I'm slowly replacing some older camp stuff with upgrades - but a real 'camp sink' is just too heavy to lug around. I saw some cool designs online but they also looked too heavy. It took a couple of false starts, but here's mine, with a parts list, which others usually didn't have.
Main part is the buckets. You can just buy them from your favorite home improvement store, but it's cheaper and better just to use something that would get tossed otherwise. Donut shops have piles of these for free or a couple of bucks - or if you have a Firehouse Subs nearby, they sell their buckets for a $2 donation to a local charity. Be forewarned though - these smell, really, really pickley. I left them in my trunk for an hour and my car smelled like the Vlasic bird's socks for a week.
A couple weeks in the sun and the smell is mostly gone though. Here are the parts with approximate prices:
| 3 Smelly Buckets | $6.00 |
| Fuel siphon bulb | $4.00 |
| ~ 5 feet of vinyl 1/2" hose | $2.50 |
| 1/2" barb to 3/4" brass male fitting (threaded) | $2.00 |
| 1/2" brass barb splice connector | $2.00 |
| 3/4" PVC pipe for 'spout' (scrap for me) | $1.00 |
| 2 2" 'U' Clamps | |
| Total | $17.50 |
One bucket will be chopped up - it's the 'bowl' of the sink. Food grade plastic is 'squishy' - you really can't Dremel it because it melts. I just used a hand saw and a 'junk' serrated knife I use for carpet and such. Chop off the 'head' of the bucket a little under the 'rings' the keep it solid. The pickle bucket has a seam there - that's what I used.
I took the handle off because it bothered me, but you don't need to. Then you need to trim the 'outside' of the lid of that bucket to stuff it into the 'bowl'. Cut at the smooth inner part and toss the outside. This goes inside the 'dirty' water bucket.
You then take that disc and stuff it into the 'bowl' to make the bottom. Most walkthroughs have you smearing silicone on the seam, but I don't think you need to.
Time to break out the drill - make a drain hole with a 1/2" or 3/4" bit right in the middle.
Time also to install the U clamps, if you don't recognize the name - you'll recognize the picture when you see them:
Other walkthroughs use ones that screw into the plastic, but this seemed stronger given how soft the bucket is, and also I didn't want pointy screws scratching anyone. Mount the two parallel on the plastic 'bumps' of the 'sink' and 'gray' bucket so they clamp levelly. You want the spout pressing against the highest parts - not the lowest.
This is where the PVC 'spout' will go. Some designs use metal lines, but that sounds dangerous if somebody stumbles on them.
Other designs also use fittings to give it a curve, but I'm cheap and I don't want the weight, so I bent it into what should have been a graceful curve. PVC is very pliable - it has a lot of wiggle and stays bent. I used a heat gun because I'm impatient - but if you weight or clamp it for a day or two it will take on a new shape. The extra tubing goes inside - again, I don't want to spend money on weird fittings that might break.
Last 'hard' step is putting the barb fitting into on bucket to make it the 'clean' water tank. I used one extra bucket trying to use smaller fittings, but they seem leaky/fragile and I don't trust using it. The 3/4" fitting is solid and can take some abuse. Drill a 3/4" hole in the button and just screw it in. I'll silicone it probably to make sure, but it's not going anywhere.
Final part is just connecting the bulb pump to the clean tank and the 'faucet' line using the extra barb sitting and you're done. Clean on bottom, grey water on top of that, and 'sink' at the very top. I will use hose clamps to be safe, but this is pretty solid.
Some people also make a 'pedal' - but I don't see the need. Just squish the bulb with your foot and water comes out. You could mount the soap on the outside too - but again - there's a flat surface right there and I don't need to carry anything else.
This packs down really nicely into a single bucket size, which can hold all the wash stuff in a single place.
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