You Need a HydroPod Portable Shower

Manufacturer advertisements would have us believe there’s some promised land where everyone rides all day only to get out of their rig fresh as a daisy, but here in the real world, hours on the trail mean you get back to the truck good and filthy. Whether it’s mud, dust, grease, or grime, most of us rely on a bottle of water and some wet wipes to get clean enough for the ride home. Leitner Designs thinks there’s a better way. The company has been designing and building truck accessories since 2014, and it recently turned its attention to providing a way to clean up when you’re far from a hose. Enter the HydroPod.

The funky form is made to fit on a Leitner Designs bed rack, but the optional base plate allows it to sit anywhere, including the back of a side-by-side. The vessel holds just under 5 gallons of water and pressurizes with a hand pump, and the HydroPod comes with a 20-foot hose and a garden-style spray nozzle. It’s also made in America, but will set you back $349.

That’s a little tough to stomach knowing that the HydroPod is largely plastic, but the system feels tough enough to take some abuse. It’s also simple to use. Open the vessel, fill it up, and pump to the desired water pressure. The flat base keeps the thing stable, and the hose offers enough reach to pass between multiple people without having to drag the main container around.

While we expected to just use the HydroPod for washing faces and hands after a muddy ride, we’ve found ourselves leaning on it to clean goggles, helmets, boots, and anything else that might find itself scuzzy. We’ve also used it to clean dishes after a trailside meal. That’s not to say the HydroPod is perfect. The $350 asking price is a tough pill to swallow for a little convenience, and we would love a Schrader valve so that we could pressurize the vessel with an air compressor. That said, we’re glad to have the HydroPod around. It’s become a staple of our riding kit. For more information, head over to the Leitner Designs site.

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