Water Heater Modification or Add on

[VOLnation]

We just purchased a 2021 Vengeance Rogue Armored 383G2 and took it out this past week. We absolutely loved it and had minimal issues with our first outing. We got it be cause we have a couple of RZR XP 1000’s and one is a Highlifter 4-Seater we will take in this beast. Only two items that really stood out were;

1) The 10 gallon water heater, though it worked as designed I believe, provided only about 8-10 minutes of a hot shower. Though my reading had shown this to be normal, my wife says it’s not acceptable, she has a lot of hair where as I am follicly challenged and it’s not an issue. LOL. Is there a way to install a tankless water heater for the shower only and maybe use the installed for everything else or some other modification that would add about 5-8 minutes of hot water? Just don’t know much about the systems as this is our first true RV.

2) The last item was the two outer doors would really never ever close without securing the deadbolts. They were very very very difficult to close and having little to no handle to pull and close the door. Any thoughts? Can a door handle be added, the door adjusted, etc... looking for any advice.

Thanks and have enjoyed my limited time here and the feedback I have gotten so far.

/R
William

[tomkatb]

I assume you know the Suburban water heater you can turn on both the gas and electric to heat water. It recovers very quickly.

Add to that one of the restricted flow shower heads. About all you can do for under $40. Would double the time.

The Truma water heater is sort of expensive but is continuous.

$13-1500.

My wife is a Navy shower person. We take showers back to back. Never run out.

[VOLnation]

@tomkatb

Thanks for the reply. I have both the element and gas turned on. Will definitely look at a restricted flow head. I’m retired Navy so chuckled when you posted that. My wife doesn’t subscribe to the SS&S mentality —-> YET!

Thanks again,
William

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by VOLnation

@tomkatb

Thanks for the reply. I have both the element and gas turned on. Will definitely look at a restricted flow head. I’m retired Navy so chuckled when you posted that. My wife doesn’t subscribe to the SS&S mentality —-> YET!

Thanks again,
William

Get her some of that dry, leave in shampoo stuff and tell her the problem is solved

[Scrapper]

Navy showers are the way of life in a camper, it's just slightly better but not by much if your on full hookup site. When it comes to showers, camping has more in common with the navy than it does with the army.

[VOLnation]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

Navy showers are the way of life in a camper, it's just slightly better but not by much if your on full hookup site. When it comes to showers, camping has more in common with the navy than it does with the army.

Very true and I’m sure she will at some point come around.

[Qwkynuf]

I'm just having a terrible time trying to picture where all that water's going to go.

[NMWildcat]

Get an Oxygenics body spa shower head so she can rinse her hair better. My wife had the same problem and that fixed the rinse problem.
As far as length of shower, either she understands she is not at home and has to adjust, or you spend lots of money on an after market install of an on demand water heater.
And if you ever go dry camping (no hookups or sewer), she either learns about navy showers or you have really short trips

[chriscowles]

What comes in must go out. If you don't have full hookups that means more trips with a portable tank to drain the gray tank.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by chriscowles

What comes in must go out. If you don't have full hookups that means more trips with a portable tank to drain the gray tank.

And to fill the fresh water tank.

Bruce

[Boomerweps]

Everyone else addressed the shower. I strongly recommend the Oxygenics shower head, stock head has no pressure, plus the Oxygenics has a continuous tiny flow to maintain temperature mix (can be a problem) that you can use for lathering up.

Door latches. I added pull ropes (paracord) through the two holes on the interior pull handle. Huge difference. Don’t yank, just hold and lean back, it’ll latch. The screen door slide must be open to pull the cord through.
Note on door while traveling. Lock both locks AND if you have a folding grab handle, fold it over the door. I have had my door open from frame flex.

[tomkatb]

We have the fancy oxygenetics shower head. $40. 2 minute installation.

It will double your shower time. That was for me, not her.

The on demand water heaters work. However, lots of complaints about all but the Truma as I have read.

You would not want to add another heater. Electric ones you need a gazillion amps for them.

