need to dig a small pit for laying stones in the farthest corner of the steam room from the entrance and dig a gutter from this pit to the fire.

Now a couple of people are arming themselves with strong sticks, scooping heated stones out of the fire and pushing them along the chute into the steam room, unloading them into one common pile in the pit.

Some tourists do otherwise, they build a frame, drag stones there, and only after that they quickly cover the frame with an awning. The method is acceptable, but in my opinion erroneous, too much heat goes to the wind.

My friends and I do this:

The awning is calmly and carefully covered in advance and lined with stones around the perimeter for tightness;
When it comes time to move stones into it, 2 people push these stones to the entrance to the steam room, while the third person, being inside the steam room, quickly picks up the stones on a shovel and stores them in the right place;
For everything about everything, it takes no more than 10 - 15 minutes, and most importantly, all the heat remains inside the steam room.

Some of the stones may crumble from the heat, so you should not rake these fragments out of the fire, they will not make the weather. Plus, at the end of the moving process, the gutter should be poured abundantly with water, small coals will definitely remain in it, which can be burned.

Bath in black

A black sauna is a profitable option from the point of view of heating the steam room, but at the same time this option is more smoky and, if I may say so, more dirty. It can be organized in two ways.

The easiest and least expensive way is to set the largest boulder available in the center, and lay all the other stones around the perimeter and on top in the form of a pyramid.

Then you dump all the firewood that you have on this pile of stones, set it on fire and wait for the fire to burn out. When the fire begins to fade, you start building a frame for the steam room around this pyramid, but do not immediately cover it.

The main thing here is not to miss the moment of the highest heating of the stones. When you decide that this moment has come, take a broom from freshly cut branches and sweep the remaining coals away from the frame. And inside the frame itself, you pour water on the ground and lay tree branches; coniferous spruce branches are well suited for these purposes.

Now the main thing is to quickly wrap the frame with an awning and press it around the perimeter with stones. By the way, that is why I recommended buying a single wide piece of polyethylene, it is easiest for them to do this.

If you have a prefabricated frame, then you can immediately cover it with an awning and put it aside. When the time comes, a couple of strong men can easily lift this structure and cover it with a pyramid of hot stones.

The second method, in my opinion, is more effective, but at the same time it takes more time. Here, initially, a square furnace of large stones is built at the base and a pyramid of smaller stones is built above it.

Further, this impromptu stove for a camping bath is melted and maintained in an active state for about 4-6 hours. Since the dimensions of the firebox itself are often small, a person must constantly be on duty near it in order to throw a fresh portion of firewood into the fire.

But this method is good because when things are approaching the end, you can build a frame right around the stove and even partially cover it. The fire is concentrated in one place and here, with a few strokes of a shovel, you will completely remove the coals from the furnace.

Moreover, coals can not be raked out at all, just fill them with plenty of water. Then quickly close the tent and enjoy the bath procedures. By the way, if the roof is made with a hatch or completely removable, then such an oven can be melted several times.

In order not to constantly look for large stones for the construction of the furnace, one of my comrades immediately welded a cube from a corner of 35 mm, with dimensions of about half a meter, he installs it in the base of the furnace and covers it with stones, simply and conveniently.

Features of homemade designs

In any case, a certain number of stones will crack and crumble, and so, in order to minimize this percentage, first collect the stones, and then make a fire. No need to take a stone from the river and throw it into the fire, believe me it's dangerous;
Of course, stones rarely crack after a temperature rise, but in order not to risk it again, you do not need to pour cold water on them. You have enough time, put a bucket of water on the fire in advance, boil it and pour boiling water over the stones;
Despite the great heat from the fire, the ground near the reservoir is always cool and so that this dissonance does not prevent you from steaming, immediately prepare heat-insulating rugs and sit on them;

Do not expect much from the first entry, on the first entry the person and the steam room warm up, real relaxation occurs only on the second entry;
Experienced bath lovers know that steam is a kind of temperature indicator. When the stones are well heated, the steam from them is translucent, it quickly rises up and disappears there. If you poured water on the stones and the steam room filled with thick fog, this indicates that this entry was extreme.

Choosing a serial model of a mobile bath

Of course, a bath in nature, assembled with your own hands from improvised means, is filled with special romance, but its construction takes a lot of time and effort. Therefore, a serial camping sauna with a stove is now more popular, plus you can also cook dinner on such a stove.

Here you can go in two ways - buy a tent separately and pick up a stove for it or order everything in the complex. Each of these options has its pros and cons.

We buy everything separately

First, let's talk about the most popular models of stoves, 2 marching designs "Pashekhonka" and "Bereg" are in the lead here. Both of them are assembled from stainless steel sheets and function perfectly, but there are still differences.

The Pashekhonka oven has standard dimensions of 300x300x500 mm, it is equipped with four removable metal legs. A box for stones is not provided here at all; instead, two stainless steel metal screens are hung from both sides of the furnace.

