Gosh! Page 5 and not a bucket user in the bunch. When solo a small pan of hot water is used when dishes need to be washed. On group trips one bucket for washing and another with cold lake water with a little bleach added for the rinse and then air dry. I prefer Dawn detergent and really hot water. I needed a new scrubber and ended up with one that had a handle. It seemed like extra bulk until I found out how pleasant it was to use with scalding hot water. A pail of warm water and a bowl for pouring the warm rinse over my head to wash the suds away on a chilly day is a nice extra. No need to lift the whole bucket over my head. I was gifted a 6.5 gallon bucket at the Quiet Journey dinner and am getting my kitchen packed in it for the next trip.

Along with my "PO-BOY" kitchen sink, I have a 3 gallon solar shower.
A few hours laying on a warm rock with even overcast skies, brings in warm enough for a shower on my lay-over/camp days.

Travel days, I can fill it enough to use to wash soapy dishes back in woods.
Like PJ, I find a hole to dump soapy water in.

I like unscented Dawn dish soap. It's concentrated so a little goes a long ways.
I figure if it's good enough for cleaning wild life covered in oil and disposals easily, it's good enough for back country use.

We have 2 of the older square/cube shaped Seattle Sports collapsible sinks (one for washing, one for rinsing).  I'll heat water if I'm motivated but I don't budget my fuel for heating dish water so it's unfiltered lake water for the most part.  Sometimes, again, if I'm motivated I'll fill the sunshower but tripping in May and June doesn't always guarantee hot water.  Washing dishes is not rocket science (is it?).  Un-eaten food, if there is any, is burned.  I once buried un-eaten food but it was dug-up that night by something?  I don't bring a tape measure re: my distance from the lake but I feel like we're far enough away most of the time.  I don't recall ever digging a hole for my dishwater.  I can usually find an uprooted dead fall to dump it in or it's cast over a wide area on the forest floor.  Sorry if that offends any of you.  Also, I sometimes rinse my coffee cup in the lake since I'm typically fishing when I drain the mug.  To be honest, I'm not real concerned about my "efficiency" in anything when camping but the sinks are a nice tool that we have gotten a lot of use of.  Seriously, why over think it.

Tim, I think you will like using a sink for no other reason than it gives you a tool to do something that needs to be done anyway.     I've never got sick from my utensils but then again, Yukon Jack is 100 proof.

Here's how I do it:

1. Cook, eat, rest.
2. Heat filtered water in big pot.
3. Add a few drops of dish soap to warm water in pot.
4. Gather dirty dishes. 
5. If the dog is with us, he gets to clean off the crumbs from the plates.
   If we're without a dog, crumbs get scraped into small pile on a plate and
   burned, or buried in woods with dirty dishwater.
6. Walk off into the woods with warm soapy water in pot, dirty dishes, and
    nalgene of clean filtered water.
7. Clean dishes in soupy water using a scraper/sponge. 
8. Pour dirty water in small hole in ground. 
9. Rinse dishes, pot, and sponge with clean water from nalgene.
10. Carry back to camp and put clean dishes out to dry on rocks or logs. 
11. Shuffle cards for cribbage.

Pretty simple.  No dish pan.  It's just how I do it, but I'm sure there are as good, or better ways. 

Some might be disgusted by the role my dog plays in this operation.  Guilty as charged. 

puckster

I've read the comments about MT's "temperature" post, and I'd like to share a different view.  The way I read it was that he was getting a little upset about something (dunno what it was) and was practicing mindful self-discipline.  I thought that was admirable.  It would have been nice to have more information, but it didn't matter because of the self-containment.

Dave

mastertangler wrote:
How do the non-sink folk wash the soap off their person after washing up?

I don't know about others, but I either use a cooking pot filled with filtered water or bring the whole gallon (clean water reservoir) along with me.

I also carry a kitchen sink (Sea to Summit) - same one for the last 7n or 8 years.  I find it very useful for carrying water and doing dishes. It weighs nothing and takes very little space. Mostly, though, I just like to be able to tell people that I bring everything including the kitchen sink.

Here is a product that may interest: Druide Ecotrail Multi Purpose Soap.  They claim it is biodegradable, phosphate free, made from 100% ingredients of natural origin and that it biodegrades immediately in water (it doesn't need microorganisms found in soil to biodegrade.)  It is highly concentrated so you only need to use a drop or two for body or dishes.  Because it is so concentrated you don't have to carry much even on a long trip.  Now whether or not it is all that it claims, I can't say.  But according to the folks at Mountain Equipment Co-op it's bone fide.
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Wow! I didn't realize all of the moral & ethical boundaries that could be violated by using the wrong sink. Thanks to Jimbo & PJ for restoring sanity.

Thank you Jimbo, you have read me like a book. I suppose I should excercise my "tactful" self a bit more often but winning friends and influencing people was never a high priority with me. I had a friend once and I thought it was overrated......you had to spend time with them, call them, make them dinner, etc,etc

Solar shower Mad Mat, thank you. Pretty simple response and solution. That is why I inquired, alternatives did not readily come to my mind. I'm still dubious however and not as optimistic as I should be concerning this subject.

I would take a very hard line if anyone thought it was OK to rinse off in the lake and I'm not afraid to be disliked for pointing it out. I did it once almost 30 years ago and I have never forgotten the vague sense of guilt that I felt. So I am a transgressor.

Ok.....enough of that. Back to the land of sinkdom..........which can BTW doubles nicely for carrying water back.....never mind 

jimmar wrote on Apr 18^th, 2014 at 4:45pm:


Sorry jimmar.  MT is an easy target but I can't seem to get this log out of my own eye to notice the speck in his.

Now then, at the request of a friend, let's keep it to washing your dirty crockery and kitchen sinks here.  If you want to start a thread on your personal hygiene there is a way to do that.