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Last week I went camping with some family members. Of course, I took along a Deluxe Camp Sink. I set it up at the end of the picnic table. My sister-in-law was amazed that her children washed their hands while camping. And they did it before every meal. My 5 year old granddaughter was also a regular user of the sink. It was great for everyone to have a convenient way to keep their hands clean.
I built my first Deluxe Camp Sink four years ago. Since that time, I have used it many times. I want to share with you some advanced tips.
Sink placement – I have been asked by many, where I put my sink in my tent. I put it right inside the door of my kitchen. This is the front door of my tent. My kitchen is an attached, enclosed porch where food is prepared and eaten. By keeping it there, it is conveniently accessible. When someone starts preparing food, they wash their hands. When someone is going to eat, they wash their hands. When someone goes potty, whether inside or outside the tent, they wash their hands. In the winter, when things begin freezing, I will move the sink close to the wood burning stove in order to keep the water liquid.
Water flow - Some people like a narrow stream of water coming out of the spigot and have the tube poking out of the spigot to do this. Some like a more dispersed stream and have the tube inside the spigot creating a wider stream of water.
Using a water jug as supply source – in the event that you are bringing water for your sink in a jug such as a 5-8 gallon container, you can use that as the water supply for the sink and eliminate using the supply bucket. Set it near the sink and simply attach a length of tubing 4-6 feet long to go directly from the pump bulb into the water container. This eliminates having to pour water into the supply bucket. The tubing is 3/8” ID x 1/2” OD.
Extra pump bulb - some have asked me what is the weakest part of the Deluxe Camp Sink. Since we might not always have a place to buy spare parts it is good to have a backup. I think it would be the pump bulb. Because of this, I will soon be offering them on my website as a separate item. I personally have a couple of extras in my supplies.
Sealing the edge of the countertop – Some have asked me the best way to seal the edges of the countertop. I did some research on this and have found that if you get some Titebond II wood glue and mix 50% glue with 50% water it makes an excellent seal. Titebond II is listed as water resistant, Titebond III is listed as water proof. I did a test with both. I put two coats of each on the edge of a sink countertop, separated by a non-treated area. After the glue/water mixture dried, I soaked the edge of the countertop overnight. You can see from this picture that both glues eliminated any water absorption into the press board. The dark area in the middle absorbed a little, but when dried, was as smooth as the treated areas.
It is interesting that none of wood nor the melamine edge, in any of the three areas, bubbled. The glue used in the pressboard must be pretty good glue. By the way, the Titebond glue is paintable. You only need the smallest bottle to have enough glue to seal the edges.
Hand towel - This year I added capability to have the vertical portion of the pipe as a paper towel holder. We might not always have paper towels, so what my wife did is put a grommet in a small towel and hang it from the horizontal pipe with an O ring. She likes the Norwex brand towel as it is impregnated with silver and fights germs.
I hope these tips help your camping experiences be more clean and comfortable.