Sink Sink / Water Tanks

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PoodMood

Newbie
I really like the camp inn 560 and I think I would like to have the water system removed from it. Is that crazy?

I currently camp in a pop and it has a sink and water heater. I find it is easier to just bring a reliant water jug for drinking water and then I have 2 containers for dish water / gray water. I never have to worry about winterizing my popup and think it would be nice to have the same with a teardrop.

Is the sink useful? How about tent campers that went to a teardrop, did you start using the sink / tanks and find it better?
 
You can have your camper built without the water system, ask Cary. Several have been built that way. It saves some room in the galley and some weight in the camper. It might reduce the cost a minor amount.

However, we use the sink all the time. It is very convenient to just pull a glass a water for a drink or to fill the kettle to make coffee, and fill water bottles before a hike and wash your hands when you get back. The sink is handy to put used cups, dishes, and silverware until it's time to do the dishes. Dumping left over water from the kettle or pasta water into the sink is easy. Brushing teeth in the sink is a breeze.

Having said that, we wash dishes in a collapsible tub, using water from a jerry can or water from a camp faucet if it's available, and dirty dishwater is dumped into the camp disposal area.

Could we do without the sink? Certainly. But it is really nice to have. You could actually say that about the whole camper, could we do without it? Sure, we could still be using our tent but I would rather not.
 
We previously owned serial 386 which did not have a sink before buying serial 1099. We really didn’t miss it as we carried our water and washed in small dishpan tubs. But it’s our understanding it doesn’t save a lot of money to delete it in a build and it may make it less marketable when you decide to sell it. As mentioned, some federal and state lands don’t allow you to dispose of gray water around the campsite. We would highly recommend getting the water system in your build.
 
This is one of those things that is a very personal choice. The tanks are below the frame, so they don't take any space, and the space they do use is not particularly useful for anything else. The sink sits in the utility bay, which is mostly made up of water 'stuff' -- pump, hoses, propane lines, etc. That is a pretty sizable amount of space - 1.5-2 cubic feet? Depending on your camping style, that could be a little or a lot.

The 560 already has so much space, I'd scratch my head if my significant other came to me asking this question. 8 gallons can keep me campin' for 5-7 days if solo, slighly less if with another person. Having water with me is just simple, and I"m not sure I see a clear upside to removing it. Perhaps never having it to begin with may be a choice for some. My big worry about such a change would be at re-sale. Plus, if you remove the sink - would it ever look 'right' again?

As for being rejeced for not having fresh water, that depends where you camp. I stay almost exclusively at state and county parks, who welcome pretty much everything, I've never been asked if I have fresh water/gray. This may be more of a resort thing, which I never stay, its been my experience there you are packed in too tightly for my personal choice.

I'm curious about your 'why' -- that is a bigger question than whether or not you should...
 
The sink is one of the great step ups from our tent camping. Not that we’re clean freaks but we really like that we can easily wash hands throughout the day. With a water jug you get water everywhere doing that. Also, if we have a lot of dishes, we wash in a foldable wash basin and use the sing to rinse.
 
We carry our drinking water in 5g jugs, but use the sink all the time for handwashing and small dishwashing. The spray nozzle is very handy for rinsing dishes.

When there’s 2 or more of us dishwashing migrates to a couple washbasins.

I’d rate the water system just below the stove/propane and electrical systems, they are all very well engineered, and get a lot of use.

After a few times winterizing and spring flushing became very straightforward.
 
we use it way more than we thought. A quick rinse of a glass or mug… and we consider it as our drinking water since we only fill it from sources that are very well known.
 
Ya, I reserve my fresh water for cooking and drinking and wipe cook pot clean with paper that goes in the fire or in a trash bag far from the camper when boondocking...
so the sink usually has my tooth brush, paste, tooth, bar of soap under the custom fit cutting board.
Sink is also Handy to spit tooth suds into and rinse into gray tank...I remember the grizzly bear story told to Cary by rangers about why NOT to spit in the bushes by camp...
 
TheSongDogHouse said:
Ya, I reserve my fresh water for cooking and drinking and wipe cook pot clean with paper that goes in the fire or in a trash bag far from the camper when boondocking...
so the sink usually has my tooth brush, paste, tooth, bar of soap under the custom fit cutting board.
Sink is also Handy to spit tooth suds into and rinse into gray tank...I remember the grizzly bear story told to Cary by rangers about why NOT to spit in the bushes by camp...
Click to expand...
I understand why you should not spit toothpaste in bushes close to your galley in bear country, but didn't see Carys story. Is that on the forum? Thanks.
 
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