How to Turn Your Wet Bath into a Comfy Dry Zone
One of the biggest complaints people have about small travel trailers is the Wet Bath. Because room in a very small travel trailer is at a premium, the bathroom areas are usually combined (toilet and shower in one room) and, in turn, are often finished so that all surfaces in the entire bathroom (toilet, sink, and shower) can be wet. The advantage of this is that one can enjoy almost all the comforts of home, including a full bathroom, within such a small space. However, no one likes to walk into a bathroom and get their feet wet or sit on a wet toilet seat!!!
Instead of opting to buy a larger trailer just so you can have a separate shower and toilet area or spending time after each shower drying off the toilet and floor, there are some easy inexpensive solutions that will ensure that the shower area is insulated so that the toilet compartment stays dry and comfortable. Additionally, a couple of extra items will keep the floor in the shower relatively dry after each use.
Insulating the two compartments is easy if you have the right supplies. The first thing you will need is a simple shower curtain with holes and plastic rings. You will also need some medium utility hooks and perhaps some 3M adhesive fastener tape (sold a home supply stores) if you are affixing the hook to headliner (furry insulating material).
August 2021 UPDATE (use Magnets instead of Hooks)
First, we used the already existing pvc rod in the Scamp (above the inside of the bathroom door used to hold the door curtain) to secure the door side of our curtain by putting our ring on it at the end. Next, we used 3M fastener tape and stuck it onto the back of one of the hooks (instead of using the double sided tape that comes with the hooks). We used this one hook with the 3M tape for the headliner, because the fiberglass shower wall doesn’t come up too high in the Scamp and the regular tape doesn’t stick to the insulated headliner material. The Scamp has a rat fur type of headliner which the 3M fastener sticks to really well. We attached the double sided tape for the other two hooks because they were going directly onto the fiberglass wall, so we could secure the shower curtain against the entire wall (see images).
The idea is that the shower curtain is used when showering and then simply unhooked and tucked on the door side when done. You will find that this method works well for keeping the toilet area dry (along with the toilet paper / rolls placed on toilet bowl cleaner’s handle).
To keep your feet elevated off the shower floor (which can be damp or wet), we recommend using a teak “mat”. It is a really nice way to stay elevated from the floor while also allowing water to fall between the slits into the drain. Additionally, it may provide some anti-slip properties versus standing directly on potentially slick fiberglass flooring. We purchased this one (measure your floor area to make sure the mat you purchase fits):
If your shower floor holds some residual water after showering, like ours does, we recommend using a squeegee after showering to move water manually into the shower drain (with shower floor pump running and teak mat removed). Once you have done your best, simply place the teak mat back over the floor.
After doing everything in this article, you should have a reasonably dry toilet compartment after each shower!
Disclaimer: You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale. These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences. However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer. It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.