Your option after the new head is training. Maybe with new diamond earrings!

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

We have the fancy oxygenetics shower head. $40. 2 minute installation.

It will double your shower time. That was for me, not her.

The on demand water heaters work. However, lots of complaints about all but the Truma as I have read.

You would not want to add another heater. Electric ones you need a gazillion amps for them.

Your option after the new head is training. Maybe with new diamond earrings!

I have a feeling there will need to be a diamond necklace with those earrings.

[VOLnation]

Originally Posted by Boomerweps

Everyone else addressed the shower. I strongly recommend the Oxygenics shower head, stock head has no pressure, plus the Oxygenics has a continuous tiny flow to maintain temperature mix (can be a problem) that you can use for lathering up.

Door latches. I added pull ropes (paracord) through the two holes on the interior pull handle. Huge difference. Don’t yank, just hold and lean back, it’ll latch. The screen door slide must be open to pull the cord through.
Note on door while traveling. Lock both locks AND if you have a folding grab handle, fold it over the door. I have had my door open from frame flex.

Boomer,
Thank you so much. I was looking for an option and this seems to fit the bill. I’ll give that a whirl! We lock it all and have the grab bar pulled over. I’m always fearful of a door flying open, it’s not like this thing is is slim and adding any width freaks me out.

Also which shower head model do you recommend? I need a fixed head.

[VOLnation]

@tomkatb and @Scrapper,
I agree with you both that there is probably more cost in my future from a jewelry standpoint. Would rather spend it on modifications to the rig, but we’ll see. She’s been saying she’s wanted to cut her hair significantly and I was not a fan. I may need to support that going forward to limit any downstream complaining. ;-)

[NMWildcat]

If your door doesn't latch easily, you might have to adjust the latch a bit. I ensure the mechanism works easily by using dry lube and ensuring everything lines up.
After a few trips, I'm betting many of the fears of owning a new RV will disappear.

[VOLnation]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

If your door doesn't latch easily, you might have to adjust the latch a bit. I ensure the mechanism works easily by using dry lube and ensuring everything lines up.
After a few trips, I'm betting many of the fears of owning a new RV will disappear.

@NMWildcat

Thanks and I looked at that already and adjusted as far as I could on both doors. The latch just doesn’t grab the lip and lock without some stiff pressure being applied, easy to do when closing on the outside because we just push and it clicks pretty simply, from the inside there isn’t a enough handle to get leverage to get the click. We just deadbolt right now. I’ll look at it some more. This is an issue because we have a couple dogs and they have already learned to give the door a nudge and bump it open.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by VOLnation

@NMWildcat

Thanks and I looked at that already and adjusted as far as I could on both doors. The latch just doesn’t grab the lip and lock without some stiff pressure being applied, easy to do when closing on the outside because we just push and it clicks pretty simply, from the inside there isn’t a enough handle to get leverage to get the click. We just deadbolt right now. I’ll look at it some more. This is an issue because we have a couple dogs and they have already learned to give the door a nudge and bump it open.

Yep, sounds like it needs a little adjusting. I 'adjusted' the last latch plate with a dremel tool to get it to latch easily

[xgarys]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

We have the fancy oxygenetics shower head. $40. 2 minute installation.



It will double your shower time. That was for me, not her.



The on demand water heaters work. However, lots of complaints about all but the Truma as I have read.



You would not want to add another heater. Electric ones you need a gazillion amps for them.



Your option after the new head is training. Maybe with new diamond earrings!

I agree. I’ve seen lots of complaints about demand water heaters but never on the Truma AquaGo. We’ve used ours for three years and it has always provided hot water for as long as we want. My wife likes lots of water too.

The Oxygenics shower head is definitely a water saver. We use the aerator mode whenever we dry camp.

[WanderMore]

A Swedish company has launched the OrbSys recycling shower — a new kind of shower that saves up to 90% of the water and 80% of the energy consumed by a normal shower.

Our RVs are adopting more and more technology innovations. Perhaps something like the OrbSys will one day be an option. I can see a huge demand; depending on price.