Sink or no sink?

[Arne]

first, camping with a t/d is not as simple as first appears... you (well, me) wind up with a lot of extra things that look neat and have to be carried around. like a screen room/ez-up, chairs, etc. So, usually, the t/d becomes a big suitcase while traveling....

Back to the sink. I had limits I wanted to keep within, and the galley wound up small by most standards. A sink was only very briefly considered. If you have a sink, you need water storage, which takes up valuable space.

I admit, a sink looks great and familiar, like home. But for camping, nah....

I carry one fry pan, one pot, one big salad bowl plus other stuff. Washing dishes means filling the salad bowl with water for rinsing. I heat water in the pot and add a couple of drops of dishwashing soap... I carry a smallish sponge and dish brush...

I heat the water, wash all the items, rinse in the salad bowl, and lay them on a hand towel on the picnic table.... at the end, rinse the pot with water from the salad bowl, and dry everything... total cleanup less than 10 minutes, and no water in the galley.

If you want to see what my galley looks like in real life (while in use), go to link below, page 13, bottom pic..

There are several ways to carry water. There are 3 gallon/5 gallon water containers with push button spigots on the bottom... easy to fill and set on a picnic table or stump... if no campground, a couple of blocks of wood.

[1940sHousewife]

Great galley! I'm trying to keep mine simple, but functional. Someone sent me a link to REI who has a wonderful sink/water storage unit, so I may end up with something like that. I'll still have the space for a larger water tank if I want one down the line, but after what most people have said, I'm going to skip the sink for now. I'm sure teardrops aren't completely simple to travel with, but it sure is easier than pitching a tent! I really can't wait to hit the road, hopefully in the early spring, at least for a test drive.

[Wimperdink]

I carry one of these... (never had chemicals in it of course) Have even gone so far as to install a tire valve so I can pump it up with my 12v tire pump if i'm feeling to lazy to pump it manually.

[Steve_Cox]

I have a sink and a 10 gallon water tank. I use the sink often, as I am one of those people that washes his hands before, during, and after preparing food. I somehow don't think too much hand washing is going on if one has to fill a bucket, or pan. It is convenient to just turn on the water and make coffee, no jugs, no pouring, no going to a hydrant. Most sinks take up too much valuable counter space, mine doesn't because it is in a drawer ............ and that is my opinion. ..

[1940sHousewife]

Very clever! It never would have occurred to me to put it in a pull out drawer like that!

[Arne]

regardless of location, water storage (6 gallons takes up some space) and the sink takes up counter and under counter space.....

It really depends on what you want as the end result.

In my case, I wanted to carry a microwave and the petcool in the galley. That left only the middle area under the counter for drawer storage. It worked out fine for me and my personal camping style, all space was used to my liking.... but again, I've only liked the looks of a sink, but never wanted on in the galley...

The under counter slide out is very clever if you want a sink available, but not take up your counter.....

There comes a time, usually after you get/build a tear and actually use it, when you can decide what is important and what is not....

That's why you see a few building a second one. In my case, I made about 20 changes. Most are not obvious, but made it much more to my liking.

[1940sHousewife]

I'm trying to avoid having to build a second one... I'd like to make this one as perfect as I can (I know - thats naive to say, because I'm sure my first time out I'll think of something I wish I'd done differently!).

[oklahomajewel]

I agree to the most part with Arne..... I didn't plan ahead on any onboard water storage or sink area.

I've thought about a table off to the side of the trailer, but went with another idea when I agreed with Caseydog about washing dirty dishes away from the galley area.

The water spicket is usually about 10 feet from the pad (or more)
I bought a white water hose and a garden sprayer attachment. Even a dual hookup thing for the spicket so if someone else needs to use it they can.

I bought 2 rubbermaid wash basins (about $2.50 each) and an aluminum fold out table at WMart (about $29) and it is great to hold the 2 basins and then have space to lay out the dishes to dry.

Another good idea from ReoRon is to get one of those large plug in coffee urns at a rummage sale, keep a couple gallons of water in it and plugged in ... you'll have hot water anytime.

I know paper plates would mean less washing but more trash and waste.

[1940sHousewife]

Brilliant idea about the coffee urn/hot water - that would be easier than running pipes. I think I even have one buried in my basement somewhere. I could keep that and the REI water tank/mini sink thing under the counter. My problem is that most of the camping that I have done has been in a wilderness area and not a campground, so I'm not too sure how close hookups are, etc...

Has anyone seen or used the mesh picnic table that REI has on its site? It looks like it would fold up fairly small.

[oklahomajewel]

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=5646074


this is the table I was speaking of, although mine was from Walmart, not a Coleman , more the size of a card table, and about half this price.

It rolls up neatly in a black bag, about the size of a chair in a bag.

[Arne]

You can plan and plan and plan... and you will not find out what you really need until you go camping in a t/d...

But, doing this discussion, you will be a lot closer.....

One way to approach it is to not go crazy with designing everything, but make it so it is plain vanilla, but upgradeable. Meaning, you have a bed area, but have the ability (studs in the walls) to add shelves..

You have a galley, but it is basic, and you can change it to suit your needs when you find out what your needs actually are...

If you make it real specific with sink and water storage, you can actually rip it out if you want later....

If you go nuts with cabinets, you might find out down the road that they are not what you really needed or wanted....

Also attending a t/d get together, you can see 20 trailers that are all different. That will be worth 200 notes here.

[evilme28]

It looks like the majority consensus is that a sink set in the counter of your teardrop is more trouble than its worth, but does it increase the value of your trailer. I have large counters designed into my plans so a sink won’t take up that much realestate. The batteries, charger and inverter will be in a tong box so there will be plenty of room in the galley. I myself prefer simple and would just as soon bring a 5-gallon jug of water along for the ride. But I'll likely build a larger trailer next summer and would sell this one to finance that build. From a resale value point of view, would it be better to have the sink or not??? Anyone have any thoughts???

[1940sHousewife]

Thats what I was thinking, too - leave the room to add one later if I decide to, but don't bother with it now.

Why does everyone seem to be on or starting their second build???!

[bobhenry]

We put in the sink and I have the pumps and supplies to finish the job SOMEDAY !

We really cook when we camp. No burgers and dogs . Cassarolles , biscuits and gravey, steamed vegatables with cheese and because of this there is clean up involved. The little sink works fine and we just recently added a 32 cup coffee pot as our hot water heater. You don't fully appreciate the grease cutting power of hot water until you have cleaned up without it. Our little blue water jug and the Redneck water heater gives us almost 6 gallons of water.

[1940sHousewife]

Wow! You guys are hard-core! I'm just trying to upgrade from a tent!