Verhagen Sauna Caravan
Some pictures of my mobile sauna in a caravan.
The sauna was completed in nov 2004. Since then it has been in Belgium and Slovenia.
One of my hobby’s is wild water kayakking. As a Dutchmen??? Yes, we just have to drive a bit further in able to have fun. The sauna is often being used to heat up after a chilly tour on a cold river. Just perfect!
Greetings, Stefan Verhagen
Netherlands
Aare Saunawagen
Beside our main project of the public Sauna to the Aare this year we tackled our mobile Sauna project.
Andreas Blumenstein in the tub, Fritz Sahli in the car and Stefan kropf/Urs Baumann
We want to give all our members the possibility to sweat in an open, family atmosphere. At the end of October we bought a site trailer, which we converted to a Saunawagen.
On 28 January the Saunawagen was inaugurated with soup and Proseco. Immediately all registered members can acquire 10-pack sauna passes for 10 Franconias. The Saunawagen can be used by members at any time.
Sweat beside the sheep pasture
After sweating a jump into the river. That is the still unrealized dream of the association “Sauna to the Aare”. Now it opens to those in Switzerland the first mobile Freiluftsauna (free air/outdoor sauna). It is in Uettligen.
Flashlight, reading material and towel: requirements for the ultimate rural Saunavergnuegen. These pieces of advice are in the user info on the homepage of the association “Sauna to the Aare”. Filled with the most important Sauna tips, can loose-pull confidently.
The first Freiluftsauna of the region Berne is in a converted site trailer at the periphery of the village of Uettligen on the bio farm of farmer Fritz Sahli. Or rather: behind the farm. And with a free view over green meadows and the
mountains.
The former site trailer is the first mobile Sauna in Switzerland. The vehicle was converted the last winter in approximately 400 hours by club members. The Sauna with wood furnace and the holzgetaeferte quiescent area can seat six people. Candles provide for cosy lighting. The association invested approximately ten thousand Franconias into the conversion of
the wagon. It was solemnly inaugurated in January with soup and Prosecco.
A “meeting place”
Bio farmer Fritz Sahli has heating of the Sauna well handled: For the recruiting leagues farmer it is a step toward “Agro tourism and
Wellness”. Sahli operates the 28 hectares farm, on its large farm and grainary, runs a bio shop, supplies different shops in the city Berne with its products and entertains guests. It converted a Remise into a seminar area, and Sahli still has more ideas. But the local laws create barriers: Recently it had to remove a pavilion in the yard, because it did not conform with zoning laws. He sees the sow hub impulse of the urban club members and their guests despite additional work as enriching: “the meeting of city and country brings everybody something.”
Freiluftsauna in the Marzili
Even if the sheep watch the naked Saunagaengern and are announced in the open air itself cooling in the bath tub: In the year 2004 the created association “Sauna to the Aare” does not want to be original project to give up: “a public Freiluftsauna and an open-air urban swimming pool, like they already have in Zurich and Geneva – that is and remains our goal”, says Barbara Beyeler. The first Sauna project in the Lorrainebad failed because of lack of resources, now rests hope in the Marzilibad: There soon the “Bueber” must be reorganized. “perhaps that is exactly the right moment for the building of our Freiluftsauna”, says Beyeler.
Only for members
The Saunawagen in Uettligen is open to club members: Members pay an annual 50 Franconias fee, sponsor participate with 200 Franconias. It is possible for members to reserve the Sauna on the internet at www.saunaare.ch. The Saunagang costs 10 Franconias per person, but passes are available also in Sahlis bio shop.
Zaunava
An experienced peacekeeper is hardly surprised when told that the Finnish Army Camp in Lipljan, Camp Ville, has a total of 15 saunas. Those who have previously been on missions with the Finns immediately know that when free time exists, saunas are heated up every morning and every evening and soldiers can enjoy the heat and relaxation!
Everyone knows that mobile phones and Finland make a good combination as well. Almost every soldier here has operated one or at least seen a Finnish made Nokia mobile phone. But what you probably have never seen before is the combination of mobility and the sauna: the ultimate Zastava Sauna Mobile or just shortly: Zaunava!
