Hey all!
I’ve made a bit more progress, but not really as much as I’d have liked. Thanks to all the Corona stuff it slowed down a bit for me, between self isolating and trying to order certain things from Amazon, it’s just been a bit slow.
But I do have some progress to share!
In this image, you can see the over-engineered bedframe as well as what originally was going to be a “half shower”.
For the bed frame, I have a bad back and constantly toss and turn. Sometimes during the night I will literally “whale jump” and turn in the air to reposition myself, haha. So I wanted something that I could really put through its paces, so it is a bit “heavy”.
For the “half shower” (the thing on the left in this picture), I really just didn’t want to give up any windows. I wanted the most out of the “360” view I could get, but then really thinking about the setup I had planned I knew I just wouldn’t be happy. So instead the “half shower” is now going to be a cabinet and I’m going with an actual shower stall in a different location with a recirculating system that will super duper filter the same 10 gallons, requiring me to replace it only once a week or so. It will also have a tankless water heater running heating from propane, the whole system should have a flow rate of 1.5 gallons so it will almost be like a shower back at home.
For this part I’m actually having my Father help me, who is a Master Plumber with 30 years of experience and owns a pretty successful plumbing company. Truth be told, for something like this, dealing with water and especially “dirty” water, I would personally recommend getting a professional. Just my opinion. Although he thinks this design is nuts, at least I know the “quality” of the system will be solid, haha.
The whole time I was weighing out the “half shower” or the recirculating one, I kept thinking of something I saw @Van_Dweller say. (Paraphrasing here) “The more complex, the more difficult it will be to fix on the road. The more simple, the easier to just replace”.
I know this system is most definitely the first one, it’ll have more “doodads” than the original design, but I just had to give it a shot. Worse comes to worst, if it dies I’ll just rip it out and toss that sucker. 
This is after I got the side panels onto what was going to be my half shower with a fold-down top, now it’s going to be my main storage spot for “day to day”. I literally only own a bag of clothes, my toiletries, a laptop, and a set of cast iron pots right now so it’s actually more than enough space. The Shuttle Bus may be new, but I’ve been minimalist for awhile now. Although I am also considering making it a dog house for the pet I hope to adopt before I get on the road… Really just depends.
This last guy is just a shot of me trying to add some “pretty” with birch panels. I’m hoping to do all the walls, as well as the ceiling with them. Might even use them to cover up a bit of the plywood from the other structures. But even though I’d like a little bit of “pretty”, it’s really not my main focus.
I’ve already made the call that so long as the required “systems” are in place by the end of June, I’m out! I can always do some work on the road, but I can’t get back time spent “waiting for things to be perfect”.
For anyone interested in, or researching recirculating systems, this is the design I will be using. I would like to point out two things though.
A - This is not purely my design, I borrowed the “base” from a Youtuber who did the original design. I did however, remove what I considered to be “fluff”, so this is modified from his original plan.
B - While I am giving him credit, I will not link his video because I feel like (pure opinion here) he over-engineered it so that you would use his Amazon Links and spend tons of money. If you google “Vanlife recirculating shower” it will pop up though. He seems like a smart guy though, so it’s also possible that I’m just being cheap. XD
I can/will provide “royalty-free” Amazon links to the stuff I am using at some point, but it’s late and I’m tired / being lazy so I’ll edit them in later.
So that’s my update! I hope some of this might someday help someone, like so many others have helped me figure out things during my research. If anyone ever has any questions I’m always happy to share, but just know that I am not a “professional (insert any kind of trade skill here)” and my experience on the road as of this point is zilch.
I hope everyone is doing well and safe during this crazy time of Corona, until next time! 
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