At the tail end of 2019, Yakima announced that they had just acquired the Road Shower brand and all of their inventory and intellectual property. Clearly, Yakima planned to continue sales of the roof top mounted shower system, and now the three versions are up for sale online with pricing and all of the details.
For the time being, the Road Shower doesn’t look to have changed much since Yakima took over sales. Essentially a long, skinny tank that you mount on your roof, the welded aluminum Road Shower comes in three sizes that hold 4, 7, and 10 gallons respectively.
The universal mounting system will work with all Yakima cross bars as well as many other roof racks.
The stock unit includes a flexible hose with a spray nozzle and brass water fittings. The small and medium tanks include a 55″ hose while the large tank bumps up to 81″. The stick-on thermometer strip will give you an idea of the water temperature which is warmed by the sun.
For more functionality, you can use the secondary outlet water port to attach another on-off elbow ($20) and then a FlexHead shower (19″ for $50, 30″ for $60). The FlexHead shower allows you to easily stand under the head to clean off after a ride without having to spray yourself (or someone else) with the hose.
In order to get that pressurized spray, the tank has a built-in schrader valve which you can pressurize with a hand or electric pump. There is also an integrated pressure relief valve so that the pressure can’t exceed 65psi. Next to the pressure valve is the fill cap which can be simply opened and filled, or you can use the included garden hose adapter to fill and pressurize the tank at the same time.
Finally, there’s an integrated lock loop to secure your tank to your rack.
The tanks and hardware alone weigh in at 19.5, 25.5, and 37lbs for the small, medium, and large respectively. But add a full tank of water, and you’re looking at 53, 84, and 120lbs total. That’s important to keep in mind for the total capacity of your roof rack system, and also weight distribution of the gear on your roof.
Available now from Yakima.com, the RoadShower starts at $330 for the small 4 gallon tank, then increases to $440 for the medium 7 gallon, and $550 for the large 10 gallon.