In addition, the stove for the Pashekhonka mobile bath is equipped with a one and a half meter chimney with two removable knees. With their help, the chimney is easier to adapt to a specific awning, plus the smoke output can be adjusted in a certain direction.

The relative disadvantage of the Pashekhonka stove is the lack of a grid for stones. But if this is really important for you, then stones can be poured onto the upper plane, their temperature, of course, will not be the same, but there is a certain charm in this.

The stove for a camping bath "Coast" is a more capital structure. The so-called convection casing is equipped around the perimeter of this furnace, into which, if desired, about 25 kg of stones can be loaded. This design improvement significantly improves heat transfer, but it is not the only one.

The oven doors are equipped with a special glass, the instruction says that with the help of this device it is possible to regulate both the temperature inside the furnace and the general temperature in the steam room.

Like the previous model, "Bereg" is equipped with a collapsible chimney, only here the kit does not include knees for it. Manufacturers also equipped this design with a spark and a flame arrester, which, according to them, save from overheating.

As for the tents, there are also 2 leaders here. The Mobiba trademark is more widely known in the domestic market, but I will devote a separate chapter to it. Right behind it in the popularity rating is a bath awning from the Nova Tour company.

The thin and light bath tent from Nova Tour is designed for 4 people, when folded it fits easily into a backpack and weighs only 2.5 kg. A big plus is the presence of several windows, and most importantly, the price for this tent fluctuates around 4 thousand rubles, while Mobiba will cost much more.

In fact, the only drawback of the bath tent from Nova Tour is that the frame is not included in the kit, it will have to be bought separately or built from improvised means.

Popular models from the brand "Mobiba"

A mobile bath in nature is not always bought purely for tourist purposes. Hunters, geologists and even summer residents are also interested in this product, because at the stage of building a capital mansion, you need to wash somewhere.

Therefore, before you start choosing, answer yourself a few questions:

You only need a sauna or you are going to use an awning for living. If the first, then should there be a vestibule in the bath?
Will the structure be operated only in the summer or is it a year-round option?
Will the awning be assembled occasionally at the exits or installed for a long time in a semi-stationary way?
Again, what is the maximum capacity of the structure?

Now let's go through all these issues more specifically:

If you are interested in a two-in-one design, that is, a tent and a bathhouse, then among single-layer awnings, MB-104 or MB-103 are suitable for this purpose. Among the two-layer options, MB-552, MB-442 and MB-332 are more suitable for you. In all these models, the partition is made detachable;

But MB-12, MB-5 and MB-1T are purely baths, the partition in them does not come unfastened. But keep in mind, the MB-5 model does not have a vestibule at all, so it is considered the lightest and most mobile;
For year-round use and a terrible winter cold, the MB-552, MB-442 and MB-332 models are suitable. In addition to a two-layer protected awning, they are equipped with a reinforced frame made of light tubes with a cross section of 16 mm;

As for the number of layers, this is the case. According to manufacturers, a single-layer awning can be used at temperatures up to -20ºС, it is considered demi-season. The winter two-layer version withstands frosts down to -40ºС.

There are 2 types of frames, they practically do not differ in design and assembly principle, the difference lies only in the cross section of the tubes. Light frames are made from tubes with a section of 13 mm, and capital ones from a section of 16 mm. All tubes are made of D16T aviation alloy;
But do not think that lightweight frames are excessively flimsy, they are stronger than most of the frames of ordinary tourist tents, only these frames are not advisable to be left unattended for a long time, they are designed to be assembled in a "couple of days". While a heavy frame can be installed for the whole season;
As for specific models, MB-104, MB-103, MB-12 and MB-5 come with light frames. But the models MB-552, MB-442, MB-1E and MB-332 are equipped with powerful frames made of a 16 mm tube, but these frames weigh much more;

Almost all models are produced with different dimensions. The capacity of the tent ranges from 2 to 10 people, so this is often not a problem;
The mobile bath is without fail completed with the furnace, 2 models "Optima" and "Medina" are presented here. If we compare their characteristics with the above-mentioned furnaces, then "Optima" corresponds to the "Pashekhonka" furnace, and "Medina" is closer to the "Bereg" furnace, the differences there are insignificant;
By default, all single-layer models MB-12, MB-5 and others are equipped with Optima. Of the two-layer awnings, Optima is installed only in MB-552, the rest all come with Medina. Although the manufacturer can change the package at your request, this is usually not a problem, only the price will change.

Conclusion

A camp bath on a "wild" vacation, fishing or hunting, is an irreplaceable thing. I tried to provide comprehensive information, both on homemade and factory options, now it's up to you. In the photo and video in this article, you can clearly see the process of arranging such structures. If you have any questions, write them in the comments, I will try to help.