This unique invention is made from the brainworks that only army engineers possess. Since developed and built at Camp Ville, this Sauna Zastava has been the number one attraction to all privileged visitors to the Finnish Camp. This motorized sauna unit is based on old signals vehicles of the Yugoslav Army. Three abandoned cars where found five years ago when the Finns moved in to the area of Lipljan Paper Factory. One of the cars was maintained in original condition by car enthusiastics among peacekeepers.
When Staff sergeant Jari Jokinen saw that there were still parts of Zastavas lying in the storage hall, he had a brainstorming session with himself and came to a shining conclusion (which any Finn would ultimately have ended up with): let’s build a sauna!
The Engineer platoon welcomed this brilliant idea as unique thinking and in no time the parts of the Zastavas were turned into a mobile sauna with wooden inner walls and a wood heated hot oven. This design of the Engineer platoon was nick-named Zaunava.
-Usually Zaunava is used during weekends. Normal procedure is to run four rounds around the camp. Four men can conveniently fit inside and the heat is gentle and moist, explains the inventor StaffSgt Jokinen.
(text by SRLT Markku Tuhkanen, Finnish Army)
The Ark
Possibly the world’s only combination hot tub and sauna on wheels. Albert puts the recreation back into recreational vehicles, and he can do it for you!
“I built the Ark in Eugene Oregon, USA; just 16 nights, mostly after work. I had an F-16 fighter pilot/Squadron leader help me for the last three days. Then without lights or breaks we towed it through 2 feet of snow to a mountain resort for one week of partying with our new vessel. The plot thickens and it’s funnier than hell. But the fact is it’s never too late to do it again.
I am now living in Roatan Honduras. There is a need for great saunas in the Caribbean.
I do know of another mobile sauna and will try to get you info and photos.
Thanks for keeping the Ark and the art of making mobile saunas on the
Internet.
Vernon Albert
011 –504 -373-8262 cell phone number in Roatan Honduras
541-359-4172 Eugene Oregon phone number that rings in to my Internet phone
in Roatan.
vernalbert@yahoo.com
Hino Saunatruck
Vancouver, Canada
www.saunasessions.ca/saunatruck
Three years in development, this sauna began when the old saunavan was hit by another truck and
taken off the road. The insurance money bought us a 30-year old, 3-ton truck, which took us some time to get roadworthy.
The truck is Hino Canada’s Most Rugged Survivor, a 1975 Hino KL, one of the first Hinos in Canada and the last KL series still on the road. It has a 183 horsepower, 6-cylinder diesel engine that we run on biodiesel. Top speed is over 100 km/h.
The sauna itself was built in about 2 weeks, operational just in time for the soundwave 2005 festival in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island.
Sauna Truck interior (2014)
Saunatruck Interior (2006)
The sauna was constructed according to Finnish sauna building codes and traditions as well as our own sauna research and experience. The box is heavily insulated with rockwool and STK foil vapour barrier, and finished with western red cedar with yellow cedar in the change area.
The stove was custom designed and built for this sauna. It currently uses a 35000 BTU propane burner, but it is designed to also use wood or vegatable oil by using a different burner assembly.
The truck was formerly party of the Mobile Cartographic Command Centre, or
MC3, a mobile media lab designed to explore art-led technology development dealing with issues of place and locality in Canada. Lab equipment included a GPS device, a Wi-Fi routers, an FM transmitter, DJ equipment and a sound system.
Music is still an essential part of our mobile sauna camps; some recordings of DJ sessions as well as live recordings with local artists can be heard and downloaded at saunasessions.ca. Be sure to listen for MC Cedar as he sings about his life and love of the sauna!
Squamish Valley: mobile sauna on the river
Ponijpirts
“As part of the Integrating Latvian Society Project, K@2 proposes The Saunaosta Project, an experiment in bathing as a cultural interface. The Saunaosta Project will build a mobile sauna in a bus that will be able to travel between the program’s workshops in Liepaja, Riga and Daugavapils, where it parked out back and participants will be invited in after a hard day of workshopping.”
