Camping is all about getting away from the amenities of our everyday lives: electricity, central air, running water, and WiFi. Going without it is part of what makes the experience so special; it’s a chance to experience life at its most primitive. However, this spartan mindset turns some people off camping, believing it to be a cold, wet, dirty adventure.
If you’re like most people, hygiene isn’t always at the top of the priorities list for camping trips. The vast majority of us pack a bottle of hand sanitizer and call it a day. It doesn’t need to be this way; you can have a similar hygiene standard at your campsite to the one you have at one.
The first hygiene practice to go out of the window is handwashing. It gets replaced with hand sanitizer, which kills the germs but doesn’t actually get your hands clean. A camp sink provides clean running water, which you can pair with good ole soap to get everything disinfected.
The second practice involves cleaning your food. Fruits and vegetables need to be washed before eating and sink with a drain plug to do wonders for getting them cleaned. If you like to fish on your camp trips, cleaning your catch will be a top priority. Look for models with deeper sinks and integrated shelves for a more comfortable experience.
There are several different reasons you want to have a camping sink, but they all boil down to one thing – it makes camping a much more hygienic experience. Sure, you could get away without one, but why would you want to? However, different sinks have different purposes, so it pays to figure out how to use them before making a big purchase. It is also a great way for the environmentally conscious – which I assume is all of us – to conserve water by reducing the amount of water running away while washing up.
Preparing a meal at camp is certainly more difficult than doing so at home; there’s the lack of counter space, usually some inferior cutlery, and of course, no running water. If you’re someone that likes to cook, having a portable sink in your camp kitchen is a must.
If you don’t have running water, your best option is probably the three-bucket sanitizing method. You need a wash bucket (soapy water), a rinse bucket (freshwater), and a sanitizing bucket (water with a small amount of bleach added). Obviously, this method requires a lot of water, bucket capacity, and effort. A portable sink is a far simpler and less time-consuming option. Portable sinks designed for camping usually have two washbasins. You can plug both and set up a wash and a rinse station. Better yet, hook up the portable sink’s faucet to the water supply at your campground, and now you’ve got running water to clean your dishes.
Counter space is another critical feature for your camp kitchen; you need ample space to chop ingredients and organize them for cooking. Nothing is more annoying (and unsanitary) than crowding together your vegetables and raw meats on a tiny cutting board. With a camp kitchen, the entire countertop can be used as a cutting board.
Handwashing is one of the first things to go on a camping trip, which is pretty disgusting when you think about some of our toilet habits when toilets are nowhere to be found. We might rub a dab of sanitizer between our hands and call it a day, but that only kills the germs. Our hands are still dirty until we wash them with soap and water, while a portable handwashing basin is critical to a hygienic camping experience.
Portable hand wash basins typically have their own supply of water and some form of pressurization, whether it’s a pump or a gravity feed. Running water is a necessary component of handwashing as stagnant water is a breeding ground for bacteria.
Volume and weight come at a premium whenever you’re camping. If you’re hitting the backcountry, you only have what can be carried on your back, but even front-country camping has its limitations. If you drive anything less than a full-sized pickup with a trailer, everything needs to fit in the trunk or bed of your vehicle. That’s not a lot of space, and it’s why the portable sink isn’t on everyone’s packing list.
That’s unfortunate because there are plenty of camp sinks that pack down small, like the size of a cutting board, and are easy enough for one person to carry. Admittedly, packability seems to vary accordingly with durability and features. The more times you can fold your table, the less it will do and the fewer outings it can take before failing.
If you’re not an angler, this probably isn’t something you’ve considered, but cleaning a fish is a dirty job and one that’s impossible to accomplish hygienically without a sink. You need to drain away blood, scales, and guts to prevent contamination of the meat. You’ll also require ample workspace that allows you to wield your knife without obstruction competently.
You might be tempted to let your camp sink drain out on the ground; after all, it’s just soapy water with some food particles in it. That doesn’t mean it’s harmless though, soap isn’t a natural product, and it’s not good for plants and animals to come into contact with it.
That being said, it’s not as harmful as something like motor oil, and the occasional soap spill isn’t that detrimental after filtering through a few layers of dirt. The same can not be said for draining your camp sink into a body of water. Soap and detergents break the surface tension of the water and deplete it with oxygen, which is why you should always camp at least 200 feet from a water source. Even at this distance, it’s not ideal for draining your greywater onto the ground and may be against area rules.
If possible, you should collect the greywater from your sink in a bucket, which you can dispose of in a campground bathroom, greywater disposal area, or RV dump. Check your campgrounds’ regulations to be sure that such disposal is not prohibited. Whether you collect your greywater or drain it near the campsite, you should filter out food particles. These can attract animals and make them more habituated to humans.
Several camp soaps market themselves as biodegradable, which leads people to believe that it’s okay to dump their sudsy water anywhere that’s convenient. Their claim is only half true;
Biodegradable soaps lack some of the harsher chemicals found in a regular dish or hand soap, but they are still soap. Some are better than others, so it pays to check the label.
Avoid soaps with words you can’t easily pronounce, like phthalates – they’re unnatural and will persist in the environment longer. It would be best if you also chose an unscented camp soap, as the scented variety has the potential to attract bears and other wildlife. Finally, look for a soap that’s multipurpose: shampoo, hand soap, toothpaste (maybe). Dr. Bronner’s soap is a popular choice, and the company claims it has up to 18 uses.
Camp sinks are designed to be almost maintenance-free, but a little care goes a long way. These are just a few helpful tips that’ll make your camp sink last longer and work more efficiently.