The ponijpirts is built in an old pony trailer with an excellent pony-ramp entrance. It uses a wood stove. After some long delays the ponijpirts was completed on time for Janji (July 24) 2004, and more than 17 people can fit inside the sauna.
After the 2004 Tukums festival the ponijpirts original Renault truck was finished, so in 2005 the ponijpirts
was remounted on a new volvo truck and received a new paint job.
According to web sources, ponijpirts went to Paris and Strasbourg as the “Le Camion Sauna Mobile” in November 2005:
Le Camion Sauna Mobile
Basé à Karosta, Liepaja, Lettonie, La Camion Sauna Mobile est un Sauna fonctionnel aménagé dans un camion par l’artiste multimedia Karlis Kalnins. Il permet au grés des deplacements du camion de villes en villes de d’offrir aux visiteurs un sauna gratuit. Le Sauna constitue aussi un espace de rencontres original entre des personnes ne se connaissant pas… Il sera visible à Paris et Strasbourg à partir du 7 novembre 2005 (localisation 0388370872)
http://www.karosta.lv/ponijpirts/
Le Camion Sauna Mobile
Bas
East Van Sauna Van
The saunavan is built in a 1980 GMC Vandura. Both the vehicle and the stove are powered by propane fuel.
The sauna stove is a ventilated and exhausted box of welded steel, with the propane burner inside. The burner generates 35,000 btu/h or 10kw, which uses 20 pounds of propane over about 18 hours at maximum power. The burner controls and ventilation are outside the vehicle, exhaust escapes via a chimney. The burner is removed and stowed during transit. On the inside the stove box is covered with rocks and surrounded by a stainless steel shield. All exhaust exits through the chimney flue. This stove design is not very efficient, recently we have learned a lot about building better stoves.
In these photos, you can see into the changing room where there are benches and hooks for clothes.
A door then leads into the cedar sauna (2m x 2.1m x 2m / 6′ x 7′ x 6′) with two levels of benches that can seat 3 people lying down, 6 comfortably, or up to a very friendly 14.
The vehicle is very manouverable and equally capable in the urban environment as it is in the wilderness. In the city the van is
basically invisible to untrained eyes and can park almost anywhere. Unfortunately while the van was parked it was hit by another truck, causing much damage to the back of the sauna and cracking the already rusted out frame. We managed to temporarily repair the damage, but we could never insure the vehicle again.
We found a resting place beside the house, where we can fire it up every sunday night and invite our friends. Entertainment
often includes djs (like Woodhead, showing sauna technique in this photo), freestyle MCs and live music, some of it recorded and
available to listen and download at saunasessions.ca
In 2006 the saunavan was renovated and reborn as saunavan V2, a new sauna trailer!
Saunabus
Saunabus is the work of design students at the University of Applied Art and Design in Helsinki Finland. It features an electric stove, detailed styling, fibre-optic lighting, and a fold-down deck in the rear.
Visit the website saunabus.org for more information about saunabus voyages to Milan and Cologne.
This sunday night welcome in the new year of two thousand and sweatin’ with a very special sauna party at our very special location. We’ll be going late so if you’re at some club in the city, bail on that and bring yourself, your friends and a towel to a (very) deep east house party! Contact Karlis, Darren or Geri for location info.
Big thanks to Cara, the Sweetsoul crew and Steamboat Fatty for last Friday’s very special saunasession and farewell tribute to the Godfather of Sweat, Mr. James Brown.
So the stream is back finally, after we poked just about everything involved with a stick. The cable bill is paid, the account transferred and reconnected, the server rebooted, the drive fscked, the IPs changed, and everything seems cool.
Hopefully it’ll last until the next sweat at least. Big thanks to the wind here for blowing westerly rather than nor-westerly last week, so that big tree crushed our neighbour’s deck and not the newly refurbished original sauna.
We got some sweats in planning to cope with the season, whether you’re suffering from cold weather or too much sauce. St. Jules is hosting on Dec. 24th, I think we’ll be in Burnaby for New Years, and don’t forget to come down to Rime on the drive for the saunasessions all-star revue on Jan. 15. Bring a towel!
